Dr. Allan Beane, former professor at Murray State University, Director of a School Safety Center, and Vice-President of Mid-Continent University currently works with his wife, full-time, to help schools prevent and stop bullying in the United States and other countries. He and his wife have dedicated the rest of their lives to preventing and stopping bullying. They know first hand how destructive bullying can be. Their son was bullied. He died at the age of 23. Their son’s life inspired Dr. Beane to write his first book, The Bully Free Classroomwhich is in 10 languages. His book, "Protect Your Child from Bullying" published by Jossey-Bass is a must have for parents. Dr. Beane says, "We don’t want even one student in any school to be mistreated and follow the path that our son took. Unfortunately, I meet them all the time. I see a lot of pain every time I work with a school to prevent and stop bullying."
He and his wife, Linda, were invited to conduct a two week Bully Free Speaking Tour in Portugal. Dr. Beane spoke in six of Portugal’s largest cities training teachers, counselors, school administrators and university professors. The presentations received national television, magazine and newspaper publicity and has triggered interest in a former first lady of Portugal to help fund a national campaign against bullying. The Beane’s anticipate their next trip being to Japan or China.
Bullying is peer victimization and peer abuse. It is behavior that is intended to hurt (physically or psychological), it is persistent (repeated), and there is often a power imbalance that is physical and/or psychological. It can be physical (hitting, pushing, kicking, etc.), verbal (teasing, name-calling, threats, racist remarks, etc.), social/relational (destroying reputations, spreading lies and rumors, gossiping, manipulating relationships, hate notes, turning others against you, rejecting others, etc.) and cyberbullying (electronic bullying). Approximately 20% or more of every school are bullied. It occurs just about everywhere in a school. It happens mostly in bathrooms, hallways, stairwells, cafeteria, playgrounds, locker rooms, waiting for the bus, on the bus and other undersupervised and unstructured places and times. It starts at age 3, peaks out during middle school and continues through high school and sometimes universities and workplaces. Both boys and girls bully. Girls are mostly social and relational in their bullying behavior. Unfortunately, sometimes adults bully children, students bully adults, and adults bully each other.
Dr. Beane says, "It’s not like it use to be, we don’t just have a few bullies in our schools, we have a large percentage of good-hearted students who join in on it or encourage bullies because they are afraid they might become a victim if they don’t. Because of this, bullying is more prevalent, more intense, and more destructive today."
Dr. Beane says, "It’s a well documented fact that bullying occurs in every school. It is destructive to the well-being of children and it creates unsafe schools. This past year I have met twelve students who told me they have tried to kill themselves because of bullying. There have been several attempted suicides and suicides this year because of bullying. I have met several girls who are self-mutilating and they tell me they do it to release the pain of bullying. It drives some students to alcohol and drugs to escape the hurt and they join gangs, cults, and hate groups to find a place to belong. It causes depression, Post Traumatic Stress and anxiety disorders and all kinds of stress related health problems in children."
Dr. Beane’s anti-bully program, The Bully Free Program has been adopted by schools around the United States. Bullying is the hottest school safety topic in the world. The Beane’s daily receive requests and inquires and weekly receive orders for materials from school around the United States and other countries.
In addition to providing a comprehensive program (pre-school through high school), Dr. Beane speaks to thousands of students every month. He has spoken to over one million students. His largest student audience was 10,000 middle school and high school students in an Okalahoma City arena. He also speaks to hundreds of parents every month and trains school personnel to implement The Bully Free Program.
Convincing schools and school systems tohave an anti-bullying program isn’t always been easy. Since most of bullying occurs in secret, school personnel underestimate the problem and sometimes do not understand the destructiveness of the problem. Therefore, they sometimes do not see a need for a program. Beane says, "School violence and bullying are a heart problem and a community problem. It is not a clear backpack problem or a discipline plan problem. We can’t prevent it by just teaching conflict management, character education or anger management. We have to stop what’s causing the conflict and anger and that’s how kids are treating each other. Our program seeks to promote a sense of belong and acceptance in all students and to promote the Golden Rule, treat others the way you want to be treated."
Approximately 30 states have passed laws mandating that schools have policies and procedures to prevent and stop bullying. These go beyond harassment policies. Some of those states have mandated training for school personnel and that schools implement an anti-bullying program. Dr. Beane says, "Training for all school personnel, policies and procedures, prevention and intervention strategies and an anti-bullying curriculum are critical. It’s not good enough for a few teachers to just use my first book, to have an occasional lesson by the guidance counselor, or having me do a school assembly program every other year. Research in other countries and in the United States indicates that there has to be a school-wide program to adequately address the problem."
With his 35+ years of experience in education, he is recognized as an international expert, author, keynote and workshop speaker and consultant on bullying. He and material from the Bully Free Program have been featured in national publications such as USA Today, Time for Kids, and Newsweek for Teens, and many other national magazines and journals. He has also made numerous television appearances and has served as an expert witness for Fox News and in criminal cases involving bullying. He has served as a consultant in law suites involving bullying.
According to Beane, "If schools do not implement an anti-bullying program, their safety plans are incomplete and the health and lives of children are at risk. If even one victim of bullying decides to commit suicide or decides to retaliate, the cost of ignoring the problem or not addressing it adequately will be high. Everyone in our schools will be at risk."
The Bully Free Systems, LLC office is located at 1222 North 121 HWY, Murray, Kentucky. For more information, visit www.bullyfree.com. You can e-mail Dr. Beane at abeane@bullyfree.com.