By James Lomuscio
In the wake of a brief but painful cyber-bullying episode at Westport’s Staples High School last week caused by the phone app Yik Yak, more than a dozen parents and students begged the Board of Education tonight not to cut its anti-bullying program, Kool to Be Kind (K2BK).
The Yik Yak app was disabled at Staples but not before it swept through the school last week. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo
Proponents of the four-year-old, empathy-based K2BK program run in third grade classrooms by parent volunteers and Staples students spoke after school administrators presented nearly an hour’s overview of their own School Climate Committee’s effectiveness. It was the second time in little more than a month that the board had heard emotional pleas about the program from students and parents. (See WestportNow April 24, 2014)
“I heard a lot of words thrown around tonight, and I’m concerned,” Jessica Gross, a Staples junior, said about the administrative report that used terms such as “digital citizenship” and “social-emotional competence.”
“Bullying is an issue now,” she added, noting K2BK was more effective.
She said that the Yik Yak app’s anonymous, hurtful posts resulted in students crying and leaving their classrooms before Principal John Dodig had it shut down.
“We have a problem on our hands,” Jessica said.
Board member Jeannie Smith read a letter from fellow member Michael Gordon, who was not present, in support of K2BK, saying that the administration is drawing from the group’s key concepts.
“More, not less, should be a priority,” he stated.
Staples student Sebastian Hood, a K2BK mentor, told the board meeting in the Staples cafeteria, that the very room they were in was the site of major cyber-bullying.
“I can’t see why in the face of it, the administration has deemed it necessary to discontinue Kool to be Kind,” he said.
Third grader James Hannon later stepped to the podium.
“Why would you cut a program that spreads kindness, that spreads it all around the world and makes it a better place?” he asked. “Don’t cut it.”
At the end of the public comments, Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon stressed that the administration’s plan to discontinue K2BK was not because it did not care.
“Nobody enters this profession to be cruel to anybody,” Landon said. “They care about kids. I don’t want anybody to walk away thinking that if we don’t have the Kool to be Kind program, we’re going to hell in a hand basket. I don’t want anybody to leave here thinking our staff doesn’t make kindness its highest priority.”
Landon thanked the public for its input and said he would discuss it with the board and report back in the fall. But he and the board made clear that the Kool to be Kind program would end and elements, including high school student participation, would be folded into the board-approved Responsible Classroom program for students in all elementary grades.
