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Two Bedford Schools Pilot Anti-Bullying Program

Bedford, NY-- The Bedford School District is moving forward on anti-bullying, and Mount Kisco Elementary and Bedford Village Elementary are smack-dab in the middle of the fray.

Starting this school year, both elementary schools are acting as pioneers in implementing the proven OLWEUS, the bullying prevention program that is used throughout the country.

“This is a very exciting program, very comprehensive, and it will provide us with a framework for then applying that approach to our building and our culture,” Karen Eldon, principal of Bedford Village, said.

The program is an inclusive one, bringing in entire school staffs to not only be taught about bullying, but ways in which one can hinder a bully’s power. It will be “custodians, caf ladies, gym teachers, everyone, “ said Eldon,

The importance of making it so vast is due to consistency, which is the quality that Sue Ostrofsky is most looking forward to because of the program.

“If it’s instilled in the organization, with the practices and the philosophy, it will continue. It’s not going to leave when those people leave,” Ostrofsky said. “The mark of an excellent school is when ideas are so embedded, they’re in the school culture. That is the what we’re hoping for.”

Through it’s overarching mindset, the program will be used not only in classrooms, but also in the uncontrolled sequences in elementary school life, such as gym class, recess, and more.

“Outside [for recess], it’s about navigating social experiences. It’s important our aides have this training and feel comfortable knowing how to intervene, and to support, and do so when we’re all consistent,” she explained. “When you don’t have consistent messages and approaches, kids get confused. We need to say, ‘this is how you are expected to act all day long.”

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