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News items that are of interest concerning the Kansas bullying prevention efforts are listed here. Every attempt is made to credit the contributor of these articles. When possible, direct story links are provided.

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Pratt, KS - Friday, August 13, 2010

By Gale Rose

The Pratt Tribune

Early prevention is the key to keeping bullying under control. That was the message Randy Wiler, director of Kansas Bullying Prevention Program presented to some of the Skyline Staff during a two-day program at the school.

Wiler presented the OLWEUS bullying program to the staff. The OLWEUS program is named after a researcher from Bergren, Norway who is considered the father of bullying research, Wiler said.

This program has been very successful. Schools that use the program have shown a 50 percent to 70 percent reduction in bullying over a two-year period.

Skyline has researched several programs and has selected a team to implement a strategic plan. When the training is complete, everyone at Skyline will be involved and the group will lead the program, said Becca Flowers, Skyline counselor.

Skyline is actually going above and beyond the state requirement for a bullying program.

“We want this to be a safe and comfortable environment for our kids,” Flowers said.

By the end of today’s session two groups, one for K-5 and the other for middle and high school students will be in place. Wiler will provide support for a year and help carry out the plan, Flowers said.

The school toyed with a program in 2009-2010 and used the class meeting phase. Students responded to the class-meeting format. While Skyline doesn’t have a large-scale problem with bullying, any problem is a big problem for the student involved.

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D.A.R.E. Requests Randy Wiler to create "enhanced supplemental bullying prevention lessons."

Leawood, KS - Wednesday, February 10, 2010

D.A.R.E. America, creators of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, have requested that Randy Wiler create new enhanced supplemental bullying prevention lessons. These lessons will be available for use by law enforcement officers who teach the D.A.R.E. program but need additional resources to provide bullying prevention education in their communities.

"There will be a total of five lessons," Wiler said. "Three will be taught by the officer and there will be two additional lessons that the classroom teacher can use to extend the lessons."

The request for the new lessons follows interest from Chief's of Police and community members in the two supplemental bullying prevention lessons Wiler created for D.A.R.E. in 2006.

The new enhanced supplemental bullying prevention lessons will be released in July of 2010.

Randy Wiler is an expert in bullying prevention and is the founding vice-president of the International Bullying Prevention Association. He is also a certified national trainer in the world renown Olweus Bullying Prevention program and serves as the director of the Kansas Bullying Prevention Program.

Leawood, KS - July 27, 2006

Leawood D.A.R.E. Officer Randy Wiler was selected as the International D.A.R.E. Officer of the year for 2006. Wiler was notified by D.A.R.E. America earlier this month of his nomination.

Wiler has been a D.A.R.E. Officer since 1989 and came to Leawood in 1990 where he continues teaching D.A.R.E. in three elementary and one middle school.

Wiler is best known as an expert in bullying prevention and currently serves as the director of the Kansas Bullying Prevention Program and vice-president of the International Bullying Prevention Association. He was the first law enforcement officer in the United States to be personally trained by Dr. Dan Olweus, research psychologist from the University of Bergen Norway and renowned as the father of bullying research world-wide,to become a national trainer in the Olweus Bullying Prevention program.

Wiler has written two supplemental bullying prevention lessons that are being included in the D.A.R.E. program. "These two lessons are not a comprehensive bullying prevention program for schools- but more of an awareness activity for students to determine if they can do more to prevent bullying in their school," Wiler said.

The International D.A.R.E. Officer of the year selection was presented July 26th at the International D.A.R.E. Officer's conference in Orlando, Florida.

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