Anti-Bullying Program

 

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

    I am writing you today regarding implementing an anti-bullying program in all of the Michigan City Area Schools. Bullying is an epidemic in this nation and it needs to stop. Every day children are bullied. Every day children don't want to go to school because they don't want to be picked on. Every day some child wonders if they can take anymore. Children shouldn't have to feel the only way out is suicide. We need to be pro-active about this in our community to ensure that children enjoy coming to school, that school is a fun place of learning without fear of censure. According to the National Education Association, an estimate of 160,000 children misses school every day due to fear of intimidation by other students.

    The schools need to take a stance of no tolerance for bullying. A friend of mine is a teacher in Michigan and her school has adopted the Behavior Rubric attached. She has said that her school requires all the teachers and students to follow the Rubric, and that it is sent home with parents and talked about at the Open Houses. It has made a dramatic improvement in her school. Adopting a similar Rubric costs the school absolutely no money and the benefits are immense.

I want to point out a couple of items on the Behavior Rubric that may need some further explanation. The "Time to Think Form" is a form that must be filled out by the student who has broken one of the Rubric Rules. The student should be sent to another area outside of the classroom and they are not allowed to come back until they have filled it out. The "Time to Think" form should have questions as to why they did what they did, what they could do better next time. This form should be sent to the parents that night for their signature in addition to the phone call directly from the student. This makes the student personally responsible for inappropriate actions or words. There should also be separate forms for the different grade classes. An elementary student shouldn't be given the same form as a high school student. There is an example of the "Time to Think" form also attached with this letter.

The other two terms I feel need clarification is ISS and OSS, which stand for In School Suspension and Out of School Suspension. It may seem strict to suspend a student due to bullying, but I firmly believe that fights are usually caused by some kind of bullying. Once it gets to a fight, it is punished by the school, but we should be taken care of it before it gets to that point.

I am also including some Core Components of a School-Based Aggression Prevention Program. This is an easy to read guide of how to come to a general consensus of what is bullying, where the "line in the sand" is, doing an anonymous survey with the students to get their perspective and developing the plan on an Area school basis. A copy of a survey regarding bullying is also enclosed.

It is important that teachers teach children what the difference is between ratting and reporting. I am attaching a worksheet that discusses how to talk to students about it as well as a Student Report Form. This year at an after school program, my five year old son was being choked by another five year old. My oldest daughter (8) saw this and attempted to get up to tell someone, but was told promptly not to get up from her seat. When I found out about this, I went directly to the after school program and talked with them about it. They told my daughter that no matter what she needs to get up next time, but I understand my daughter's fear that she's going to get in trouble by trying to get up because she at that point is supposed to "sit down." This can happen as easily in an after school program as it can during school hours.

I am also including handouts of "Reasons Adults Don't Intervene More," "What do Targets Need?" and "What do Bullies Need?" I think these are very informative for a teacher or staff at the school as to what to look for, why an adult should intervene as well as the support both the "Target" and the "Bully" need. There are many web resources regarding anti-bullying and suicide prevention. A couple of my favorites are: http://kidshealth.org and http://www.thetrevorproject.org. Web resources, hotlines, pamphlets and books regarding bullying should be able to be accessed through the school.

It is important for the schools to teach empathy vs. intolerance and compassion. Many times I have talked to my daughter about asking questions in school. Currently, I am enrolled at Purdue North Central and I ask any question I need to, because I know how important education is. However, as a young child it is different. There is a tremendous fear of censure or "looking stupid" when they raise their hand. If they get an answer wrong, or ask what someone else in the class thinks is "dumb" children can be made fun of. My daughter told me of an instance just like this two weeks ago in her class. She told me she raised her hand and answered a question, but her answer was wrong. The result: a few of the students in her class laughed at her. Next time it will be that much harder for her to raise her hand and take that chance. The form "Teaching and Modeling Empathy and Compassion At School" furnishes strong ideas on how to teach this in the classroom.

