Written Communication: A Memo to Stop Bullying in School

To: Teachers and Students 

From: School Management 

Stopping Bullying 

In the wake of the increased cases of student harassment and intimidation by the senior peers, the school management has embarked on a process of instilling new strategies aimed at stopping this behavior. At our school, bullying is unacceptable, students should be free of worry from any kind of bullying, and students who participate in bullying will be and must be taught other appropriate ways of interacting with fellow students. Both students and teachers must understand that bullying threatens the learners’ physical and emotional well-being at school and thus affecting their ability to learn. As such, this will have a toll on the overall performance of the school (Juvonen, & Graham, 2014).  Enhancing bullying prevention strategies requires the combined effort of students and staff reinforced through appropriate training. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, almost 20.8% of students report bullying students (Juvonen, & Graham, 2014).  Therefore, this shows that prevalence of the vice and its need to end before implicating on the students' educational development. 

Therefore, from now on, the school management is establishing an effective report system where all students and teachers will report all the incidences of bullying. The system will also cater for those who would need to notify the bullying claims on an anonymous basis. The management, together with the teachers, will take a collaborative approach to ensure that this becomes a reality. More consultations will happen in due course to ensure that every stakeholder benefits from this system. Students found victims of bullying will further be counselled and help them raise their self-confidence because being bullied will reduce a student’s self-confidence and further affect his/her performance. The memo is to set clear that bullying can sometimes cross legal lines and some behaviors may meet the legal definition of harassment, not only the school management will punish the student but also law enforcement officers will be involved. The memo by the School management addresses and highlights what was written by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that issued a Dear Colleague Letter on harassment and bullying? The message of the memo is to set clear that such cases must carefully be considered whether they are behaviors that are discriminatory harassment that infringes the student’s civil rights.  The school management has a responsibility to investigate such cases and circumstances and to take actions and stop to end the harassments. 

This memo is also written to highlight the rising cases of cyberbullying that students have reported in the past.  The internet and electronic devices have acted as a new platform where bullying occurs. Over the school’s wireless network the students have engaged in cyberbullying, to some extent bullying teachers and the other school staff. Students say mean things to the teachers and to other students, this is a form of bullying that will be punished by the school management. 

The memorandum is an inexpensive way of distributing this kind of information; it will be circulated within the school premises quite easily. It is therefore wise for the school management that the memorandum was used to address this kind of problem around the school. Bullying is not encouraged and those students who participate in bullying should stop it. It has been found that those students who bully others do not spend time with their family members, so the major cause of bullying can be traced back to their homes. It all starts at home and then it escalates to schools. 

Part 2 

A memo is an effective way of communicating on an internal basis. It is brief and concise thus passing its message fast across all the relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, the school is used to the memos and therefore getting the attention of the students and teachers will be easier compared to other written communications. 

The style employed in the written communication is consult/join. Since the teachers in the school are well equipped to deal with bullying matters, they will be incorporated into the actionable strategy. Furthermore, wider consultation involving them will prove crucial in ensuring that students utilize the report system aimed at resolving bullying. This memo is intended to warn students who are used to bullying others to stop the vice, students who will be reported to have engaged in bullying activities will face dire consequences, which will entail suspension from the school (Smith, 2016). 

The memo further encourages students to report and work towards stopping bullying among themselves. This memo is one-way communication to students, it is meant to warn and discourage the habits of bullying in the school. The memo is the best way of addressing this kind of problem because it will reach out to every student out there. The students are reminded and made aware of the punishments they will face once found bullying others and it creates an awareness to the victims of bullying. The memo is definitely the best way to communicate this type of vice in the school ( Tracey et al., 2016 ). 

The school management used the memo to address bullying to avoid any distortion of information. Students may want to distort information regarding bullying in order to create misunderstandings and confusions among students but the memo by the school management is meant to clarify about the issue of bullying. The memo will also act as a future reference in case the information might be required in the future. The memo will act as a quick exchange of information regarding bullying around the school because it will only be restricted within the boundaries of the school. Circulation of information will be quick and every student will get to know that bullying is not acceptable and it is a punishable offence ( Chalamandaris & Piette, 2015). 

Reference 

Chalamandaris, A.-G., & Piette, D. (2015). School-based anti-bullying interventions: Systematic review of the methodology to assess their effectiveness.  Aggression and Violent Behavior, 24,  131-174. 

Juvonen, J., & Graham, S. (2014). Bullying in schools: The power of bullies and the plight of victims.  Annual review of psychology ,  65 , 159-185. 

Smith, P. (2015). School-based interventions to address bullying.  Estonian Journal of Education , 4, 2, 142-164. 

Tracey, B. D., Axford, N., Farrington, D. P., Clarkson, S., Bjornstad, G. J., Wrigley, Z., & Hutchings, J. (2015).  Involving parents in school-based programmes to prevent and reduce bullying: what effect does it have? Bingley: Emerald.