TRAVERSE CITY -- Officials at Traverse City Central High School have set up a text line allowing students to anonymously report bullying incidents.
When students send a text message, Google Voice converts it into an e-mail that's sent to the school's social worker, Diane Burden. The message is completely anonymous, and then enables Burden to respond directly to the sender. This eliminates the student being forced to come into her office and talk face-to-face- which some students may be uncomfortable with, especially if they feel like they're telling on their friends.
Rick Vandermolen, the TC Central Principal, thinks they've found a good way to provide anonymous support for students, and they're doing it in a way that they communicate, and can be comfortable with. He stated, "A lot of our students use texting to communicate, and we thought that was a more relevant way to provide them with a source to share things that thye're hearing, seeing, that they're really worried about in terms of their own selves or their friends."
Burden said it's called the "Be The Solution" line, not a "bullying text line" because the school wants to eliminate the word "bully" from the TC Central vocabulary. She said, "When someone is labeled a bully, then they become that person. What we're trying to do is get away from labeling a person, and moving toward identifying the behavior-which is agression...We're saying- this is the behavior we have been seeing, and what can we do to change it." The school is also trying to stop using the term "victim"- the person may be the target of a behavior, but that doesn't make them a victim.
Both Vandermolen and Burden talked about the reasoning for this text line is the kids. The TC Central Principal said they need to make sure learning takes place and whatever they can do to take away from the distractions- they're endorsing it, and hope it spreads to other schools as well. Burden added that students need to feel capable and connected to school-that they're taken care of. She said that if a student has something going on causing them to feel bad about themselves, it can cause them to be so distracted that they can't focus. The goal is to eliminate any student feeling uncomfortable.
The line is not just for bullying, but for any student seeking help. TC Central is excited about adding this resource to their support system and strengthening their partnership with the Third Level Crisis Center.
The text line is: 231-714-4410
