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On Thursday, February 27th nearly 300 educators, juvenile justice, and law enforcement professionals gathered at Worcester Technical High School for the second annual Bullying Prevention and Education Conference, sponsored by DCU for Kids -- the non-profit charitable foundation of Digital Federal Credit Union. The conference was organized and presented by the B.R.A.C.E. (Bullying Remediation and Court Education) Project. B.R.A.C.E. is an innovative collaboration of the Worcester Public Schools, the Worcester Juvenile Court and Department of Probation, the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office, the Worcester Police Department, and Y.O.U., Inc. The B.R.A.C.E. partners offer full school-day bullying education workshops, which provide a more targeted, in-depth approach to addressing repeated or increasingly serious incidents of bullying.
Keynote speakers and topics included Nancy Rothstein, MA Assistant Attorney General in the Cyber Crimes Division, and Daniel Herman, MA State Trooper assigned to the State Police Detective Unit at the AG’s office, who provided an overview of the pervasive issue of cyberbullying and its significant, detrimental effects on the Commonwealth’s school and court systems. Attendees viewed a student directed anti-bullying video from Doherty High School, as well as video footage of Sirdeaner Lynn Walker, a nationally recognized speaker and advocate for bullying prevention and education whose 11-year-old son, Carl Joseph Walker, committed suicide after experiencing serious bullying at school.
Breakout workshops included a more detailed cyberbullying and social media session, an overview of new amendments and requirements of the Massachusetts anti-bullying legislation, and a workshop centered on grade-level experiential education activities which are effective in addressing bullying and other social challenges. The conference concluded with a panel of participants from five school districts, who presented the programs and ideas that their systems have successfully implemented to reduce or eliminate bullying in their schools.
