Nobody likes a bully

Almost every adult has childhood scars, perhaps on their knees or elbows, that tell tales of careless tree climbing or falls learning to ride a bike.

But you won't often hear about the emotional scars that were left by bullying. Those scars don't heal quite as easily, and Davis School District is making efforts to stop bullies and help the bullied.

Davis counselors say the problem is found everywhere, and the effects of bullying can follow students well into adulthood.

So this year district officials are attempting to nip it in the bud in an area prime for bullying — the school bus ride.

Pat Bird, safety training coordinator, said bullying can be found almost everywhere, but school buses are a breeding ground for bully problems. They are small, compacted areas where students can't walk away, and often the driver has a hard time catching incidents.

Drivers are taught what to look for and how to stop and prevent bullying.

They are trained how to encourage bystanders to come forward, how to help those being bullied and also ways to help the bully.

Bird said bullying comes in many different forms — verbal bullying, emotional bullying and physical bullying. But since schools have taken a zero-tolerance stance against violence and physical bullying, emotional and verbal abuse have cropped up more among both boys and girls

"Physical bullying is the least prominent, but it's the one that is the easiest to pick up because you can see it," Bird said. "But the emotional and verbal, that is the hardest on the child — hardest on anyone."

Aside from bus drivers, school officials districtwide are making efforts to clamp down on bullying.

Davis elementary counselors are in their second year of teaching bullying prevention through their comprehensive guidance curriculum.

This year the focus is on relational aggression, being bullied by friends and power behaviors. Gossiping, singling people out, excluding friends and turning children against one another all fall under relational aggression.

"It's there and it crosses all socio-economic lines, race lines and can lead to many problems from anorexia to suicide," said Debbie Wosnik, Utah School Counselors Association elementary vice president. Wosnik is also a counselor at Bluffridge Elementary in Davis.

"If someone throws a rock at you it hurts for a day, but if someone calls you a name it hurts for much longer and can affect you later in life."

A big part of the program is helping students identify bullying and teaching them that they do not have to put up with it.

Wosnik said she has heard children in Davis schools say, "That is toxic behavior" or identify an "on-and-off friend."