Detective wants to start anti-bullying campaign in schools

Karen Buchheit remembers being teased as a little girl.

"I was chunky and I stuttered and I was one of the tallest girls in first grade," she said. "Any kind of difference makes you a target."

Her own experiences, stories she's heard from other parents and recent school shootings inspired the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department detective to implement an anti-bullying program in local schools.

Buchheit is speaking to various community organizations about her idea to help drum up support. She hopes to implement the program in one or two local elementary schools this fall and then build off of that.

"Studies have shown that 160,000 students skip school daily in the U.S. because of bullying," Buchheit said.

She believes that addressing bullying at an early age will eventually cut down on school discipline incidents and, in the long term, crime. Her anti-bullying program will be similar to the anti-drug campaigns schools adopted in recent years.

She plans to offer counseling not just to victims of bullying but the bullies themselves. She also wants to address students who stand by and watch bullying occur.

The program would likely begin in the Jackson and Nell Holcomb school districts and run throughout the school year.

At the end of the year, Buchheit plans to send questionaires to students and parents to determine how effective the program was.

"It's really the same thing as physical and sexual abuse. People always say we shouldn't talk about it because then it will start happening, but it's already happening," Buchheit said. "It doesn't do any good to put our heads in the sand and pretend it's not happening.

For information about the program, call Buchheit at 204-2932.

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128