Bullying is on the rise, assistant superintendent says
By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
OXFORD TWP. — During the regular meeting on April 22, the Oxford Community Schools Board of Education was provided an update on the recent bullying prevention survey that went out to students.
“Really, since the pandemic, bullying is on the rise,” said Anita Qonja-Collins, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.
According to the Center for Disease Control, between July 2021 and December 2023, 34% of teenagers were bullied within 12 months of being surveyed. She also presented CDC findings based on certain demographics, such as that teens who have developmental disabilities were bullied at a higher rate than teens without developmental disabilities, and teens who were a sexual or gender minority were more likely to be bullied than students who weren’t.
Those statistics led to changes in the surveys, including asking students about special education or IEPs, and a more expanded range of questions about sexual orientation and gender identity. The questions about sexual orientation and gender identity were only given to secondary level students, not elementary level.
They also included questions about race, ethnicity, and grade level, which have been included in past year surveys.
“When we worked on our more recent bullying survey, we used these as a marker to see, does this match our student experience,” said Qonja-Collins. “And our job is to ensure that none of our students fall into those statistics.”
Prior to the survey, an email was sent to parents and caregivers, offering them the opportunity to opt their child out of the survey and an opportunity to review the survey. Parents were able to opt their student out entirely, or opt out of the demographic questions. In total, 29 students were opted out of the survey entirely.
“We’re trying to understand where it’s happening, how it’s happening, the type of bullying that’s happening,” Qonja-Collins said. “All of that helps us inform our response.”
The survey allows the district to track which student groups are most affected, such as certain grade levels, races, identities or abilities. It will also allow the district to see where bullying is happening, be it in-person or online. If it’s happening in the buildings, the survey also asks where students have experienced bullying, such as the playground, hallways, bathrooms or lunch rooms.
The survey goals are to identify the bullying trends, create targeted intervention, raise awareness, build empathy and create professional development for staff.
“Every single student deserves to feel safe in our school,” Qonja-Collins said.
The board suggested talking to parents more about survey changes in the future, as parents had provided feedback that they wanted to talk to their children about it first. Board members also suggested a question to ask students if they have witnessed bullying.