The recent suicide of a 10-year-old autistic black student in Utah, along with reports that school officials did not act when alerted to the repeated bullying the child endured, has brought bullying back into the spotlight. If your PTA is interested in hosting a bullying prevention event or looking for materials to share with families, here are some resources to help you do that.

Connect for Respect

National PTA’s Connect for Respect program provides a ready-to-use set of resources for your PTA to engage students, families, and school administrators in improving school climate and reducing bullying. The program includes:

  • A guide for PTA leaders that walks you through the program
  • A guide for student leaders involved in the program
  • Tools to help assess your school climate
  • Resources to host a forum bringing students, families, and school leaders together to discuss how to overcome the issues identified in your school climate assessment
  • Templates for action plans for your PTA and for students on how to address bullying
  • Educational materials that your PTA can use to enhance your efforts to provide a safe school environment

Connect with Kindness

Action for Healthy Kids has created Connect with Kindness, a bullying prevention collection of activities for students from Pre-K to high school. The collection includes:

  • Empathy with animals materials for the youngest students
  • Kindness Bingo boards for elementary-aged students
  • Discussion prompts for different age groups from Pre-K to high school

Action for Healthy Kids also provides links to other bullying prevention resources on their website.

Safe2Help Illinois

Safe2Help Illinois is a recently released school safety program aimed at getting students to seek help before harm. Central to the program is a free app, website, and text/phone number where students can report school safety issues confidentially. The website provides information and resources on many mental health issues including bullying, abuse, suicide, depression, and self-harm. A special video section is available for younger kids, and a separate section has resources for teens. There is a “Quick Exit” button at the top of each page on the site that goes to the Google home page for children who may be reporting or learning about abuse from a family member to quickly leave the site.

One Voice Illinois

Illinois PTA’s blog, One Voice Illinois, has published many articles on bullying over the years. One Voice Illinois is an often overlooked resource that contains hundreds of articles on a variety of topics. You can use the search box or category drop down menu on the right side to find articles on just about any PTA-related topic you might be interested in.