Welcome

I hope you all had an enjoyable summer and your children are ready to return to a terrific school year.
I am the school counselor for Mallets Bay School. This year  I will be teaching classes, running groups and  lunch bunches, and seeing children as needed. I may be reached at 264-5898 and my e-mail address is routsongl@csdvt.org. Please feel free to contact me.
The first semester I will be working with the following classes; Carney, Chioffi, Hunt, Miller, Cheney, Longchamp, O'Neill, Chittenden, Sato, Rayner-Cyr and Ellingson. The fourth and fifth grades will be discussing cyber bullying. Cyber bullying has all the characteristics of regular bullying, but here is how cyber bullying is different:

• Its done using technology
• The person doing the bullying and the target can be far away from each other in space and time.
• The person doing the bullying can be anonymous and hidden.
• The bullying can be witnessed by many bystanders.
• It is difficult to get away from the bully because children have access to different technology devices.
• It can happen very quickly and is difficult to stop.

Children report cyber bullying less often. They fear adults will not be able to help, and that the adult's solution will be to limit their access to technology.
We will talk about the three Rs: recognize, refuse and report bullying. We will also talk about an additional R: record. The record speaks to the need to document cyber bullying.This can be done in a variety of ways, including:

• Saving messages and images
• Taking sreeen shots
• Coping URL's

An additional R is directed to adults-it is receive. This R message reminds us to stay calm, listen and look patiently, and support the child being targeted.