Glen Meadow students hear anti-bullying message

VERNON — The Glen Meadow Student Community Association brought Mallory’s Army, Nov. 27, to Glen Meadow Middle School.
During an afternoon student assembly and evening parent presentation, Dianne Grossman bravely addressed the serious consequences of bullying in school and society.
Grossman’s sixth-grade daughter, Mallory Rose Grossman, committed suicide June 14, 2017, in response to peer cyber-bullying in the Rockaway School System.
Principal Edwina Piszczek said about 700 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students had attended the earlier assembly in the afternoon.
SCA President Colleen Greenhalgh introduced Grossman saying, “You could have heard a pin drop,” earlier in the day.
During the parent portion, Grossman reviewed some of the N.J. State Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB) pages. Under HIB, Title 9 — Civil Rights, Grossman said, children have the right to a safe learning environment, and every child is covered.
She also reviewed definitions of HIB, which include: verbal, psychological, physical, and cyberbullying.
According to Grossman, the psychological, relational bullying is one of the most dangerous, because a child’s frontal cortex of the brain is not, yet, developed. Thus, the child cannot determine whether someone is a friend or foe.
Grossman addressed schools, teachers and administrators at the assembly. She reminded them, it takes a lot of courage for a victim to come forward and say, “I’m hated at school.”
She encouraged them to know what is happening, who the bullies are, and who is sitting alone.
Grossman also said, “screen-agers” need to be taught how to make friends, because their definition of a friend is their screen – their roller skating rink, bowling alley, and mall.
However, she added, the biggest problem with social media, unlike the roller skating rink, is it does not close. Grossman recommended buying children alarm clocks and leaving all electronic devices downstairs. She added, “I know it’s hard, but you know what’s harder? — a funeral.”
She said, we need to teach our children to be the person they want to meet, and there is something more to life than their screens.
Grossman advised being in a perpetual state of self-education, by attending Police Department, school, community, and church programs, board of education meetings, and getting involved in the SCA.
“When the school calls and says your child did something,” she said, “Use it as a teachable moment.” She added, “How will your children ever learn, if you are constantly bailing them out?”
Grossman suggested the App: “Stop it,” which allows children to report bad behavior anonymously.