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Mundelein students can report bullying online
Mundelein High School recently created an online bully reporting page on the school's website. Police Liason Officer Brian Kisselburg and MHS Dean Samantha Smigielski worked on this issue. | Rob Dicker~Sun-Times Media
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The new MHS Bullying Incident Report Form is available at www.d120.org. Paper forms are available in the high school nurse’s office.
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Updated: October 21, 2012 1:12PM
MUNDELEIN — “Silence is acceptance.”
These words appear at the top of Mundelein High School’s Bullying Incident Report Form.
According to Education.com, there is a greater awareness of the seriousness of bullying, which could be due to higher reporting rates by students. The faculty and staff at Mundelein High School are doing their part by providing an anonymous outlet for students and community members to report these incidences.
Late last week, The Bullying Incident Report Form, a web-based reporting form, became available on the District 120 website to offer students and community members the opportunity to report school- and student-related bullying occurrences confidentially.
“The most important information is the series of events that occurred, but the name of the victim, date, time and name of the person filing the report is extremely helpful to accommodate the resolution of the issue — but not required,” said MHS Dean of Students Samantha Smigielski.
Smigielski, a former teacher and student counselor at District 300’s Carpentersville Middle School, said that when creating the Bullying Report specific to MHS, she looked at schools that had similar forms, and, along with other staff members, picked and chose the elements that would work best for MHS.
Once the form is submitted online, it is sent directly to Smigielski, and only Smigielski, for further investigation. If a name is given, Smigielski will discreetly meet with the student for more information.
“This is a great way to centralize the collection of this information,” said Smigielski. “Once received we can check school surveillance cameras, talk to teachers, coaches, parents and other students to work toward a resolution. If need be we can offer further outlets outside of the counselors, social workers and police resource officers we have on staff.”
The report is just a simple click on the MHS website. It takes only minutes to fill out and the only required field is the “Describe What Happened” field, where the person filing the report can relay in text the specifics of the event.
“Bullying is a universal issue in every school in the country, and sometimes you just don’t know what’s out there until people start reporting it,” Smigielski said.
Some of the more consistent bullying in school has to do with emotional bullying such as social issues, rumors and name-calling. Smigielski said she hopes the form will give students a good outlet to report these problems in a subtle way. She said it is another way for the school to become a safer environment for students.
MHS Communications Director Ron Girard said he sees the report as a way to stop instances of bullying that may affect more than one student.
“If someone is being bullied, it is most likely that the bully is doing this to more than one person,” Girard said. “This could help other cases that may or may not have been reported.”
The Bullying Incident Report Form is available at www.d120.org, and paper forms are available in Mundelein High School’s nurse’s office.
