School Committee Approves Bullying Prevention Measures

The Wrentham School Committee met on Tuesday to discuss the new bullying prevention and intervention plan.

The bullying intervention plan was approved unanimously, and included items that Wrentham district schools have already been implementing.

Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden discussed various strategies the Wrentham school system will apply in the coming months. He said that the state of Massachusetts has put out a state model plan for bullying prevention.

Marsden said that he and the schools attorneys believe that Wrentham should follow that plan.

The plan suggests, among other strategies, that teachers be trained once a year in bullying prevention programs.

"Fortunately… I think we were ahead of the curve on some of this," he said. "We've sent three members of our guidance staff to a training session for the Massachusetts aggression reduction center for a trainer training workshop. So they now can train everyone on our staff."

Marsden added that Wrentham district public schools are already implementing the state plan, but that it is an ongoing process. He said also that there is a parent-training program scheduled for February and January.

Marsden also pointed out that Wrentham is already working with Open Circle, a group dedicated to helping students to "become ethical people, contributing citizens and successful learners." He said this is the third year in which they have been working with Wrentham schools, and that this year they started a program for bullying.

"Open Circle changed their curriculum a little this year to address more of the bullying," he said. "So our teachers up until grades K to five have already been trained in a lot of this. So again, it dovetails nicely into what we're already doing."

Open Circle usually only works with grades K to five, but Marsden said that, this year, they are creating a special component for the sixth grade in Wrentham to accommodate the town's needs. The DARE program, which works with the sixth grade, will also complement bullying prevention programs.

The full Wrentham Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan has been taken offline recently to accomodate revisions. It will be back online by the weekend.