Schools, village attack bullying at its roots (2024)

EDGAR -It's been more than a year and a half since Jonathan Wesener died, but the emotions are still raw.

"When something like this happens," said Edgar school Superintendent Cari Guden,"we all feel as if we've lost a child."

After Jonathan's suicide in May 2015, hisparents and other family members spoke out. Theybelieved the 16-year-old was a victim of bullying that likely triggered his choice to end his life.

Acommunity in the midst of grief and loss also found itself grappling with ways to prevent future bullying and future tragedies. Steven and Angela Wesener pushed for stronger anti-bullying policies in the Edgar School District after their son's death, and the district upgraded the way it treats bullying complaints. Students and parentscan make complaints using anonline formposted on the district's website, and there is a more formal procedure for investigating the allegations.

Meanwhile, amid the tragedy of a second suicide in the district, Edgar continues to develop more steps to address mental health issues facing students.

Other #SpeakUp Against Bullying stories:

STORY:Defining bullying key to fighting it

STORY: Landmark bullying study outlines solutions

VIDEO: Central Wisconsin kids talk about bullying

PROFILE: From Kathy to Mimi and back

Jonathan's death also spurred the central Wisconsin newspapers of USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin to delve into bullying with an in-depth series of stories and profiles about the problem's impact on our region. As part of the series, called #SpeakUp Against Bullying, we reviewed anti-bullying efforts not only in Edgarbut also in the Wisconsin Rapids School District, which has a thriving student-led grassroots effort, and the village of Plover, which garnered international attention when it passed an ordinance that can levy fines against parents of children who are deemed bullies.

Wisconsin Rapids

The Wisconsin Rapids School District is unfortunately familiar with bullying, as well.

During the 2010-11 school year, a wrestler for Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School was relentlessly bullied by teammates. The boy was a freshman at the time, and was deaf, legally blind and has a neurological disorder that causes involuntary muscle movements. Kids with disabilities are among the groups of those who are more at risk of being bullied, according to the "Preventing Bullying" report, along with children who have weight issues, identify or are perceived as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender or part of a minority group.

The boy reported the bullying, and several of the boys who targeted him were charged with disorderly conduct. The school's internal investigation resulted in policy changes and a new push for anti-bullying messages in school, and two coaches were not rehired. In 2014, the victim receiveda $100,000 settlement from the school district's insurer.

The reaction did not stop there. A student who was concerned with bullying started a program called Name It, Claim It, Stop It. For the first few years of the program, high school students would go to elementary school classrooms to talk about bullying. The children were taught to define bullying, identify it and intervene to stop it. But it was largely a canned program using resources from outside the school.

It was fine as far as it went, a classic universal anti-bullying effort. But as new people got involved in the club, including counselor Mary Schultz who now advises it, and senior Clea Christensen, president of the club, they believed it could do so much more.

"We all felt it needed something," Schultz said.

"I was a sophom*ore when I started to do these presentations, and I thought, 'Would I want to watch this? No.' It was a little boring," Clea said. "So we took the ideas we wanted and we deleted everything else."

The club members started focusing on bystanders, encouraging people to stand up and alongside people who are being bullied. They urged students to report bullying incidents to a teacher or other adult.Name It also became a kind of an activist club, offering hands-on activities that are designed to create a more positive, inclusive atmosphere.

Clea, 17, recruited a classmate, Toukao Thao, 18, to the club. Thao was bullied as a kid in part because he's Hmong and being a minority made him a target.He responded by turning into a bully himself. That took its toll on him, and he fell into a depression. With the help of a friend, he was able to pull himself out of the spiral of hurting others, and by doing so, hurting himself.

Toukaobroughtthis experience to Name It, Claim It, Stop It. His energy, along with Clea's passion for helping others, helped build interest in the club. It had only a handful of members a few years ago. Now it has about 60.

Toukao is the head of a newcomer committee. The club realized that students who transfer or move into the school are often alone, and can be prone to bullying. Now the club creates get-to-know-you events such as scavenger huntsand helps make sure that new students feel at home.

This year the clubgarnered a $1,000 scholarship from the state Department of Public Instruction, to be used in anti-bullying and anti-drug activities. This spring the club will hold a lantern launch event. It will buy 1,000 lanterns, and people will be able to buy one in the name of someone who has been bullied. The event also will include a speaker and music.

"We want the whole community to be part of it," Clea said. "Because this is a problem for the whole community. ... We're getting our name out and we're making sure that standing up against bullying is getting rooted in people's minds. We want bullying to be completely gutted out of our community."

Plover

When Dan Ault, the Plover chief of police, was hired a couple of years ago, he brought with him an idea that bullying was a law enforcement problem and a community problem. He wanted to do something about it.

Prior to coming to central Wisconsin, he was the police chief in the northeastern Wisconsin town of Oconto, where a bullying issue forced him to confront the problem. He started to investigate, and he learned bullying plays a role in serious social problems such asschool violence, teen suicide and truancy.

He also learned about ordinances in other placesthat fined parents if their children were found to be chronic bullies.

This is an unusual step to take. Most often schools and other children's agencies work on bullying problems, but to Ault, the ordinance just made sense.

