Local school districts are starting to sign up for a bullying prevention program to curb student harassment.

The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program — a method developed by psychologist Dan Olweus after more than 35 years of international research — involves everyone who comes in contact with the students, from the teachers to the parents to the cafeteria workers.

State legislation passed in March requiring all districts to construct a policy prohibiting bullying may have sparked the initiative. Todd Walts, executive director of local nonprofit Campus Impact, is helping to carry out the plan.

“The important thing for schools when it comes to bullying prevention is to look for a comprehensive program,” he said. “Our program works schoolwide, in the classroom and on an individual basis, to attack bullying as a whole.”

Walts and his Campus Impact team have been teaching bullying prevention for the last seven years but recently were certified in the Olweus method in August.

The crux of the program is to reduce bullying and victim problems among elementary, middle and junior high school children by teaching school staff to recognize the harassment and help fix it.

Walts said the trick is to create conditions that encourage students to respect each other.

“We’ve seen a lot of people no longer following the golden rule, ‘Do unto others as you would like done unto you,’ ” he said. “We help students develop empathy for others through role-play and discussion.”

Darren Conley, principal at Westwood Junior High School in Elyria, said he first came across the student-based bullying awareness program presented by Campus Impact when he was a school principal in Wellington and knew it was just the program for his new students in Elyria.

In February, Westwood’s 385 students in the seventh and eighth grades will take turns attending off-site programs at a recreation center in Westlake. In addition, the school’s staff will learn the Olweus program inside and out.

“It forces us to look at ourselves and then make a plan specific to our building,” Conley said. “It’s a very comprehensive program that takes bullying seriously.”

Elyria’s Northwood Junior High School also will be taking part in the program, which is being implemented at schools in Avon and Oberlin.

Walts said local grants help to offset some of the costs involved, as the average cost of a 400-student Olweus program runs about $8,000.

His goal, he said, is to seek enough grants to one day implement the program in every school throughout the county.

“The program not only helps school systems protect students, which is primary, but it also allows them to comply with the new state law,” he said.

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

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