Bullying Prevention
What is A CivilSchools?
CivilSchools is a comprehensive bullying prevention program that engages all the stakeholders in your educational community to transform culture and climate.
Aiming to move beyond an over-simplified focus on bullying, CivilSchools empowers educators, students, and parents with the critical tools necessary to build a culture of civility in which bullying is no longer a part of campus climate.
Utilizing parent engagement materials, Student UPstander Intervention Trainings, educator professional development, and a 25-week advisory curriculum, CivilSchools offers hands-on, preventative tools based on cutting-edge research to get beyond punitive measures and build a framework for preventing bullying before it starts and responding to bullying behavior in more effective ways.
All content from CivilSchools is accessible both by in-person trainings facilitated by Jamie Utt but also as a three-part video seminar series. Learn more about CivilSchools by visiting www.CivilSchools.com.
“Our tendency to apply punitive measures
often backfires. Schools must create
a systematic plan that creates
a climate of civility on campus.”
– Sheri Bauman, Ph.D.
University of Arizona College of Education
Assembly Programming
"The Antidote"
A fun, engaging, and hilarious keynote with a serious message, The Antidote gives students an understanding of how they can personally act to build a more inclusive school environment.
Target: Middle School, Adaptable for High School
"The Wall"
Jamie's most popular presentation, The Wall is a powerful, interactive keynote that helps students understand that if they want to build an inclusive school environment, they have to start with themselves.
Target: High School, Adaptable for Middle School
How do students respond to Jamie's high-impact assemblies?
Middle school students from St. Paul's School for Girls demonstrate some of their learnings from "The Antidote," one of Jamie's most requested bullying prevention assemblies.
In the video, students commit themselves to the "3 Ain't Gonnas:"
1. Ain't Gonna Get Infected (meaning students won't let negativity inside to hurt them)
2. Ain't Gonna Spit Poison (meaning students won't bully others with negative words or actions)
3. Ain't Gonna Stand By (meaning students will act as UPstanders whenever they see someone being mistreated)
Weekly Advisory Lesson Plans
In addition to trianings, CivilSchools offers 25 weeks of advisory lesson plans. Split into three units of study, the lessons guide students through understanding the nature of bullying behavior and bullying in their school and creating action plans for transforming school culture and climate. Additionally, the lessons offer students unique perspectives and tools for seeing themselves as the agents of positive change in their school community.
Parent Engagement
Nearly every parent with school-aged children is concerned about identity-based bullying, but few know how they can help! Jamie offers parents an understanding of the nature of the problem paired with hands-on strategies to prevent and respond to identity-based bullying in their community. If ending identity-based bullying is truly a community-wide project, then Jamie's strategies are the perfect ones for engaging parents.
Student UPstander Intervention Training
In the end, students are the ones with the most power to change culture and climate and prevent identity-based bullying. Jamie's Student UPstander Intervention trainings give students the tools to be the change they wish to see in their school. Breaking down the type of action they can take into three, manageable strategies, Jamie's trainings leave students with powerful interventions to change their school climate.
Educator Professional Development
Ensuring that teachers have the tools to effectively prevent and respond to identity-based bullying is vital to any effort to eradicate the problem. Jamie's professional development trainings combine research and and his experience with your teachers’ knowledge and experience to create school-specific intervention strategies guaranteed to change school culture and climate, particularly when paired with parent engagement and student UPstander intervention.
"Want to improve your student achievement? Start with student safety and inclusion. The research proves that when students feel safe and included, they achieve at higher levels. This is the single most controllable factor in student achievement, yet schools often ignore it. Any conversation about student achievement must also include talk of bullying and inclusion."
