For PBIS Users:
How to Integrate Anonymous Online Bullying Reporting with PBIS’s “Stop, Walk & Talk” Component
Anonymous online bullying reporting with BRIM fits in with PBIS’s “Stop, Walk, and Talk” process – specifically the ‘Talk’ portion.
For people that may not be familiar with PBIS, here’s how ‘Stop, Walk, and Talk’ works:
- Stop: Students are taught to communicate with both hand signals and verbal commands that an action is not wanted. (The hand signals include things like making a ‘T’ to signify ‘Time Out’.)
- Walk: One the stop step has been done, students are taught to leave the area.
- Talk: After the student has left the area of the incident, they’re taught to talk with a trusted adult to report the incident.
In many situations, situations can’t be resolved between students and require the intervention of a school administrator. This is especially true for severe situations where a student’s safety is at risk or where the attacks are more personal (e.g., sexual orientation.) Unfortunately, these situations are also where a student may be too afraid or embarrassed to report the incident to a teacher.
For students that are too afraid or embarrassed to come forward in person, online bullying reporting with BRIM provides a way for students to speak out and open that dialogue with school administrators.
The Missouri School Resources Officers Association estimated half of bullying incidents in their schools go unreported by students. For your school’s anti-bullying intiatives to be a success, you must provide a way to get the other 50% to report incidents.
Anonymous online bullying reporting with BRIM provides students with a safe and convenient mechanism to speak out and report bullying 24/7. In today’s age of cyberbullying and social media, an online tool is particularly convenient since students spend so much of their time online now.