Other #SpeakUp Against Bullying stories:

PROFILE:Lah Thao uses martial arts to overcome bullying

PROFILE: UWSP professor talks about bullying experiences, future

PROFILE: Surviving bullying leads to psychology career

PROFILE: Fire chief: Bullying scary, but taught empathy

PROFILE: This many was bullied; now he's mayor

"The law says as a parent you can be held liable for your child's actions," Ault said. "Every part of society says that you as a parent have to take responsibility for what your child does; you have to be accountable."

Why not apply the same principle to the case of bullying?

"We address the parents as the (people) who havethe most power, influence and control," Ault said. "You have to get involved. You have to educate your child, because we know bullying is a learned behavior."

Ault recommended that Plover pass an ordinance that would allow police officers to issue warning letters and, if the problem doesn't stop, a fine and court costs up to $124. Once the ordinance passed in November 2015, the law drewattention from far and wide. One example: Ault was a guest on an Australian radio show. Some the interest came from the fact that bullying is an insidious problem in so many communities, and fining parents is an unorthodox solution. Some of the interest came from the fact that many people believed that Ault was overstepping in his role as a police chief and delving into parental issues.

Ault understands the criticism, but not surprisingly doesn't agree with it. His contention is that this is a common-sense approach to a problem that does contribute to crime in his community.

So far this year, Ploverofficers have issued four warnings. In one of those cases, there was a citation, but it was for disorderly conduct, not bullying. "In that case, it was a little more of a serious issue," Ault said.

There is no way to measure the effectiveness of the ordinance. But in Ault's opinion, it's a success, because it got people talking about bullying.

"Really the goal is prevention," Ault said. "My number one goal is preventing it."

Edgar

Guden, the superintendent,said Edgar hadbeenstrengthening its anti-bullying efforts for years, but Jonathan Wesener's death spurred new reflection and focus on prevention. Besides strengthening the district's anti-bullying policy, the efforts of the district havebeen geared toward helping students gain better mental health. Bullying is a component of that strategy, Guden said. If students have respect for each other, have healthy self-esteem and positive outlooks, bullying becomes less insidious.

"Mental health is kind of woven through everything," Guden said.

The little town faced tragedy again this year when another student committed suicide. The circ*mstances related to that death were different from those in Jonathan's situation, Guden said, as she declinedto comment further. But the second student suicidecertainly underscored the district's efforts to address mental health.

Many of these strategies fit with the findings and recommendations of a landmark report that scrutinized bullying-prevention programs and studies."Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice"was completed in May by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

The "Preventing Bullying" report argued that universal anti-bullying efforts— a single program designed for all students— are ineffectual in schools unless accompanied by more sophisticated, targeted efforts for students who are apt to be bullied or be bullies.

Edgar's mental health program aims to do that.

"We have just started looking at early intervention and screening," Guden said.

That means students will be asked to fill out assessments designed to determine whether they might be prone to mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts or other red flags that often are part of the lives of those at risk of being bullied and those who may be more apt to bully. Using that information could pave the way for students to get help, Guden said. Right now, the assessments are used on a limited basis, and district officials are looking into expanding their use.

Help can come in many ways, Guden said, ranging from simple contact every day by a trusted teacher or other staff member all the way to confidential in-school counseling sessions by a nonprofit counseling agency, Peaceful Solutions.Since 2014, the district has partnered with the Wausau-based agency, offering sessions in Edgar as a way to ease barriers to mental health care.

But attitudes toward mental illness inhibitsome children from getting help, Guden said.

"I think one of the biggest barriers is that people are still seeing mental health as a stigma," she said. "That's a barrier in society, not just here."

Teachers and other staff members also will completetraining to help students bolster their mental health, including helping students become resilient, respectful and kind.

"We want to build positive relationships, and make those connections," Guden said. "You have to make those relationships. ... We are doing whatever we can to assist all our students."

Keith Uhlig: 715-845-0651 or keith.uhlig@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @UhligK .

Relationship between bullying and suicide is complex

The Centers for Disease Control has scrutinized the relationship between bullying and suicide, and has found that both issues are complicated problems. Put them together, and the issues become even difficult to untangle.

"We know that bullying behavior and suicide-related behavior are closely related," reads the CDC report "The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know it Means for Schools.""This means that youth who report any involvement with bullying behavior are more likely to report high levels of suicide-related behavior."

However, experts do not know if bullying directly causes suicide-related behavior. Most youth who are bullied or bully others do not consider taking their own lives. But bullying increases the chance they will.

Circ*mstances that can affect a person in regards to bullying behavior or to become a victim of bullying and those that can affect suicide-related behavior are similar, the report said. Those include emotional distress, exposure to violence, family conflict, relationship problems, lack of connectedness, alcohol and drugs use, physical disabilities or learning differences and lack of access to resources and support.

What can schools do? The report says educators need to help students feel connected, teach coping and life skills, offer professional training to staff members and provide support and referrals to youth involved, including families. It also advises schools to empower students to find proactive ways to combat bullying and encouraging more work to help students who may be bystanders to violence or bullying behavior to intervene to stop it.

The complete report can be found at:https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-suicide-translation-final-a.pdf

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

USA TODAY NETWORK news organizations in central Wisconsin present this series, "#SpeakUp Against Bullying," to expose the issue, find ways to address and reduce the problem for children in our region, and share stories of people who have overcome childhood bullying to lead successful lives. If you'd like to share your story or participate in future forums, contact Engagement Editor Jamie Rokus atjrokus@gannett.com.