Brainerd Students Take Action For National Stomp Out Bullying Day

Riverside Elementary was a sea of blue today as the issue of bullying were brought to the surface. Their main focus is on the 3 “R”’s – Respect, Responsibility and Positive Relationships.

“We do yoga calm, where we are teaching students some breathing skills and techniques to calm that body down. That’s preventative so they don’t blow up and do or say things that they don’t really want to do,” said Riverside Elementary Assistant Principal Tammy Stellmach.

Creating awareness that not every situation should be classified as bullying.

“Certainly some things that happen are when a student might be mean for a moment or tease for a moment, and we are trying to educate our students that those things happen and it doesn’t make someone a bully and deserve the label of bullying,” Stellmach said.

“Bullying is something that is not good,” said fourth grader Madeline Angland. “When someone is repeating something that is not good over and over again and you have asked them to stop once, then it’s time to get a teacher’s help.”

When dealing with a bully situation, there are three factors to take into consideration.

“Someone has power over someone else, someone is doing something unwanted and the third layer is that it is repeated,” said Stellmach.

Students at Riverside Elementary are taking a step in a positive direction by coloring shoes to stomp out bullying.

“I think it’s important that people are aware of it just so they know, even parents, that they should maybe ask their kids once and a while what’s going on because bullying is such a bad thing,” Angland said.

The school has not noticed any serious issues with bullies in the past but observes National Anti-Bullying Month to remind students that positive behavior should be recognized too.

“That makes me feel proud that we can have a school that doesn’t do that stuff so we don’t have to have as many arguments and have to have a big talk at recess,” said fourth grader Eli Borg.

For those younger students, the teachers focus on smaller lessons that will hopefully prevent bullying in the future.

“Just how to be a friend, how to share by using the motto ‘sharing is caring,’” said Jill O’Grady. “Manners matter and how those impact how people feel.”

A simple message that could tackle a difficult issue.