Taking on the bullies

Editorial: March 10, 2022

You have to start somewhere.

We will admit to some heavy-duty skepticism when this newspaper received a press release last week announcing three days of anti-bullying assemblies and break-out sessions at Cooperstown Central School. It all sounded rather gimmicky – “a student empowerment and empathy activation team” calling itself “Sweethearts & Heroes” and co-founded by a Cooperstown High alum, Tom Murphy. Students participating in “Circle,” which, said the release, is “based on the ancient ritual of sitting in a circle to communicate and build empathy.”

Press releases are, at best, carefully contrived and one-dimensional – not the most ideal vehicle to convey the essence of something designed to drive home a compelling message about bullying.

Tom Murphy and his colleague, retired U.S. Army Sergeant Rick Yarosh, steamrolled our aforementioned skepticism right out of the box, though; their Monday afternoon program was hard-hitting but empathetic, energetic and motivational, entertaining and interactive. Students were engaged, too – a tough crowd, those senior high students are, at a tough time of day, after lunch and during the last period before school’s end – but they rallied and got involved. Well done, all.

Last December, this newspaper reported the story when two students stood to address a meeting of the CCS Board of Education to say they felt like they had no support from “a member of the administration” when they reported incidents of racial intolerance and bullying. Whether their takeaway from those discussions was the result of muffled communication, willful ignorance, or anything in between, it’s vital that programs like the one the district launched this week reach their intended audience.

Cooperstown Central School officials said they wanted to expose “Sweethearts & Heroes” to every student and teacher across the whole of the district as part of an overarching strategy to address student and parent concerns about bullying in the schools. We welcome the intent but remain concerned that its message – and its hoped-for outcome – resonate in lasting and tangible fashion with those in authority who may turn a blind eye to or otherwise enable bullying, harassment, racism, or any other kind of abuse in the schools.

We hope, too, that boards of education across the County will demonstrate to students, teachers, parents, and administration that they’ll abide no harassment, no bullying, none of it, regardless of where it’s happening and who’s allowing it to happen. Without the support of every person in a leadership role, it’ll be time for the students to feel the heavy-duty skepticism that rides shotgun with any ‘do as I say, not as I do’ template.

It’s stark and serious business: bullying, self-image, teen suicide, inclusion, intolerance, action. This week’s edition of The Freeman’s Journal / Hometown Oneonta carries an op-ed from the Community Foundation of Otsego County talking about youth mental health needs in our area and the need for programs such as Youth Mental Health First Aid, which CFOC will help underwrite with an award of more than $18,000 help train schools and community-based organizations across the county. We are grateful for their initiative and applaud their action, just as we applaud those in the CCS administration who are at least taking a run at addressing what ‘Sweethearts’ co-founder Tom Murphy called a ‘moral puzzle’ in need of an ‘a-ha moment’ for every student and educator.

You have to start somewhere.