With one external review underway in State College schools, the next could focus on bullying

With an external review underway of State College Area School District’s mental health policies and response to the death of a Park Forest Middle School student, the school board will next consider a review focused on bullying.

The second review was discussed by the board during its Monday night meeting, and comes six months after 14-year-old Abby Smith, an eighth grader at Park Forest, died by suicide. Rumors of bullying were rampant in the school district in the days and weeks after her death, with many calling for action and a change in culture at Park Forest Middle School. Several current and former students previously spoke with the Centre Daily Times about their own experiences with bullying at the school.

Following widespread community demand, led by Smith’s mother Jennifer Black, the board unanimously approved an external review of the district’s mental health policies and response to Abby’s death during its Oct. 2 board meeting. Several board members, as well as Black, voiced concerns about the exclusion of bullying policies and procedures in that review.

Prior to approving the initial external review, an internal review was conducted by the district but not released publicly. A Right-to-Know request from the CDT seeking the report was denied.

During Monday night’s meeting, the board met with bullying expert Susan Swearer, who is the chairperson of the Department of Educational Psychology and professor of School Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and discussed a proposed second external review.

Swearer is a licensed psychologist, co-director of the Bullying Research Network, and director of the Bullying Research And Victim Empowerment Lab.

Under the administration’s recommendation, Swearer would review the district’s code of conduct, bullying policy and mental health programming. She would conduct three separate focus groups for two hours each in person at the district and provide a daylong bullying intervention training program for district mental health professionals.

Swearer, who received her master’s degree at Penn State, attended the meeting remotely to answer questions from the board.

Superintendent Curtis Johnson said the district was looking at two fundamental focus groups: one for current PFMS students and another for current State High students, including the ninth grade students who were at PFMS in May when Abby died.

Board member Dan Kolbe questioned if by focusing on PFMS and State High students, bullying experiences and data for elementary students would be excluded.

“Some of this behavior, this bully behavior, starts in elementary and if we can’t get ahead of it in elementary, it gets worse in middle school and high school,” Kolbe said. “So I just want to make sure that we’re taking into consideration elementary schools as well.”

Swearer said she would consult with administrators to choose students for focus groups and would be happy to include a focus group for elementary students. She said one aim is for the focus group to be representative of the student population and include demographic variables like gender identity, race, age and ethnicity.

“I think random assignment is the best way to go in terms of getting groups of kids,” Swearer said. “We also want kids to consent so we don’t force kids to participate in focus groups. And then also, I think it’s important to get parental consent, because some parents may not want their children to be participating in focus groups.”

Black, who spoke during public comment, said she was encouraged to see the discussion of a second external review but wanted to ensure there are ways for all students to share their experiences.

“That still leaves some students who might want to have their voice heard, who are not chosen, and others who perhaps aren’t comfortable in a focus group setting,” Black said. “And so I was wondering if there will be opportunities for other data to be gathered, either by student surveys or using past student surveys, incident reports, things of that nature.”

No contract was included with the administration’s recommendation, but the item is expected to be up for a vote on the board’s Nov. 18 meeting agenda. Assistant superintendent Jonathan Bucher said the contract will be in the cost range of $17,000 for the district.

Swearer was recommended by Bellefonte Area School District Superintendent Roy Rakszawski, who has experience with anti-bullying programs from his time as an educator in New Jersey, a state with some of the nation’s strictest anti-bullying laws.

Swearer said she would discuss adding more focus groups with the district before the contract is up for vote.

The board will next meet on Nov. 18.