The town of Greenwich is still coping with the tragic death of a teenager earlier this year. A Greenwich high school student took his own life just hours after the first day of school. A preliminary investigation pointed to bullying as having played a role in the suicide.
Each year, Marji Lipshez-Shapiro leads anti-bullying programs in about 200 Connecticut schools as the education director for the state Office of the Anti-Defamation League. Lipshez-Shapiro will be in Greenwich this week, joined by students from Greenwich High School, for conversation with parents on what they need to know about bullying, name-calling, and cyber-bullying.
“Our message is going to be, this is not about blame," Lipshez-Shapiro said, "because tragedies happen. But what can we learn from it? And what we’re learning from it, is truly that kids need to feel connected. They need us, as adults, to be role models, to be open, to talk to them." She said this is especially important in today’s online world.
Lipshez-Shapiro teaches a range of prevention strategies, including ways students can safely intervene if they see someone being bullied. “Eighty-five percent of bullying happens in front of peers," she said, "but fewer than 20 percent take any action to stop it. There’s a recent study that shows that bullying incidents stop within ten seconds when someone intervenes."
The anti-bullying events take place Tuesday evening at Greenwich Town Hall and Wednesday at the Civic Center.
