Bullying, horseplay, or just a bad teacher?

There has been disagreement about what to call a highly-publicized incident caught on cell phone video at a Gig Harbor middle school.

While some say the incident is a clear case of bullying, others defend it as horseplay.

Whatever you call it, experts agree that there is no place for it in a classroom.

“The video made me uncomfortable as a professional, because I don’t think that was appropriate behavior,” said Susan Nolen, a professor of learning sciences and human development at the University of Washington’s College of Education. “Was it bullying? I couldn’t tell from a tiny little clip like that. It certainly was something that I wouldn’t expect to see in a classroom.”

On Feb. 2, students in John Rosi’s class at Kopachuck Middle School were caught on video as they taunted a fellow classmate. Some pull on his arms and legs as others stack chairs on his body. Socks are stuffed in his mouth and one student draws on his feet.

During portions of the video, Mr. Rosi himself seems to participate. At one point, he threatens to pass gas on the student’s face.

Months later, when the incident was brought to light by local media outlets, the district chalked it up as a case of “poor classroom management.”

Nolen said there is no standard for classroom management training, and many teachers learn on the job. While the University of Washington has an entire course dedicated to the skill, less than 10 percent of teachers nationwide have received a formal course on classroom management, according to some estimates.

Still, Nolen said there is no excuse for having an out-of-control classroom, especially for a veteran teacher. Rosi has been an educator for 18 years.

She believes school administrators, fellow teachers, and students should ask themselves what they did to contribute to Mr. Rosi’s poor management.

“They should think, in what ways have we not been clear about what’s appropriate in this school?” she said. “Every time something like this happens, everyone has to take a step back and say, how am I complicit in this as well? Everyone in the social system has to think about that.”

According to experts, Mr. Rosi’s “poor classroom management” may have fostered an environment of bullying.
Todd Herrenkohl, a professor in the School of Social Work and the University of Washington, specializes in youth violence prevention and bullying.

While he would not say whether he believes the Gig Harbor incident is bullying, he said it raises concerns about what contributed to the atmosphere. He said kids are more likely to be bullied in a poorly-managed classroom.

“As it is in families where there aren’t expectations around positive behavior, poor behavior on the part of kids is more likely in those settings,” he said. “The same I think would hold for schools. When there are not clear guidelines for kids within the classroom or within the larger school context around acceptable and unacceptable behavior, then it’s more likely that kids will engage in behaviors that qualify as being unacceptable, and that includes bullying.”

Herrenkohl encourages parents to have conversations with their children about what happens at school. Nolen said parents with elementary-aged students should consider sitting in on class if they are concerned about how it is being run.