BOE to Dolan: Develop Bullying Prevention Programs and Facebook Page

Facebook, YouTube and bullying prevention top goals Board of Education members gave to Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan to focus on between now and her April evaluation.

During a special BOE goal-setting meeting, board members set goals for Dolan to continue to develop anti-bullying programs for students, staff and community members, along with establishing new communication programs within the school system.

The two goals set by the board will help determine Dolan’s annual evaluation, which is due before the BOE’s reorganization meeting after the late April school election. The goals are normally set over the summer but were delayed this year due to the delays surrounding adoption of the . The strategic plan was due to be adopted in the early summer, but was delayed following Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to cut Westfield’s state education aid by $4.22 million in March.

“It is a five year plan and it will be used for years to help the board set goals,” BOE President Julia Walker said about the strategic plan.

Bullying Prevention

The board charged Dolan with developing plans for increased programming geared towards students, staff and community members on anti-bullying and character education. The program would grow off of existing plans the school district has had in place for almost a year on bullying prevention.

“We are ahead of the curve on this,” Walker said.

Most of the board’s discussion was centered on what specifically Dolan should be focusing on before the April deadline and what metrics to utilize to determine Dolan’s performance in the area. Discussion centered on potentially looking for a decrease in bullying cases to conducting regular surveys of the student body to look into bullying issues.

The board centered final decisions on the idea of having Dolan develop more programs on the subject during the shortened time before Dolan’s evaluation is due.

During the survey process used to develop the strategic plan, bullying prevention was as a top concern of community residents. In addition, a mandates bullying prevention programs in the schools.

The goal will also include having the programs geared towards better student achievement, a provision added after BOE member Ginny Leiz reminded her colleagues of a state mandate of a goal geared towards student achievement.

Looking past the immediate goals for bullying prevention, BOE members discussed such issues as partnering with PTOs on developing bullying prevention programs for residents and parents. Board members expressed concern that an evening bullying prevention program in the fall was not well attended.

“I think there will be plenty of parents who would take the lead on it,” BOE member Mitch Slater said.

Part of the proposal includes placing videos of bullying prevention programs on the school district’s website to allow parents to watch outside of attending formal programs. The discussion echoed a recent proposal from Union County Freeholder Chairwoman Deborah Scanlon who used her State of the County address this month to announce plans to develop DVDs of a on bullying prevention and cyber bullying for distribution to parent groups.

Among the programs suggested for posting online for parents to watch would be to intermediate school students about his son's suicide following years of cyber bullying.

Board members said looking to future years, metrics relating to the numbers of bullying incidents and overall student wellness will drive the bullying prevention program.

“We are trying to change a culture here,” BOE member Alice Hunnicutt said. “We can give every wonderful program in the world that we can think is great, but if little Johnny still gets pushed because he has big ears, it is still bullying. The actual measurement is student wellness.”

Communication Tools

Dolan has been charged by BOE members to finalize several new communication programs as part of a goal to develop “innovative methods of communication.”

Parts of these programs include the development of a school district Facebook page and new ways to distribute BOE videos, along with a new BOE cable show. Dolan reported that work on the Facebook page has been progressing and would be unveiled before April.

The Facebook page was a of Slater during last year’s BOE election.

Dolan said the TV-36 program has been on the air for several months and the BOE is developing ways to put the shows on in new methods. These include the development of a BOE YouTube channel and potentially exploring a partnership with cable companies. Board members said the goal is an “on demand” environment for programs.

“People like to learn on demand,” Slater said.

Board members said a long-term goal could be a partnership with a digital cable provider to have a Westfield schools on demand video channel, with the YouTube program being the shorter-term goal.

Dolan’s performance will be based on the development of the programs and not the number of Facebook friends Dolan could find for the BOE by April. Moving forward, board members said they want to explore user engagement issues on social media as the board continues to move into the area.

“How do you measure engagement,” Leiz said.