Staff Development Day

Lester Prairie Staff Members participated in an introductory training of the OLWEUS Bullying Prevention System.  OBPP will be used by the district to create a continuous, linear, and developed plan to handle bullying issues within our school.  The implementation is being funded through a grant from McLeod County Services and is being facilitated with Jean Johnson who is a certified OBPP trainer.  

Staff members spent the morning participating in this training as it was presented by some members of the PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports), the training staff members were part of a two day training event with Jean Johnson and will continue to work together to implement this program.  The OBPP provides supports at the school wide, classroom, individual, and community levels.  Our goal for the program is to create a long range resistance to bullying and create classroom, school, and community climates of inclusion and  a resistance to bullying.  

One of the things the committee did during the presentation is to define bullying.  

Bullying is defined as:  an exposure, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself. Students participated in a survey at the school and staff members have seen the results of the survey.  It is evident that our students feel the culture here is extraordinary, from the data, it can be said that our students feel comfortable discussing bullying, approaching teachers, parents, siblings, and friends for help.  This is helpful within the program because awareness is a key deterrent of bullying.  

Parents, please be assured that our school is dealing with bullying in a serious way and we also will work to create a positive culture within our school.  According to our survey results, we have a higher incidence rate of bullying, however, we also have a much higher incidence rate of reporting and dealing with bullying in our school.  This is a great tribute to the staff member we have here at LP and will help us as we continue to reach our goals.