Peer counselors work to educate middle and high school students about dealing with situations involving bullies.
By ELISABETH DYER
Published October 17, 2003
Two boys dribble an imaginary basketball in a classroom at Tampa Prep. Another boy approaches and asks to join the game.
"Sorry man, but two people are playing," one of them says. "It'd be odd."
"Oh, I didn't know," he says, lowering his head. "I'm sorry."
"It'd be odd because you're odd," the first boy responds. "I don't play with losers."
Variations on this scene play out for real in schools everywhere, but this one has a twist. The basketball players are peer counselors performing a skit about bullying in front of a classroom of sixth-grade boys at Tampa Prep, a private school on Cass Street for grades six through 12.
Adam Feldman, 17, plays the aggressor. Max Gruder, 16, is the victim, and Jonathan Drucker, 17, is the kid-in-the-middle. During the first skit, Jonathan sides with Adam, the aggressor. During the second one, he stands up to him - the school's preferred response.
The counselors performed the skits as part of a new nonprofit program to eliminate bullying. Called Creating a Safe Social Climate in our Schools, or CASS, the program addresses physical, verbal and relational aggression in middle schools. It began as a pilot program in 1999 and added five schools nationwide this year, including Tampa Prep and St. Mary's Episcopal Day School in South Tampa.
Hillsborough County schools have a no-tolerance policy against bullying but don't offer anti-bullying programs, such as CASS. Punishment for bullying ranges from a verbal reprimand to expulsion.
Using a team approach is vital to the program's success, said Susan Wellman, founder of the CASS program based in Pennsylvania. A task force of parents, teachers and school officials guides the project. Peer counselors introduce the program to middle school students, divided by grades and sex.
"When kids hear it from older kids, they listen," Wellman said.
At Tampa Prep, part-time school psychologist Denise Federer supervises 27 junior and senior peer counselors, who meet with middle school kids individually to help them address problems.
Peer counselor Elizabeth Romaner, 18, understands how difficult that age can be.
"Middle school is a series of highs and lows, which is what can make it so frustrating," she said. "People are your best friend one day and then ignore you the next day."
Federer said the goal is not to tell students that they have to be friends with everybody.
"It's about really treating other people with respect even if they're not going to be your friend," she said. "It's about not being cruel. It's being neutral."
After the skit, Jonathan, who played the kid-in-the-middle, tells the sixth-graders how they can make an impact.
"You can make a difference if you're the kid-in-the-middle," he said. "By being a friend to someone who's being picked on, you really are doing something good.
