I am scheduled to present at the OAESA (Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators) Professional Conference in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday June 13, 2019. I will be speaking on the topic of “Impact of School Culture on Students’ Mental Health” which will be based on my first book.
I am excited about this presentation because I will be speaking to a group of school administrators such as principals and assistant principals who are typically responsible for establishing the culture in a school. In my book titled “A Life Interrupted – the story of my battle with bullying and obsessive compulsive disorder” I describe how a negative school culture contributed to a devastating mental illness that I had to deal with for many years.
When I was going through elementary and middle schools, most principals and vice principals did not do a lot to prevent bullying that I had to put up with. Many of them believed that children should be allowed to deal with this by themselves. In my view it is wrong to expect children to take care of this by themselves. School officials need to accept this responsibility to maintain a positive environment for all children.
There were also some principals and vice principals who believed that “boys will be boys” and things like bullying are ok. Then there were others who promised to do something about this, but did not do anything to back up their promises. I hope that I can deliver the message that none of these approaches are appropriate. All school administrators must take the responsibility seriously and work hard to maintain a positive bully-free environment.