The final attachment is a Teaching Script of a couple of games that teaches children about Bullying. I feel these are applicable for students from pre-school through elementary school. I feel it is important we start early in teaching our children what is right and wrong, and what is acceptable behavior.

After the recent deaths of so many teenagers it has inspired me to become actively involved in Anti-Bullying. Children are killing themselves. This can and should be stopped. Let's not wait until this happens in Michigan City. I hope that you will take the time to review this information and contact me. I would like to be as involved as possible with initiating an Anti-Bullying Program in the Michigan City Area Schools. We should go from being a reactive society to become a preemptive society. I hope you take this situation as seriously as I do.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Cari Adams

    Email: cariannadams@gmail.com

    Phone: 219-898-5412

Diet Day 5 and 6

Diet Day 5

Morning: Coffee

Water Count: 5

Breakfast: 2 pieces of French toast

2 pieces of bacon

Lunch:

Salad w/ranch

After Lunch:

100 cal Cheez It/Pretzel pack

Dinner:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast w/light BBQ sauce

Mushrooms & Onions

Cherry Tomatoes

2 Green Shoots of Green Onion

4 Asparagus

After dinner:

Yoplait 100 calorie Lemon Meringue… ok when I ate it, but after had a weird aftertaste

Indulgent Bad/Bad/Bad:

Miniature 3 Musketeers

Sunday

Diet Day #6:

1 cup of Coffee

Water Count: 6

Breakfast: Everything Bagel with Tbsp of Butter (approx)

Lunch: Chicken Fajitas with Mushrooms, Onions and Green Pepper with Salsa and a teaspoon of Salsa

Lunch (Dessert): Strawberry Rhubarb Pudding (literally my favorite freakin' dessert and my mom made it and I could not resist!)

Dinner: A cup of pulled pork, 2 shoots of green onion, a bunch of red cherry tomatoes cut up, a cup of green beans, one cornbread muffin and 3 slices of fried (in olive oil) green tomato

 

I'm really nervous about weighing in, especially because of my couple slip ups with the rhubarb pudding and the pumpkin pie… oh and the miniature 3 musketeers. I think that I've done a really good job and am hoping that tomorrow I will see some sort of weight loss on the scale! I am planning on working out Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri and I will continue to try and keep in good portion control and my water intake up!

Diet Day 4 and 5

Diet Day 4

Water Count: 4 - 5

Morning:

2 Eggs Fried (w/Spray)

1 ½ Pieces of Toast

Mid-morning:

Banana

Lunch:

Large Salad

After Lunch Snack:

100 cal brownie bites (YUM)

Dinner:

Salmon

Cherry Tomatoes

Sugar snap peas

2 shoots of Green Onion

Mushrooms, Onions and Red papers (cooked with olive oil spray)

 

Diet Day 5:

Water Count: 5 – 6

Breakfast:

Bowl of fruit loops w/1% milk

Mid-morning snack:

Apple slices w/cheese and low fat caramel dip

Later on morning snack:

100 calorie Cheese Crackers/pretzels snack

Lunch:

Ham sandwich w/mustard

Salad w/lots of veggies and ranch

Dinner: (at a Banquet)

Thin slice of Prime Rib (no fat eaten – ew)

Asparagus

Tiny bit of potatoes

Maybe a cup of shrimp w/pasta

Pumpkin Pie (this is a vegetable right?)

    Forgot to do Diet Day 4 summary so just moving on! Yesterday (Friday) went working out with Maggie in the morning, did cardio and weights and then a cool down. Had a banquet to go to last night with Debbie…. Knew I was going for a dessert, but I feel ok with that decision! Now that I'm working out in the morning every morning I start waking up at 6:30…. Today is Saturday (Day 6) and I woke up at 6:30 but laid in bed til 7 because it seems wrong to get up so early when I'm not working out. I am going to try and bike a bit later on, but first Must Clean House!

 

Diet Day #3

 

Water Count: 4?

Morning: Coffee 1 cup

Bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats

Mid Morning: Banana

Closer to Lunch: 100 Cal Snack Pack of Cheddar, Pretzel etc.

Missed Lunch/Starving: Apple

Lunch at 2 pm: Salad with lots of veggies a bit of Ranch, Half Ham Sandwich w/Mustard

Dinner: Lean Steak, Asparagus, Mushrooms, Onions, Red Peppers, 1 Half of a small potato, 2 shoots of green onion, 1 slice of crunchy bread

After Dinner Snack: 100 calorie Hostess Cupcakes (YUM!)

Day #3

    Woke up and pretty sure thought my legs were going to fall off. Sore all over. But I was up! I was going to work out! Picked up Maggie (after cleaning out my front passenger seat overflowing with water bottles and former pop bottles) and headed to the gym. Cardio!! We decided to do 30 minutes of cardio to switch on and off with weights. Maggie had the great idea of the Spinning Bike (remind self to send her a thank you card). 20 minutes of Spinning was horrifying! The video instructor I feel was totally mocking me and everytime he smiled his stupid little chipper smile my anger grew at him! However, burned a lot of calories and we are going to continue this torture every Wednesday, slowly moving our time up. The next 10 minutes were spent on the treadmill. Was sore for the rest of the day!     Took snacks to work with me, felt starving by 1 pm. Suddenly remembered the kids' Awards Ceremony at school at 1:30. Crap! Starving!! Had a delicious apple and some water that totally hit the spot! When I got home I was careful in what I ate for lunch and didn't overeat, I thank the apple.

    Dinner was scrumptious! I picked up a couple of little lean steaks and cooked in a light spray of olive oil, I cooked my mushrooms, onions and peppers also in a light spray of olive oil and some seasoning. Asparagus was delicious as well. Oh I forgot I had also cut up a few cherry tomatoes and had those with my steak. It was a truly delightful dinner. My temptation was the bread. Oh how I love big crunchy bread loaves from Meijer. I don't think I could give it up, I don't think I'd want to. I could sit and munch on bread and be happy. But, I had some self-control, limiting, myself to one thin slice, then the crust piece of the 2^nd little piece on my plate that David put there. I gave the rest to the dogs, because I knew I had to.

    Pretty happy with how things are going so far this week. I'm avoiding weighing myself until Monday, I am hopeful that I will not be disappointed then!

Diet Day #2

Water Count: 5 (16 oz bottles)

Breakfast:

1 ½ cup of Coffee

Banana

Bite of Bagel w/cream cheese

Breakfast: Bowl of Special K fruit and yogurt w/ 1% milk

Lunch:

Big Salad w/Catalina

Container of Mandarin Oranges

Snack:

True Delights 110 cal. Dark chocolate w/hazelnut square

Dinner:

Chicken Stirfry

Evening Snack:

Cottage Cheese w/Pineappple

Today got up at 6:24 to get around for Maggie to pick me up for a work-out. We figure it'll keep us in line when we have one of us picking up the other… kind of like a check system J. Work out was what I expected, sucky! It was really nice to work-out with Maggie but I was a sweaty mess before I was off the elliptical. I felt really good after it. Very awake but around mid-morning/early-afternoon I was really hoping for a nap. Unfortunately I was at school, so it wasn't going to happen. I was really tempted by the smell of the pizza in the PNC cafeteria. It was like torture! But I convinced myself that a large salad w/mandarin oranges on the side was better. I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and was absolutely starving by the time I checked out. I quickly ripped open the True Delights listed above and then realized that it was dark chocolate and I can't stand dark chocolate. Still it satisfied my hunger and was only 110 cal. Tonight at dinner the chicken stir-fry (only using olive oil spray) was really good, other than I added soy sauce… Probably not the smartest thing based on sodium but I'm okay with that. Tomorrow morning up at 6:30 to pick up Maggie for just cardio tomorrow morning for about half hour. Then again on Friday! Hoping for an early bedtime tonight, but am really looking forward to watching The Biggest Loser!

