Safe School Ambassadors Key Part of District Approach

Topic area: Bullying and Violence Prevention

It all started in September 2002 when a large group of faculty and staff joined together to form the Fostering Peace Committee at Brockport High School. The goal of this committee was to find ways to educate students and staff about violence prevention issues and to find real workable solutions to the problem of bullying. It quickly became apparent that our first mission was to educate the staff about the life long effects of bullying. Our committee collected first person accounts from students about the types of cruelty they were experiencing and how it impacted their education, their home life and their physical and emotional well-being. On our superintendent’s Conference Day we stood before our colleagues and read the anonymous, unedited accounts of the types of cruelty that were occurring in our building. Many in the audience cried at the pain our students were experiencing. As a result, the entire staff and administration made it a priority to take a stand against cruelty on our campus. We developed a two-fold plan, 1) to continue to educate staff about recognizing cruelty and how to intervene when they saw it occurring and 2) educate students on how to intervene if they experienced cruelty in their peer groups.

Coincidentally, the school social worker and student assistance program coordinator attended the National Asset Conference that year and learned about the Safe School Ambassador Program. It seemed a perfect fit for the type of student program we were looking for. Our principal and staff readily agreed. Our principal was so committed to this issue that he agreed to fund a middle school and high school SSA training, followed by a day long district staff in-service provided by Community Matters. The SSA program was launched with resounding success.

As of September, 2006, the Brockport Central School District is starting its fourth year of the Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) program. To date 264 5th-12th grade students and 37 adult family group facilitators have been trained. We are beginning to experience the impact of changing the norm on our school campuses from one where cruelty was once accepted to one where kindness is expected. Safe School Ambassadors repeatedly comment that they believe they are changing the world! Some say that the only reason they come to school is because their Family Group is meeting and they don’t want to miss it! Through SSA, students have made friends with others they never would have interacted with before they had the opportunity to meet them and “know their story.”

For the Brockport School District, the SSA Program is about inclusion for all students and the promotion of kindness and caring by and for students. Our students report impacting over 8,000 peers last school year through the intervention skills they have been taught at the SSA trainings. Our students report that they are utilizing the skills they have learned on college campuses and their workplace. Amazingly, the students are teaching the skills to their own parents who are utilizing them in their place of employment! We never dreamed when we participated in the first SSA training that the impact would be so profound and so wide reaching. The SSA Program resonates with our community because it empowers students and adults to take an active role in preventing cruelty.

We understand that bullying is a national problem, but the more people who understand the impact bullying has on people’s lives, and the more people who are trained to effectively deal with bullying situations, change is imminent. SSA has been instrumental in helping us combat these issues.

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