On
Monday, Nov. 10, Head of School Miss Elizabeth Kish addressed the faculty about
harassment issues that were occurring within the school. In the days following, homeroom teachers read
the school’s harassment policy out loud to students after morning
announcements.
Many
students were confused by this sudden attention being paid to an issue that
hadn’t been addressed in depth in the past.
“I
didn’t know what was going on. I don’t
ever see any harassment that would be considered ‘bad,’ I mean people make fun
of people all the time, but nothing serious, so I didn’t know why they were
making such a big deal about it,” said senior Emily Stessman.
However,
according to Miss Ronda Motykowski, dean of discipline, harassment is an issue
that needs to be addressed at Marian.
“We’re
always worried about harassment happening, because a lot of times when someone
gets in trouble they say it was because they were harassed, but nothing was ever
done. Usually in these cases, nothing
was ever said about it, either, because students feel like they can handle it
themselves,” said Motykowski.
Harassment,
can be things as simple as saving seats in the cafeteria, flipping locks on and
stealing books out of lockers and hitting people with backpacks. Students have come forward to the
administration about verbal harassment and a few instances of harassment
through computers and the Internet.
“It’s
the school’s business to know about it if harassment has been going on in
school. It’s our job to make sure the
students are safe and comfortable in their surroundings,” said Motykowski.
Although
lock flipping seems to have stopped after the onset of a “locker patrol” in the
areas in which the problems were reported, stealing books from lockers is still
a problem.
Many
teachers take points off if students come to class without their books. Freshman Emily Crowley had her Bible taken
from her locker with an anonymous note thanking her for allowing the person to
borrow it. Crowley told her teacher
what had happened, but they told her that there was nothing they could do about
it and she should lock her locker. The
Bible was returned the following day.
English teacher Miss Susie Sisson said that the girl may
have thought she was being polite in leaving a note explaining why she stole
Crowley’s book, but what she didn’t realize was she was being rude. “Get your own book!” said Sisson.
In
a similar incidence, freshman Conner Rensch had her Honors Biology book and
notebook stolen out of her locker along with her choir binder during the first
few weeks of school, but only the notebook was returned. Rensch reported this to the administration,
and Miss Faye Ford, Honors Biology teacher, gave her a book to use, but she has
to return it at the end of the year. “I
photocopy chapters to highlight,” said Rensch.
Motykowski,
however, said stealing books out of lockers may not be as big of a problem as
people are making it out to be.
“Students lose things a lot.
Sometimes they may be blaming someone else for stealing a book when in
reality it’s sitting at home.”
Students
may also misunderstand the meaning of someone pushing them with their backpack,
said Motykowski. Then again, when one
student is teamed up upon by a group of students, it’s a different story. “Students need to be aware of their body
language and the way they communicate.
Girls bully in different ways than boys—there’s a different psychology
about it,” said Motykowski. “Girls are
more emotional, so they’re less likely to just forget about it.”
Sisson
read a book about girls’ bullying techniques called Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons.
Simmons said there is a “hidden culture of girls’ aggression” brought
about because society generally teaches girls to be “nice” and “refuses girls
access to open conflict.”
Sisson
said this view that society holds causes girls to not know how to handle their
anger. “They resort to expressing anger
in subtle ways, like swinging their backpacks.”
Harassment
is hardly a new problem at Marian, so the sudden interest in it could seem a
little odd. Motykowski believes it’s
being talked about more now because society has become more aware of the
problems that harassment can cause.
Motykowski
doesn’t want students to try to handle these problems on their own. “What bothers me is why they don’t come to
the administration right away,” she said.
“Then we can approach the issue, and if it gets too serious or out
of hand we can handle it.”