Making Taylor a safe school - the positive impact of Rachel's Challenge

One of my goals is to make Taylor a safe school – a school where kids feel no fear of bullies. We aren’t there yet but we are making some moves in that direction.
• Campus BCSO Deputy Smith has created a form that kids can use to report a bully. He has posted the forms around campus and students can report bullying anonymously.
• We have started several Friends of Rachel Clubs (FOR) that meet at noon and after school to put Rachel’s Challenges into motion.

One of the first steps the FOR Club took was to survey the student body during Advisory period to determine the extent of bullying on campus and to see if and how students were accepting the five challenges. The results were surprising to me.

1. When asked “Is bullying a problem for you at Taylor?” 25% said yes and 75% said no.
2. When asked “Have you implemented at least 1 of the 5 points to start a chain reaction this year?” 81% said yes and 19% said no.
3. When asked which points they had implemented, students reported using (could indicate more than one choice)
 Acts of Kindness -- 255 votes
 Finding the best in others – 197 votes
 Writing down goals – 187 votes
 Eliminating prejudice – 155 votes
 Choosing positive influences – 145 votes
4. When asked what specific strategies would students like to see implemented at Taylor, students reported:
 229 voted for having “Rachel’s Challenge” kids hand out tickets to kids who show Acts of Kindness. These would be used to draw for prizes throughout the year.
 221 voted for having students write Acts of Kindness on Hands / Chains to connect around the school.
 134 voted for creating a welcoming committee of “Rachel’s Challenge” kids to greet new students at Taylor.
 92 voted for having “Rachel’s Challenge” kids invite a new friend to library lunch for games.

Several staff and faculty members are actively involved in supporting the FOR clubs as they move forward. I personally believe the FOR clubs implementing Rachel’s five challenges in concert with Deputy Smith’s work will help make Taylor a safer school for your children.

If your child is being bullied on the bus, on the grounds, or in the school, I want to know about it. I can’t do anything about a problem I don’t know about. Please help us make Taylor safer. Thanks!