Maine’s Best Practice in Bullying and Harassment Prevention Training

Informational Letter: 016

Policy Code: JICDA

TO: Superintendents of Schools

FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner of Education

DATE: September 10, 2007

RE: Maine’s Best Practice in Bullying and Harassment Prevention Training

The Maine ’s Best Practice in Bullying and Harassment Prevention Training Team is inviting schools to send teams of four to attend a two-day free training on October 1st and 2nd from 8:30am - 4:30pm at Colby College

. This training is offered on a first-come-first-serve basis with only 15 team openings left (deadline is September 15).

The training team includes Stan Davis, Chuck Saufler, Professor Lyn Mikel Brown, and Assistant Attorney General Thomas Harnett and will provide schools that fully engage in the implementation of the Best Practice prevention plans an opportunity to evaluate efforts in partnership with research faculty from USM and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center

Although some schools have implemented elements of the “Olweus Bullying Prevention” model, it is far from comprehensive or current with Maine’s laws and priorities relating to the latest research on peer aggression, civil rights, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic factors and realities. Nor does it provide your administrators and school staff with critical guidance relating to liability and effective processes of bullying and harassment incident reporting.

Please see the attached School Team Form if you wish to take advantage of this opportunity. You can learn more about Maine’s Best Practice Training content and training team at http://www.maine.gov/education/bullyingprevention .