Diet Day #1

Well I feel very proud of my first day diet. I'm not following a diet persay, just trying to be recognizant of portion control and eating healthier. I worked out on the bike for 25 minutes while watching Say Yes to the Dress (talk about inspiration to lose weight!). I also went to the gym and signed up under David's membership and am going at the vicious hour of 6:45 to the gym in the morning with Maggie. I feel I did my friend duty by telling her I'm going to look like shit tomorrow (and she pointed out even worse after we are done). I've never gotten up early before to work out so this should be interesting! I really do hope this is a new lifestyle for me and that I can maintain a good and healthy weight with healthy eating and exercising. I know 2 days during this Unofficial Biggest Loser Competition where I'm going to eat what I want and those are Thanksgiving and the Holiday Food Fest I'm having her at home. I am sure there will be slip ups, but I'll just dust myself off and get back on the proverbial exercise horse J.

Food Journal – Diet Day #1

Water: 2 - 3

Morning: Bowl of Special K with 1% milk (trying to step down from 2%)

Banana

Mid-morning Snack: Apple

Lunch: Ham, Roast Beef and Turkey sandwich w/mustard; Salad w/catalina dressing and lots of veggies!

Snack: Handful of pecans

Dinner: One Filet of Tilapia (baked in extra light virgin olive oil and Nature's Seasons), ¼ cup Brown Rice, ½ Cup Green Beans (approx.), Tablespoon-ish diced tomatoes and green chiles!

After class snack: (1) 100 calorie pack of hostess cupcakes (Delicious!!)

August 9 thru August 31

August 9

This'll probably be a quickie note, mainly because I'm rushing to leave the office to go get some stuff done (ie: mail you a ton of pictures, go to the bank, pick up Blythe, go get Kaylee (Mandy's daughter) who's staying for a few days). I've checked off quite a lot on my list today but still have lots more to do and my back is seriously killing me. I pinched a nerve in my back last week when I carried a too heavy cooler when I took the kids to the waterpark on Monday. I went to chiropractor on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday before I went to Iowa and then again today but I've had little relief. I've been icing it down a lot and taking ibuprofen like they are candy! Ah well, it will get better!

I have more pictures to print out and send you, or order and send you but I didn't take that many when I was in Iowa since my back had me mostly on the couch. We had fun though and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Uncle Tony and Aunt Wendy have a nice in-ground pool which the kids loved spending time in. I went in a few times myself but just floated around. We were there from Wednesday to Sunday morning. Sunday David had the physical test to be a fireman and he passed with a time of 8 minutes 34 seconds. Super proud of him. The next step will be the interview process then hopefully a job offer. I worry, of course, about him being a firefighter and putting his life on the line to save others, but it's a dream of his and I support him in that.

So there wasn't a ton of activity within the last week, other than the waterpark we went to on Monday before we left, that was fun but of course now I'm paying the price with a freakin super sore back. Darn it! My back isn't really hurting, it's my leg. The nerve pinched in my back sends waves of pain down my leg with movement. Talk about fun! Once my back is better I'm going to start using an exercise bike to get back in shape. I'm sick of being not as thin as I once was, so I bought a bike on Walmart.com and it is at the store, I just have to go get it and make David put it together (he's so lucky! J)

I don't think I told you in my last letter but David, Blythe and I went to the Elkhart County Fair the last week of July and saw Huey Lewis and the News in concert. It was a lot of fun and I loved singing along with the songs and forcing Blythe to dance along with me J. Oh also I had emailed my professor for my Final Grade in Algebra and I got a 95% on the Final Exam and I already had an A in the class but I was soooo excited to hear about the final as it was seriously Intense!!!

David is taking John to the Wisconsin Dells tomorrow to a waterpark hotel til Friday. He's doing that because I'm taking the girls to the Justin Bieber concert on Thursday in Indianapolis with Mandy and Kaylee. They don't know yet and I'm going to tell them when we get down to Indy. They are going to freak out!!! J

Okay well I just looked at the clock and saw the time and I really got to get running but I'll write more next week!

August 31

I'm super irritable right now too. I'm on break between classes and half-assedly eating some yummy strawberry shortcake and just got done re-reading and tweaking my Sociology paper due this Friday. I started school on August 23, I have 4 classes this semester: Spanish 2, Sociology, Intro to Great Issues (Philosophy) and Algebra/Trigonometry. I'll tell you about each one. Spanish 2 is great, 5 of my friends who took Spanish 1 with me also signed up for Spanish 2 with me, so we have a row of our regulars! However, one of the girls just dropped Spanish 2 because she felt she wasn't going to do good at it. Our Spanish professor is from Colombia and she just learned English 10 years ago! She seems really nice though and is not rushing us through stuff so that's good. However, she hasn't issued any homework yet and the only way I learn is from repetition and doing homework, so I asked about that today and this one loud mouth girl that I already can't stand gave me shit about it and I was super irritated by it. Still am. People are stupid. You go to college to learn! Anyway I had a similar experience in math class last night, which I'll tell you about in a minute. Right now in Spanish we are currently learning about food and saying that we like something. So I've been practicing saying stuff in Spanish with the kids which is fun. Like: pido unos huevos, which is I would like some eggs. Or pido una torta de chocolate. I would like a chocolate cake, or torte. If you say I like Spanish it's: me gusta espanol. Or if you don't like Spanish you say: no me gusta espanol.

    My sociology class is all online, which I was at first worried about, but now I think I'm getting into the groove of it. Each week we have a 2 page single spaced paper due as a reflection of what we read in that week's chapter. We are currently on Chapter 2. We also have to watch a video or read an article and then answer a couple of questions in the format of a discussion thread. Then you have to respond to your peers' response as well. The professor expects at least 3 interactions per week, and I'm very driven to get an A so I do at least that. I was really worried about my Chapter 1 paper, but I got 2 out of 2 points and when she made an announcement of how she graded the papers, she said to look at mine or one other students' as to what a 2 point paper is like, which is awesome! It made me feel so relieved! I've already wrote the Chapter 2 reflection and I have sent it off to a couple people to review for grammatical issues before I post it. I'll send them to you as well.

    The Intro to Great Issues (Philosophy) class should be quite interesting. Each day a summary of one article listed for the semester by day is due. The summary has to be less than a page and contain no opinion in it. So we basically read a small article or like today, we are to turn in a summary of Books 1 and 2 of Genesis. I wondered why we would have to write with no opinion considering it's a Philosophy class but the entire class time is discussion of our opinions. We write what the author states to show we can clearly see what the message was. I'll be interested to see how the class discussion goes today because sometimes religion is a volatile subject. I think everyone should respect each other's opinion, even if it differs from their own, but a lot of people don't do that.

    My Algebra/Trigonometry class is my last math class (thank heavens!). I took it with the same professor I had in 064 (my first math class). He's a good guy but this class is way more intense and so I may have to go see the math tutors here at PNC or study extra on this subject! I have this class on Monday and Wednesdays from 7 – 8:15 pm. It's my only night class, the other 2 I come to PNC for are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. OH yeah I was going to tell you about the girl in my math class that pissed me off yesterday! What is it with people! Well our professor was going to show us how to do something using our very complicated scientific calculators but he had forgot it, so he told us he was going to show us yesterday. While class was winding up about 15 minutes early and the guy I took 064 with asked the Prof if he was going to go over that… well this one girl across the room got really shitty, like OMG, why would you say that, she says. Totally irritated me, so I spouted off back to her, "That I'd rather know how to do it for the tests, then not know how to do it." And the guy I took the math class with before, said "It's 10 minutes, geesh." Anyway, so people are pushing my buttons this week!

