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As you may be aware, in the 2006-2007 school year the Ohio Legislature passed House Bill 276, which addressed the definitions of “harassment” and “bullying” and provided policy guideline requirements for schools. All districts are responsible for providing bullying/violence prevention training to staff. Goshen Local School District is one of several local districts who applied for and received a two-year grant from the Clermont County Mental Health and Recovery Board for the implementation of the internationally-acclaimed Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.
Although the district has had a long-standing policy against harassment and threatening behaviors, we welcomed the opportunity for additional, bullying-specific training. The Olweus program is a whole-school program designed to reduce bullying behavior. Components of the program include school wide assessment, developing policy and school rules against bullying, developing methods for reporting and recording bullying, identifying "hot-spots" where bullying occurs, facilitating classroom meetings, and conducting individualized teacher interventions.
In the 2007-2008 school year, Spaulding Elementary and Goshen Middle School went through the initial stages of the Olweus implementation process. Olweus trainers Butch Losey and Susan Graham of Child Focus led a workshop for coordinating committees of teachers, administrators and counselors. The decision was made to “kick off” the Olweus programs to both student bodies at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.
2008-2009 Olweus Update
Goshen Middle School completed the second year of implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. School administrators, teachers, and other staff introduced the rules for bullying and the techniques used in bullying prevention. All students were trained through their Integrated Academics (IA) classes. Based on a student bullying surveys, we refined our school’s supervisory system by identifying "hot spots." The Olweus program was incorporated into the Making Middle Grades Work school improvement initiative, and members of the MMGW engagement committee worked with the five staff bullying prevention trainers to monitor the program's success.
Because school buses were identified as one of the potential bullying "hot spots" for students of all ages, Olweus trainers Butch Losey and Susan Graham are working closely with administrators and transportation officials to develop a training grant for bus drivers. Stay tuned...
Spaulding Elementary also completed its second year of implementation. Staff met on several different occasions to discuss the Olweus Program. Teachers held biweekly meetings in their classroom and reviewed the Olweus curriculum. During these classroom discussions, the teachers implemented school rules and discussed how to handle instances of bullying. Students had the opportunity to share and look for solutions to bullying issues.
At Spaulding, the following anti-bullying rules are printed on the back of every staff ID badge:
1. We will not bully others.
2. We will try to help students who are bullied.
3. We will try to include students who are left out.
4. If we know that somebody is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at home
**We are please to announce that Marr/Cook Elementary has also been selected to receive an Olweus Bullying Prevention grant from Clermont County Family and Children First for the 2009-2010 school year!**
Bullying Prevention Statistics
On June 8, 2009, Mrs. Schmidbauer, Asst. Superintendent, presented Bullying Prevention information at the Goshen Board of Education meeting. It included the following statistics from the 2008-2009 school year:
Marr/ Cook Elementary:1 Official Report of Bullying Behavior
Spaulding Elementary:3 Official Reports of Bullying Behavior
Goshen Middle School:4 Official Reports of Bullying Behavior
Goshen High School:5 Official Reports of Bullying Behavior
On March 15, 2010, Mrs. Schmidbauer presented Bullying Prevention Information at the Goshen Board of Education Meeting. Please see attached. 
The Goshen Board of Education does not tolerate harassment, intimidation or bullying of any student on school property or at a school-sponsored event, regardless of whether the event occurs on or off school property (including school buses and other school related vehicles). Students who engage in such behavior are subject to disciplinary action, including suspension or expulsion from school.
"Harassment, intimidation, or bullying' means any intentional written, verbal, or physical act that a student has exhibited towards another student more than once and the behavior both: (1) causes mental or physical harm to the other student; (2) is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for the other student".