Forest Hills community 'starting to see progress' on bullying
May 10—SIDMAN, Pa. — For the third month in a row, Forest Hills School District members addressed the board at Thursday's meeting about their concerns surrounding the topic of bullying.
However, some noted the progress they've recognized since March, and the work the school directors and administrators have put in to improve the culture and climate of the buildings.
"They've done a really good job of pulling together and taking control over who is handling discipline and making sure it's continued through," parent Jennifer Henniger said.
She told the crowd that she's spent a lot of time with Superintendent David Lehman and his staff throughout the past two to three months, and has reported many issues to them that were sent to her, which have all been handled.
Henninger added that the district is also exploring anti-bullying and reporting programs, such as HIBster, in addition to existing supports, including the Safe2Say Something tip line, to help address any student situations.
Lehman confirmed this and said those discussions will be continued throughout the summer to determine the best approach for Forest Hills.
Increased public participation in regular board meetings was spurred in March after teenage student Brandyn Truscott committed suicide.
That incident has caused many parents and students to call on the school district to improve, especially in the area of bullying.
Since March, Forest Hills has implemented the Never Alone program at the high school, which is aimed at changing building culture and eliminating bullying, and the No Lone Rangers initiative at the elementary school, which helps youngsters build relationships and lead by example.
Other programs have also been introduced, such as anonymous reporting boxes that are checked multiple times per day.
"We can't change what happened to Brandyn, but what we can do is we can change our future, and I think we're doing good when we're three meetings in and we're starting to see progress," Henninger said.
Parents Janine Smith and Teresa Smay also spoke on the subject and the progress they've noted.
Lehman said afterward that he "can't thank the community enough for giving us ideas to help us implement some of these policies and practices we're doing right now."
Board member Brady Hamady also expressed gratitude for the community input and assistance, noting that there seems to be a lot of positive movement on the subject.
He said one of the challenges, though, is people understanding how complex and difficult bullying is for a district to handle.
A few speakers at Thursday's meeting criticized the board for not doing enough since March.
Two current students and two graduates shared their opinions with the group, some calling for a zero tolerance policy and suggested stronger punishments for offenders, such as revocation of privileges, which already exists in Forest Hills bullying policy.
Lehman said the board plans to explore the policy in place — comprehensive language that every school district in the area adopted from the Pennsylvania School Board Association — throughout the next few months and possibly provide some education on that practice as well as what bullying is.
According to the policy, bullying is "an intentional electronic, written, verbal or physical act or series of acts directed at another student or students, which occurs in a school setting and/or outside a school setting that is severe, persistent, or pervasive and has the effect of" creating a threatening environment; substantially interfering with a student's education; and/or disrupting an orderly school.
