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Pecatonica board hears bullying-prevention plan, emphasizes peer intervention and student advocacy
Summary
District officials outlined a multi-part bullying-prevention approach, citing research that peer intervention reduces incidents and noting declines in recorded harassment cases while urging continued education and interventions across grade levels.
Pecatonica Area School District administrators presented the board with a multi-pronged bullying-prevention plan during the October meeting, emphasizing prevention, student advocacy and targeted interventions.
Doctor Staitler and Annie Henkel, the district's new secondary school counselor, described the district's working definition of bullying and the research that shapes their approach. Henkel said, "We define bullying as when someone aggressively uses their power to target another individual with repeated unwanted words or actions," and urged staff to treat reports as advocacy rather than "tattling." Doctor Staitler told the board he uses the phrase "what you permit, you promote" when talking with students about the importance of peers intervening.
The presentation summarized research showing middle school as a peak period for bullying incidents and highlighted evidence that when peers intervene the climate improves: administrators said peer intervention corresponded with a substantial drop in incidents at the district in years following earlier efforts. Staitler told trustees that documented incidents fell from roughly 20 in an earlier year to single digits in later years, noting October is often a month with increased reports.
Administrators listed next steps that the district will continue or expand: assemblies to set common definitions and expectations, targeted interventions for students involved in incidents, documentation and investigation processes, and expanded peer-advocacy or student-led efforts. Henkel said part of the strategy is to "inform and instill"—teach students what bullying looks like and provide practical bystander responses.
Board members asked whether cited sources were current; trustees and administrators discussed the role of social media in modern incidents and the difficulty of evidence on ephemeral platforms such as Snapchat. Trustees suggested re-running schoolwide education efforts, involving parents and local partners, and exploring whether past peer-support groups (such as earlier county-level or school-based programs) could be relaunched.
The board did not take formal action but asked administrators to continue reporting as programs and interventions are implemented.
