Talking with your school administrators about bullying is an essential part of the process to solving the bullying problem. In order to be prepared to meet with school administrators you may want to consider the following questions to guide your conversations with administrators:

1. Have you had an opportunity to meet my/or child?

2. May I tell you a little bit about my/our child?

3. Is the school counselor available to speak with my/or child?

4. Can we meet as a team to discuss ideas on how to support my/our child?

5. What resources are available for my/our child?

6. What types of programs does the school have in place to address bullying?

If you child has been accused of bullying, you may want to ask the following questions:

1. What is the nature of the behavior my child is displaying? Where does it occur? When and how often is it happening?

2. Is the behavior specific to one gender or both; to younger students or the same age?

3. What is the intensity level of the behavior? What are the specifics of the behavior?

4. How does my child look when this happens - angry, harsh, malicious?

5. How does the victim seem to respond? Does the victim reciprocate the bullying?

6. What will happen next? How can I help to support you?

7. Can we meet with my child to discuss his/her behavior?

8. Can the counselor, social worker, or school psychologist help me work on this with my child?

9. Are there other resources available?

Kathryn Smith, M. Ed. and Lynne Muller, Ph. D.