You are a powerful influence on bullying in your school. Here are some things you can do right now to make a difference in your students' lives:

1. Listen – Always take complaints and reports of bullying seriously. Be attuned to kids who seem vulnerable to bully-victim situations, and make sure each student is connected to at least one caring adult.
2. Respond – Kids who are victims or bullies need our help and support. First, it’s most important that we take immediate steps to protect the target of bullying. Second, we need to respond to the bully. Although we may need to discipline the bully, we also must understand why he or she is acting this way. Bullies are typically students who are in some sort of trouble and need adult help to address unmet needs.
3. Develop school-wide upstander efforts - Effective bully prevention efforts need to be grounded in school-wide bully prevention and pro-upstander efforts. Most bully prevention efforts do not incite any real, long-lasting change. To do so, these initiatives must be grounded in a school-wide pro-upstander effort.