For the last two years, Tuscaloosa City Schools has partnered with students from The University of Alabama Capstone Agency to strengthen the district’s anti-bullying campaign initiatives.

Harassment Awareness Learning Together, or HALT, began in 2012 after district officials attended an anti-bullying conference and decided they needed to make a concentrated, district-wide effort to inform students about bullying, Vickie Brown, director of student services for TCS, said.

“We were doing some things but not very consistent from school to school,” Brown said. “So we just talked about how we needed to have a common language, definition and reporting of bullying. It just really brought to our attention things that we really needed to put in place.”

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Lesley Bruinton, public relations coordinator for TCS, said a guidance counselor has theorized a program like HALT, and after the conference some of her ideas were implemented in a creative way.

“Some of the things that we did in the first year were posters and presentations with the students,” Bruinton said. “We designed and developed a logo that would get kids thinking about their actions and reactions.”

In its early efforts, TCS caught the attention of advertising and public relations students from The University of Alabama. Known as the Bateman team, five students from the University partnered with the schools to further the anti-bullying initiative and present their work in the Bateman Case Study Competition hosted by the Public Relations Student Society of America.

During the time TCS was partnered with the Bateman team, UA students worked primarily with the middle schools, Bruinton said. Together they created the “I Can” campaign.

“We wanted to raise awareness of bullying and its effects and how to be an up-stander and not a bystander,” Bruinton said. “Someone who would take the risk to prevent bullying if they see it.”

Because of the success of the Bateman team, Capstone Agency was awarded a $2,000 grant to continue its work with the HALT program, Sarah Jarrett, a Capstone Agency account executive, said. The grant allowed the agency to create the anti-cyberbullying campaign “Think B4 U Txt” during spring 2014.

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“Capstone Agency developed a social media plan and placed promotional materials in every middle and high school to remind students to ‘Stand Strong’ against cyberbullying and to think before they text,” Jarrett said.

TCS and the Capstone Agency said they are pleased with the results of their efforts so far and hope to continue their partnership.

“I am hoping that this can be a continual project from year to year, because we certainly appreciate and value partnerships with students from UA,” Brown said. “We are very, very appreciative of the support they have given us because the program is very successful. I feel like we did a real good job of bringing awareness of the topic to our students.”

Jarrett said the experience has been very rewarding for herself and the agency.

“I have witnessed firsthand what can come from spreading positivity within the schools and encouraging students and parents to stand strong against cyberbullying,” Jarrett said. “That is such a rewarding feeling that I am grateful to have experienced. I hope our campaign leaves a lasting impression within the school system and aids TCS in its ultimate goal of making Tuscaloosa a bully-free city.”

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