MORGANTOWN — According to the Nation Education Association, more than 160,000 students miss school every day because they are afraid of being bullied.
Larry Woods is working to make this harsh reality a thing of the past. He and his wife, Denise Voncille Woods, are the authors of the book, “Please Don’t Bully Me,” and they wanted to bring the message back to Morgantown, a place Larry Woods holds dear.
He presented his anti-bullying seminar April 28, to the Mountaineer Boys and Girls Club, at South Middle School. Larry Woods played basketball at WVU, has five college degrees, including a doctorate, and said he’s a big believer in the motto, “Once a Mountaineer, Always a Mountaineer.”
“To fight bullying I can’t do it by myself. I need help to do it the right way. So I reached out, and I got help,” he said.
And so he assembled his team of athletes from the past and present, including John Wooten, Wil Robinson, Levi Phillips, Warren Baker and Mo Robinson. Also in attendance were Logan Routt and Brandon Knapper, current WVU basketball players.
Sheriff’s Deputy Bise and officers Schmidle and Bender from the Morgantown Police Department talked about bullying, and encouraged the students to tell an adult if they witness it.
Bise, who was a D.A.R.E officer for many years, talked about cyberbullying — and how bullying can become harassment, before turning criminal. He said bullying has changed because of social media. Whereas bullying used to occur at school, now kids are forced to deal with it 24/7, he said.
Larry Wood told Saturday’s crowd that bystanders are the most important people when it comes to bullying.
“You are not a tattle-tale, you are not a snitch, that’s what the bully wants you to think. You are a responsible student who is making their school environment safer,” he said.
Woods used interactive activities to get his audience thinking about ways to react to bullies. For instance, he said, think about bouncing a basketball — when you bounce it on the ground it comes back with more force, like if you confront a bully with aggression.
“When a bully is coming at you with aggression, you’re going to use your head. Pause for the cause. Walk toward an adult, walk toward other students. Tell a teacher, counselor, custodian, anybody in the building,” he said.
He let the kids know that it’s important to not let bullies rule their lives.
He also stressed that bullying is not just a school problem, it’s a community problem.
“I watched how kids are bullied and I believe it’s really an epidemic that can be eradicated if you put in a research-based program and go up against it,” he said.
Denny Poluga, director of the Mountaineer Boys and Girls Club, said it’s important to change the culture and have kids take ownership of the bullying issue. Even If they’re not bullied themselves, they shouldn’t stand on the sidelines. They should become leaders and let people know that’s not the kind of behavior they want around them.
“Bullying number one is misbehaving. People have to understand that bullying is a behavior. It’s not an individual. If the culture in the school building is set up in such a way where a person who’s behavior is unacceptable, then they’re more reluctant to practice that kind of behavior,” Woods said.
He said if people are aware that bullying is not tolerated, the culture of it will die. He admits it may be a challenge, but it’s not an impossible task.
He said it’s about breaking down the pattern of bullying as it’s being perpetuated.
“I want them to take away as bystanders we cannot just sit back and watch,” Woods said.
“I want them to have conversations with the principals, say ‘Hey, you know, I went to a seminar on bullying prevention in our building and this is what the presenter said this is what we need to do.’ ”
