DASA Info.

New York State's

Dignity for All Students Act (DASA)

As of July 1, 2012 The Dignity for All Students Act went into effect, enforcing stricter regulations on bullying and prevention. The Runway to Hope Foundation has meticulously designed programs that follow our modern theme, but in fact, satisfy the requirements set forth by The Dignity for All Students Act. Please review the following page to understand how The Runway to Hope Foundation can meet these extremely crucial regulations for your school district.

You can also visit these links to find out more about DASA and updated amendments that fight to keep our children safe.

New York State Education Department: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact

Laws & Regulations: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/lawsandregs.html

Get Involved with New York Civil Liberties Union: http://www.nyclu.org/

DASA Resources: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/documents/DignityActPresentation7.11.12.pdf

NYS Center for School Safety: http://www.nyscenterforschoolsafety.org/what.cfm?subpage=928750

The Dignity Act Coordinator (DAC):

Each and every school facility is required to have one or more employees that are designated as Dignity Act Coordinators. These individuals handle the core amount of cases involving School Bullying, and attempt to mediate the situation in a "Restorative Approach." The designated DAC should possess a bright character as to promote preventative and non-punitive intervention versus a harsh, impersonal punishment. The Department of Education has conveyed that "Using discipline as a 'Teachable Moment' is fundamental to a positive approach [to discipline]."

The Runway to Hope Foundation 110% agrees that primitive measures of exclusionary tactics, such as suspension, do not target the actual issue of Bully prevention. Therefore, a representative meets with the DAC on a weekly basis to construct new avenues of the intervention process. Following the guidelines set by our StopTheBull™ program, we aim to create a broad tolerance of equality within any student charged with bullying. An example of previously used methods include Home Life Evaluation, Drug/Alcohol Use, and determination of childhood aggression. Combined with personal attention, we are able to TEACH the Bully that all people are created equal, that every individual possesses different traits, but that we are ALL on this earth TOGETHER.

In some situations, our representatives have also found mutual similarities between the Victim and Bully to further reduce negative behaviors. Believe it or not...This innovative route has also led to many friendships!!

Pg. 19, "The Dignity for All Students Presentation"

Required Faculty Training &

Staff Development:

Let us know if you are interested in becoming your school's Dignity Act Coordinator (DAC)!

As of the 2012-13 school year, all schools are REQUIRED to approve an Anti-Bullying training program for both instructional and non-instructional faculty members. The supplemental education must instruct on how to promote a more positive school atmosphere that is free from discrimination and harassment. Employees must also be taught how to deal with extra-curricular situations, including transportation services and school functions. The training also acts to raise "awareness and sensitivity" toward discrimination and harassment.

The Runway to Hope Foundation provides School Employees the necessary training needed to fulfill the requirements through our WatchfulEyes™ Training Workshops. We take a great deal of effort in molding topics together that allow for any employee to tackle many different types of Bullying situations. We aim to foster the idea of the Restorative Approach by providing faculty with generalized scripts to show examples of how to word questions related to bullying. Below you will find a sample of various topics discussed in each of RHF's Ninety (90) minute workshops:

How to Spot a Bully
Life-Long Effects of Bullying, What you Didn't Know!
The Teacher that Bullies
Creating Your Own Anti-Bullying Action Plan
Passive Intervention Ideas
Cyber-Bullying, What You Can Do from Your Classroom!
LGBTQ Education, The Term "Gay" and it's Negative Modern Usage
Girl Fights & the Severity of Group Bullying

Good to Remember:

8 NYCRR 100.2(c) Classroom Instruction in:

Civility, Citizenship, & Character Education

Pg. 17, "The Dignity for All Students Presentation"

In 2012, the Board of Regents ammended 8 NYCRR 100.2(c) to include classroom instruction for ALL public school students that fosters the development of a school environment free of discrimination and harassment, including but not limited to, instruction that raises awareness and sensitivity to discrimination and harassment based on a person’s actual or perceived races, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability,, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity or expression), and sex. The instruction may be integrated into regular class time or teaching plan as long as it stresses the importance of tolerance to ANY person.