    The weekend before school started we had a yard sale and made some money which was good! We also sold the washer/dryer set that was in the house when we moved in (we had our own). The kids started school on August 25. Blythe is in 3^rd grade and her teacher's name is Mrs. Carlson. She likes her. The twins are in preschool with Mrs. Kelly. Her name is actually Kelli Kelly, isn't that funny? I had called the school because the pre-school is in the same school and they are teaching the twins stuff they already know. In Indiana you have to be 5 by August to go to kindergarten or they can test in, so I called the secretary last week to talk about it and she said the counselor would test them to see if they can be moved up to kindergarten. I don't know how long that will take, I just called the school and asked about it. She said hope to hear something by the end of the week. They are currently teaching the twins how to count to 10 and John can count to over 100 while Grace can count up to 30 at least. So we'll see how that goes. Thursday there is an Open House at the school so I'm looking forward to that.

    Next weekend David, the kids and I are going to get family pictures done at the beach. I'm really excited though I would prefer to lose like 15 pounds before them! I got an exercise bike and I worked out on it 4 times last week but took a break over the weekend. I biked today when I got home from class. It's now 8:24 pm and I'm in bed printing off photos to send you along with the other photos I had ordered from walmart.com a couple weeks ago. I plan on going to the post office after I take the twins to school to mail you all the pictures and this letter. Back to the pictures, I'm super excited about getting pictures done at the beach, plus David and I need a photographer for our wedding so hopefully this works out.

    I got all the wall decals put up within the last couple weeks. They look great, I'm sending you pictures of some. I had ordered 2^nd sets for the cherry blossom in our bedroom and for the living room, which we put on our big, long wall by the entryway and put up pictures around them (David's idea and it turned out awesome!). I love the way the house looks, though there is always more to do and always cleaning to do to keep it looking good! This weekend David and I have decided to work on the garage (putting stuff up from garage sale etc.) and also the basement. I had the basement almost all finished with boxing stuff up in storage bins and something fell on the storage bins and they toppled all over so now it's a total mess down there! Ergh! Ah well, hopefully it'll be all put together at the end of this weekend!

    Well mid-printing the ink in my printer started going out so I will try and print some pictures at the office tomorrow and now have to add yet another thing to do to my list tomorrow, buy more ink! I already have so much to do tomorrow, I may have to move some stuff around! Aspen is currently sniffing the pictures I printed out so if they smell like dog that's why J.

    I think I printed off some pictures of the Justin Bieber concert I took the girls to thru Walmart, but I can't remember and they are out in the car so if not I'll order some and send them to you next time. I take so many pictures and then I order the prints thru Walmart as they are much cheaper that way! The girls had an amazing time at the Bieber concert. It was so much fun! We told them in the parking garage when we got to our hotel in Indy because there were a ton of cars with Justin Bieber written on them and we saw people in the hotel area with Justin Bieber shirts on. They all screamed! Blythe said this was the best thing ever, Kaylee cried and Grace asked Mandy to be her bridesmaid. I think I've told you before Grace believes Justin Bieber is her boyfriend J. Our seats were up super high which was a bummer but there were a couple big screens and they loved it. There was Sean Kingston, the guy who sings "Replay" and Drake there as well as a couple no-name opening acts. We went to dinner at the Hard Rock Café afterwards and then went back to the hotel and passed out! When we got back I uploaded pictures to Walmart.com and ordered 2 memory books for each of the girls. I just got them last weekend, I think. They loved them!

    The kids' birthday is coming up… Well Blythe's is on September 30 and the twins' is on October 17. Blythe and Grace want American Girl dolls (insanely expensive dolls that you buy in Chicago) so I told them that I would buy them that for their only present. John wants a guitar so I'm in search for that now.

    Okay I need to read an article for my Philosophy class so I'll write more soon!