Learn more about bullying
A conference Wednesday night will give parents the chance to hear and share stories about how bullying has impacted the lives of too many people.
Hosted by Principled Minds and the McHenry County Regional Office of Education, the event takes place at 7 p.m. in the conference center at McHenry County College, 8900 Route 14, Crystal Lake.
Principled Minds has hosted several full-day conferences on the topic for teachers.
"We wanted to give parents the opportunity to get more information and vent," event organizer Harold Rail said. "I think venting will be a big part of it. I think many times there might be some disconnect between the schools and parents when it comes to bullying."
Rail is president of Afterglow Creative, which creates educational videos mainly for non-profit agencies.
In doing so, he gathered much more information on the topics of discrimination, prejudice and racism than could fit into the videos. So Principled Minds was created to help other organizations fight those issues.
A panel of speakers will include school administrator Greg Urbaniak, who regularly speaks on the topic of bullying as well as Parkland Middle School teacher Sherry Kolker. A parent, a Youth Services Bureau counselor and a student who has been bullied also will speak.
After a brief presentation, the audience will have the opportunity to share stories and ask questions.
The topic is personally important to Rail because he was bullied as a child. Born in Germany, he knew little English when he came to the United States.
"I had a real difficulty of being called 'Natzi,'" he said.
Bullying and the various forms of it are growing, he said.
"I think bullying is a changing dynamic," he said.
He spoke of an increase in cyber-bullying using the Internet and "relational bullying," mostly among girls, in which classmates are pushed out of peer groups and such.
"I can deal with a kid bullying on a playground," he said. "It's much more insidious when girls do this."
For more information, call (815) 337-0550.