Luckily, there is no reason to worry about changing teacher's plans or hear a yawn in your classroom! The Runway to Hope Foundation has taken action to research and develop two (2) different outlets that fulfill this state education amendment. The first, is through our weekly syllabus which is sent to each teacher employed within an affiliated school district. We personalize each topic to grade-level and current community affairs. Our goal is to diversify the conversations had between students of the same grade and class schedules. Our philosophy when creating our weekly classroom syllabus is to incorporate different facets of personal characteristics in an effort to raise social awareness of individuality. WHAT THIS MEANS: Our syllabus is based on a different socio-typed personality each week, along, with a life story that pertains to the message that "We all have different life experiences which has led us to be who we are today. Nobody can judge any other person, as none of us have walked in each other's shoes." Below you will find an example:

7th Grade Syllabus Week 9: "The Statistics of Being Kind"

Mrs. Smith

Westport Central School

The Advocate.

DASA Principles Addressed: Tolerance, Personal Responsibility, Respect, Courtesy

Background of Lesson: This Lesson Plan is designed to create awareness of the number of students being bullied through statistics. It is designed to show the positive outcome that could happen if each student in the classroom befriended someone they thought was being bullied. This will bring a sense of community and personal responsibility to make a difference in their school.

Related Core Curriculum: Mathematics; Statistics, Percentages

Key Lesson Vocabulary: "Together, We can all make a Difference." "Unity within our school" "One act of kindness can make a HUGE difference in someone's life." "Come together as a school community."

Time Needed: Est. 30 minutes

Introduction: According to a 2011 national poll, it was found that about 77% of all students reported being verbally bullied throughout their life. It was also concluded that roughly 34% of all students reported being bullied on a regular basis or physically harmed by one of thier peers. So, if there are 3,074,000 students in New York State, that means roughly 2,366,980 students are bullied, with 1,045,160 students are physically harmed or bullied on an everyday basis. With that staggering of a statistic, do you think there is a way we can all do our part to reduce New York State's number of students being bullied?

Objectives: 1. Figure out the estimated number of students being bullied in your school, using the statistics provided. 2. Use the number of students in the classroom to calculate the reduced percentage of students being bullied if each student in the class went out of their way to befriend 3 people they think is being bullied. 3. Calculate the reduced percentage of students being bullied if each math class across the state befriended a peer they thought was being bullied (Using : # of Students in each class is 15-20 & # of Math Classes is 23,960).

Procedures:

# of Students in Westport Central School = 1,203

# of Students in Math Class = 20

Average Number of Classes per Grade = 4

Number of Students being Bullied = 1,203 * 34% = 409

Reduced Percentage of Students being Bullied by Class = 20 * 3 = 60 409 - 60 = 349

100 / 1,203 = .0831255 .0831255 * 349 = 29.01%

Reduced Percentage of Students being Bullied by Grade = 20*4 = 80 80 * 3 = 240 409 - 240 = 169

100 / 1,203 = .0831255 .0831255 * 169 = 14.05%

Culminating Activity: Pick Three (3) fellow Students in Your School to do something nice for. Write a one (1) Paragraph Report on Each of your Experiences.

Assessment: Filled by Instructor

8 NYCRR 100.2(kk) Dignity Act Reporting:

This new Amendment requires that all cases of bullying, whether perceived or actual, be reported in a formal manner as set by New York State. Every incident involving Student to Student, Student to Faculty, or Faculty to Faculty bullying is required to be recorded using material data gathered by the administration. On an annual basis, each school district is scheduled to submit exact numbers of bullying occurances, including the bias that was involved.

The Runway to Hope Foundation has created an extremely user-friendly process of delivering the exact statistics of your school, without the headache of misplaced paperwork or "guess-timates." We provide each school with the appropriate questionnaire which gathers all of the required data. Each administrator will be given a log-on code to our on-line form which allows the user to input the data (in less than 3 minutes!) and it is sent directly to an Excel® Spreadsheet that is accessible for any inquiry. We then provide you with the exact statistics needed for The Annual Dignity Act Reporting for the Satte Commissioner.

Please see below for a Sample Bullying Incident Questionnaire: