Latest / Aired Out / Melissa Fisher - Dean of Students, Georgia Elementary & Middle School

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Melissa Fisher - Dean of Students, Georgia Elementary & Middle School · Aired Out

1:31
Speaker 1: It is a brand new day and it is chilly.
1:36
Speaker 1: But look outside, see what I'm seeing here on North
1:41
Speaker 1: Main Street, you Bury fromont and if you look carefully,
1:49
Speaker 1: you can see that things are actually softening up out there.
1:56
Speaker 1: The road actually looks a little damp, not the not
2:05
Speaker 1: the frozen tundra surface that we have had over the
2:11
Speaker 1: last what week or so, I don't know. It's nice.
2:14
Speaker 1: It's nice to see things warming up. We're looking at
2:18
Speaker 1: twenty five degrees later today with clouds tonight, twelve cloudy skies, Tomorrow,
2:26
Speaker 1: cloudy in twenty three Friday, sun and clouds both in
2:30
Speaker 1: the mix, and twenty seven and Saturday we are right
2:34
Speaker 1: back to the Arctic air with clouds in about seventeen degrees.
2:40
Speaker 1: That's just the start of that snap that is coming
2:44
Speaker 1: for the weekend Super Bowl Sunday, five degrees for the
2:50
Speaker 1: daytime high. Happy birthday today to Bessie Sandberg, Val Smith,
2:55
Speaker 1: James Keel, Kathy Pelanquin, Great Lady, Paul Simono, Ashley Ruda,
3:02
Speaker 1: Ernie Ferrara, Wow, Ernie. Happy birthday, Jen Parker and Mitch
3:07
Speaker 1: Moraski super guy. Haven't seen him in a long time.
3:11
Speaker 1: Oscar de la Joya on the list today fifty three
3:15
Speaker 1: years old. What a stylist dresser that guy is too.
3:18
Speaker 1: Alice Cooper seventy eight. We got National homemade Soup Day,
3:24
Speaker 1: National Sweater Day, and what a combination discipline some soup. Well,
3:30
Speaker 1: you're wearing your favorite sweater. Four days to go before
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Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, ten days before Valentine's Day. Very good morning.
3:40
Speaker 1: It is Wednesday, February fourth. The legislative open house is
3:44
Speaker 1: tonight at five pm at the Capitol Plaza in Montpeilier.
3:52
Speaker 1: We invite you to come on out to that. It
3:54
Speaker 1: is going to be amazing. Five o'clock goes till seven.
3:57
Speaker 1: It's going to be a great chance to beat with
4:00
Speaker 1: legislators and chat with them about some of your concerns.
4:04
Speaker 1: Especially if you're a small business. This is a great
4:07
Speaker 1: time to chat with them. Deb Phillips is with us
4:11
Speaker 1: on the line every single Wednesday. Not only does the
4:15
Speaker 1: world come out, but DEP joints us on the air
4:18
Speaker 1: to tell us what to expect inside the pages.
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Speaker 2: Good morning, dep, Good morning JD. So we have quite
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Speaker 2: a bit in this week's world. First of all, for
4:28
Speaker 2: Valentine's Day, we have a number of local businesses that
4:33
Speaker 2: are offering Valentine's gifts that would be just wonderful, and
4:39
Speaker 2: especially shopping local is really important. It's beyond the flowers
4:44
Speaker 2: and chocolate. I mean those are always really great, but
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Speaker 2: even like kids clothes that are from Zutano's that has
4:53
Speaker 2: you know, they have Valentine's sweatshirts and sweaters and pajamas,
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Speaker 2: you know, just some some different things that they're offered.
5:01
Speaker 2: This year, we also have the Farmers Night schedule for February, March,
5:08
Speaker 2: and April. Those are the at the State House on
5:13
Speaker 2: Wednesdays at seven point thirty. These are free and open
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Speaker 2: to the public and there's lots of good stuff coming
5:21
Speaker 2: up in the next two and a half months.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I see tonight it's Stories from the Woods,
5:28
Speaker 1: a curated story hour presented by the Vermont Apartment Department
5:36
Speaker 1: of Forest, Parks and Recreation. So that's pretty cool.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, something a little different and definitely worthwhile for people,
5:44
Speaker 2: you know, to enjoy. And also we have our usual
5:51
Speaker 2: service directory for you know, if you're looking for someone
5:54
Speaker 2: that's you know, to clean the carpets or you know,
5:59
Speaker 2: to fix your your car or whatever. We have you know,
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Speaker 2: lots of the service directory and I think that's the
6:10
Speaker 2: bulk of it right now.
6:12
Speaker 1: And some great reads in there to deth I mean,
6:14
Speaker 1: there's listen if if you got five minutes, that's just
6:20
Speaker 1: not gonna be enough. The world is something that usually
6:26
Speaker 1: it lands on the front seat of my truck. It
6:28
Speaker 1: makes its way to the dashboard, then the couch, then
6:31
Speaker 1: back to the truck, and I enjoy it through the
6:35
Speaker 1: whole week.
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Speaker 3: Right.
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Speaker 2: No, that's that's what that's what we hope for. Definitely.
6:40
Speaker 1: Now Freezing Fund for Families, the Winter co Ed Softball Tournament,
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Speaker 1: the oldest and largest fundraiser that's been going on here
6:50
Speaker 1: in Central from out that's coming up the end of February.
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Speaker 1: Are you guys gonna be putting anything in.
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Speaker 3: There in the world.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Every every year you do like a page full
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Speaker 2: page for Freezing Fun and then we get sponsors to
7:06
Speaker 2: pay for the page. Yeah. No, we definitely have all
7:10
Speaker 2: these years have promoted Freezing Fun because it is such
7:14
Speaker 2: a wonderful program and it does so much for people
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Speaker 2: in need.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, if you want to be involved with that, if
7:23
Speaker 1: you want to attach your brand to it, get in
7:27
Speaker 1: touch with the world. Four seven, nine eighty two.
7:30
Speaker 2: That's definitely yep. Yes, definitely, and.
7:34
Speaker 1: Of course we got Night to Shine coming up next weekend.
7:38
Speaker 1: This there's so much happening that's great in our community.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, but I also did want to mention our delivery driver,
7:46
Speaker 2: Jim Elliott, is in the hospital. We're hoping, you know,
7:51
Speaker 2: lots of prayers and he gets better really soon.
7:54
Speaker 1: All right, you can grab it a newsstance everywhere too,
7:57
Speaker 1: so yes, oh.
7:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're out there delivery and right now.
8:01
Speaker 3: Good stuff.
8:01
Speaker 1: Deb, thank you ever so much, big hello to Gary
8:04
Speaker 1: and our community loves.
8:06
Speaker 3: You guys so much.
8:08
Speaker 4: Thank you, Jad.
8:09
Speaker 3: Yeah.
8:09
Speaker 1: Deb Phillips right there from the world. Every single Wednesday,
8:14
Speaker 1: she joins up with us. Boy the community calendar, speaking
8:18
Speaker 1: of it, it's pretty packed again. That welcome back Legislator's
8:23
Speaker 1: reception is tonight at the Governor's Ballroom from five to seven.
8:28
Speaker 1: We've got Wellness Wednesday at the well Space building right
8:32
Speaker 1: here in Barry twenty three. Summer Street started a few
8:36
Speaker 1: years ago. It is just exploded in popularity. It is free,
8:41
Speaker 1: a free community service for everyone in Central from Washington
8:46
Speaker 1: County Mental Health. So don't miss the next one. It's
8:50
Speaker 1: tonight about this afternoon four point thirty. Treat yourself to
8:54
Speaker 1: a little bit of peace, get out and enjoy it
8:57
Speaker 1: and leave your wallet at home. You get a massage,
8:59
Speaker 1: she gets my offacial body, release, some tea, some yoga,
9:05
Speaker 1: table massage, chair massage. They're even doing Raiki four thirty
9:10
Speaker 1: this afternoon, one of the many items in our community calendar.
9:17
Speaker 1: So on Wednesdays we shift gears. And if you're new
9:23
Speaker 1: to aired Out, if you're new to what we do here,
9:30
Speaker 1: first of all, welcome. Secondly, what to expect on Wednesdays.
9:36
Speaker 1: And I want to just touch on this just a
9:40
Speaker 1: little bit here. I have chatted with people recently who
9:50
Speaker 1: say to me, I wish there was some more positivity
9:55
Speaker 1: going on in our communities. I wish that there was
10:00
Speaker 1: some better messaging on social media. What we're seeing, what
10:06
Speaker 1: we're hearing. Yeah, we've we've all felt those effects. And
10:18
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, I've had an individual that
10:24
Speaker 1: reached out yesterday and would like to come on the
10:29
Speaker 1: air and talk about bullying in schools in general. And
10:38
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure that this individual was well
10:43
Speaker 1: aware that on Wednesdays we often take a pretty good
10:51
Speaker 1: deep dive into bullying and the work that Sweethearts and
10:57
Speaker 1: Heroes is doing to combat that and as I've said
11:02
Speaker 1: to Tom Murphy and the rest of the team at
11:06
Speaker 1: Sweethearts and Heroes, that's a tall order, man. I mean,
11:09
Speaker 1: that is a systemic problem that is everywhere. It's all
11:17
Speaker 1: across our nation, and we're not going to be able
11:21
Speaker 1: to fix bullying overnight. And bullying is it's very different
11:27
Speaker 1: now than it was when I was a kid. Shows
11:31
Speaker 1: it's itself in so many different ways. Computers, social media, texting,
11:40
Speaker 1: the list goes on. It's complicated, and it's something that.
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Speaker 3: I don't know.
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Speaker 1: I just praise the efforts of Sweethearts and Heroes for
11:55
Speaker 1: attempting to continually not give up on this object and
12:01
Speaker 1: to make students better, better students and better people going
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Speaker 1: forward in their lives. This morning on the Line with
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Speaker 1: Us is our Wednesday Morning Sweethearts and Heroes special guest
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Speaker 1: Melissa Fisher, who's the dean of students at Georgia Elementary School.
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Speaker 1: Good morning, Melissa. I'm so happy to have you.
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Speaker 4: On Good Morning jad I'm so happy to be here.
12:32
Speaker 1: What is the What was the beginning for Georgia Elementary
12:39
Speaker 1: School to get connected with Tom Murphy and Rick and
12:46
Speaker 1: the rest of the team at Sweethearts and heroes. How
12:49
Speaker 1: did this all start?
12:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I was trying to think back of the
12:55
Speaker 5: first time I had Tom as a prison enter. It
13:01
Speaker 5: was at the very beginning of his program, even before
13:04
Speaker 5: Rick joined him, and now he has an extensive crew,
13:09
Speaker 5: which is amazing.
13:11
Speaker 4: So we got connected with Tom because one.
13:14
Speaker 5: Of our teachers knew him outside of school, knew him personally,
13:21
Speaker 5: and I reached out to him asked if he could
13:25
Speaker 5: present to our school. At the time, I was serving
13:29
Speaker 5: as the middle school counselor here at Georgia, and one
13:34
Speaker 5: of the topics I covered at that time with students,
13:36
Speaker 5: of course, was how to handle if.
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Speaker 4: You were being bullied or you saw bullying happening.
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Speaker 5: So yeah, I would say, gosh, I don't I don't
13:46
Speaker 5: know when Tom first got started, but it was that
13:48
Speaker 5: many years ago.
13:49
Speaker 4: It's been a long time.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, as I was just kind of alluding to,
13:54
Speaker 1: bullying is something that can hide itself very very well.
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Speaker 1: These days, you're well aware of that, I'm sure. Yeah,
14:02
Speaker 1: this is something that you know. I wonder, as Diana students,
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Speaker 1: what what percentage of a typical day you think you
14:13
Speaker 1: might be dealing just with bullying alone?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I.
14:20
Speaker 5: Would say, it's based on kids that come in.
14:24
Speaker 4: And report it to us.
14:27
Speaker 5: You know, it's probably it can be like a quarter
14:31
Speaker 5: percent of the day, I would say, And then depending
14:34
Speaker 5: on the situation, it involves, you know, talking to the
14:38
Speaker 5: various students involved.
14:39
Speaker 4: So sometimes a situation can.
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Speaker 5: Take up most of my day in talking with a
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Speaker 5: student who reported it, addressing the student who they say
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Speaker 5: are being bullied, making sure our staff is informed so
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Speaker 5: they're keeping their eyes and ears open because I'm I believe,
15:02
Speaker 5: you know, having our students reporting to a trusted adult
15:07
Speaker 5: is part of the message because often they are seeing it,
15:12
Speaker 5: hearing it, and not always the adult because it might
15:16
Speaker 5: happen like on the playground, it might happen in the hallway.
15:21
Speaker 4: So yeah, I would say at least a quarter percent
15:24
Speaker 4: of the day.
15:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, And on the school bus and after school and
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Speaker 1: before before school and at the cafeteria, and the list
15:34
Speaker 1: goes on, right, you know. And one of the things
15:37
Speaker 1: that I've talked with the entire team at Sweethearts and
15:40
Speaker 1: Heroes about is just having a real solid understanding of
15:46
Speaker 1: what bullying is because there's gray area you can be
15:51
Speaker 1: goofing around and you know, just having fun, poking fun,
15:57
Speaker 1: at someone, but there's there's such a thin line that
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Speaker 1: can be crossed, and often, you know, you talk about
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Speaker 1: students that that come to you, Melissa, Uh, what about
16:10
Speaker 1: all the students that that don't because of you know,
16:14
Speaker 1: they're they're afraid that you know, this, this could they
16:17
Speaker 1: could get tangled up in this and it could become
16:20
Speaker 1: something that they're they're they're regretting that they ever said
16:23
Speaker 1: anything to a teacher or an administrator.
16:27
Speaker 2: Right.
16:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a common thing that I hear, even when
16:33
Speaker 5: I was a school counselor that you know, often in
16:38
Speaker 5: particular middle school kids and even upper elementary you know,
16:42
Speaker 5: you'll hear them.
16:42
Speaker 4: Say snitches get stitches. You know, this is the message that.
16:46
Speaker 5: They send to each other or that they worry reporting it.
16:53
Speaker 4: Will then make it worse.
16:56
Speaker 5: And to me, that's a teachable moment to that student,
17:00
Speaker 5: you know, because often I will then ask them, so,
17:03
Speaker 5: when you didn't tell a trusted adult, did it get better?
17:07
Speaker 4: And they're like, no, it kept happening.
17:11
Speaker 5: So when our school counselors go into the classroom and
17:15
Speaker 5: talk to students about bullying, that's part of the message
17:20
Speaker 5: that in order for us to help you, we have
17:24
Speaker 5: to know about it, and so you know, and as
17:30
Speaker 5: adults we continue to give that message.
17:33
Speaker 4: What I love about.
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Speaker 5: Sweethearts and Heroes is now they are training our upper
17:39
Speaker 5: upper middle school students to give that same message. And often,
17:46
Speaker 5: you know, students take.
17:48
Speaker 4: That for word.
17:49
Speaker 5: Like if I've got a fellow student telling me that
17:52
Speaker 5: I should report it, that means so much to them
17:55
Speaker 5: versus just the adult saying it. So I'm just so
18:01
Speaker 5: appreciative of being involved with this program and just seeing
18:05
Speaker 5: the numerous benefits all the way around.
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Speaker 1: The STEP program is the acronym with Sweethearts and Heroes
18:13
Speaker 1: for Student Teacher Empathy program. And how about Louden Granger.
18:18
Speaker 1: Let's tip our hat to that fella.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, so, And my history with Louden is when
18:25
Speaker 5: I first started here, I started here at GEMS in
18:30
Speaker 5: two thousand and Jim or excuse me, Louden was a student.
18:37
Speaker 4: So I've known Louden for a really long time. And
18:41
Speaker 4: to now see him as.
18:43
Speaker 5: A grown adult and working with Tom and Rick and
18:47
Speaker 5: with Sweethearts and Heroes and in this role of really
18:51
Speaker 5: giving back to his community, his school community.
18:56
Speaker 4: Is amazing. I just love working with him.
18:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Jose Hyah too.
19:02
Speaker 1: Yes, Over the last year he's been he's been part
19:04
Speaker 1: of the Brave program through Sweethearts and Heroes at your school.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, So after that first time that Tom came to
19:15
Speaker 5: our school to do an assembly, he reached out again
19:20
Speaker 5: and shared how Handy Chevrolet was offering to cover the
19:26
Speaker 5: expenses for Tom to do work in Franklin County. And
19:31
Speaker 5: Tom reached out to me to say, hey, we'd like to.
19:34
Speaker 4: Come back to GEMS. What do you think.
19:37
Speaker 5: And ever since then, Handy Chevrolet has.
19:44
Speaker 4: Offered that to our school.
19:47
Speaker 5: And so I would say the last four years that
19:50
Speaker 5: Tom has been here, it's all because of Handy Chevrolet,
19:54
Speaker 5: and we are so appreciative of that. So we've had
19:58
Speaker 5: Tom and Rick come back and do another assembly and
20:02
Speaker 5: run circles with our elementary middle school students. And then
20:06
Speaker 5: we had Pat Fish from Sweethearts and Heroes come the
20:10
Speaker 5: next year again doing more circle work with our students.
20:15
Speaker 5: And then last year, as you mentioned, Josiah worked with
20:19
Speaker 5: a group of seventh and eighth graders and through the
20:23
Speaker 5: Brave program, and so it put these seventh and eighth
20:27
Speaker 5: graders in a leadership role where they presented to all
20:31
Speaker 5: of our second grade students about what to do if.
20:37
Speaker 4: They saw bullying happening. And then this year.
20:42
Speaker 5: Those students that were in the program last year of
20:44
Speaker 5: seventh graders now they're in eighth grade and they are
20:47
Speaker 5: working with loudon doing the step program.
20:50
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's building itself. I mean, this is
20:57
Speaker 1: this isn't something that Tom was able to sit down
21:02
Speaker 1: and scratch out this whole plane on a on a
21:06
Speaker 1: napkin years ago he had. This is something that has
21:10
Speaker 1: resulted in just something that that has built itself, like
21:15
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, and it's just naturally morphed into different
21:20
Speaker 1: levels to make sure that all ages are connected across
21:26
Speaker 1: all the grade levels.
21:28
Speaker 5: Yes, and they even do training for teachers on how
21:32
Speaker 5: to run circles. And we had a group of our
21:35
Speaker 5: teachers a couple of summers ago attend that training with Tom.
21:41
Speaker 5: And so yeah, he has just expanded it to cover
21:46
Speaker 5: you know, all ages, you know, and and beyond school
21:50
Speaker 5: systems too. Like it's just it's great and it's it's
21:57
Speaker 5: definitely benefited our school community. You know. It's and it's
22:04
Speaker 5: not just about what to do in situations if you
22:07
Speaker 5: see bullying happening, but I think it's really working with
22:10
Speaker 5: students too, about how to you know, accept each other's differences,
22:17
Speaker 5: how to be tolerant, how to be empathetic. There's just
22:21
Speaker 5: so many good things that come from this program.
22:24
Speaker 1: To see these little kids with their their their masks
22:29
Speaker 1: on and their their capes and becoming superheroes is and
22:35
Speaker 1: just having empathy and recognizing when someone else may or
22:42
Speaker 1: you know, may may be having an off day or uh,
22:47
Speaker 1: maybe the target of some repeated behavior from others, uh
22:52
Speaker 1: and and stepping in and getting involved instead of turning around,
22:57
Speaker 1: walking away and you know, minding your own business, which
23:04
Speaker 1: so many of us have been brought up that way,
23:07
Speaker 1: And it's the opposite with sweethearts and heroes. You guys
23:12
Speaker 1: are are tackling stuff head on. And I love that.
23:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, And I think too that you know, what
23:23
Speaker 5: I've seen is sometimes kids are stepping in when it
23:27
Speaker 5: might not be bullying, it might not be something that's
23:29
Speaker 5: been repeated, but it's that level of teasing that's hurtful.
23:35
Speaker 5: And you know, kids are recognizing that and stepping in
23:38
Speaker 5: before it becomes something bigger, you know, because when we
23:45
Speaker 5: try to help the kids understand that, when we don't
23:48
Speaker 5: step in, take action, be that hero for someone. Then
23:54
Speaker 5: we're giving another message that it's okay that this is
23:58
Speaker 5: happening around me, in our school and in our community,
24:03
Speaker 5: and that's not what we want students to feel.
24:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I remember being a student going to
24:12
Speaker 1: the assemblies and you know, mentally just kind of punching
24:20
Speaker 1: out after a few minutes. These guys embrace the crowd,
24:27
Speaker 1: they embrace everyone, They pull them in and have a
24:32
Speaker 1: limited amount of time to get a very important message
24:37
Speaker 1: put out there. But I think there's a level of
24:41
Speaker 1: hope that the school won't just feature sweethearts and heroes
24:48
Speaker 1: as kind of a one and done assembly, but rather
24:51
Speaker 1: allow them the opportunity to really get some roots into
24:56
Speaker 1: the school and make some real profound difference.
25:00
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, what I what I love about their assembly
25:04
Speaker 5: is that they've given up.
25:05
Speaker 4: They're not just talking about what this looks like.
25:08
Speaker 5: They're allowing audience members to participate, which is great, And
25:14
Speaker 5: then it allows for us to as as the adults
25:19
Speaker 5: and as our student leaders, to kind of continue that
25:23
Speaker 5: it's it's providing kids with a toolbox. So if I
25:27
Speaker 5: see this happening, I know what my options are, what
25:31
Speaker 5: I can do. It might be that I confront that bully.
25:36
Speaker 5: I might feel brave enough to do that. But if
25:40
Speaker 5: I'm not quite there yet, I know another way that
25:44
Speaker 5: I can step in and be a hero. I can
25:46
Speaker 5: be a buddy. I can pull them away from the situation.
25:51
Speaker 5: I can take action by telling an adult. So it's
25:56
Speaker 5: just great that they give them a variety of tools
25:58
Speaker 5: that they can use.
26:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, what about Melissa Fisher, the Dinas students at Georgia
26:06
Speaker 1: Elementary School's my guest this morning Sweethearts and Heroes Day
26:10
Speaker 1: every Wednesday here on aired out. What about circle? This
26:15
Speaker 1: takes things to a whole different level. And this is
26:20
Speaker 1: a method that has frankly been around since the Caveman.
26:28
Speaker 1: Where we sit in a circle in a closed cell environment,
26:37
Speaker 1: if you will, Where no matter if there's five or
26:41
Speaker 1: six of us, or twenty five or thirty of us,
26:44
Speaker 1: we're in a circle. We all see each other, and
26:48
Speaker 1: the question or the comment is posed at the at
26:52
Speaker 1: the beginning, and each person going around that circle has
26:57
Speaker 1: an opportunity to beak on that, expand on that, or
27:05
Speaker 1: maybe maybe just not speak but rather listen to others
27:13
Speaker 1: and maybe the the subject or whatever it is maybe
27:16
Speaker 1: too sensitive to them, Maybe they're they're they're not willing
27:23
Speaker 1: to be so vulnerable, but at least there's still part
27:26
Speaker 1: of that circle and then they're able to hear. And
27:29
Speaker 1: the engagement is it is what it is. You're you're
27:33
Speaker 1: kind of forced to be engaged, even if it's just
27:35
Speaker 1: with your ears.
27:37
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
27:39
Speaker 5: So in our building, we start our day in morning meeting,
27:45
Speaker 5: that's what we call it. In the elementary and in
27:47
Speaker 5: the middle school, they start an advisory and the kids
27:52
Speaker 5: are start by sitting in a circle.
27:55
Speaker 4: And the work you know.
27:57
Speaker 5: That uh, Tom and Rick and Pat and Josiah have
28:02
Speaker 5: done around circles is just showing the power of it.
28:07
Speaker 5: There's so many things that kids learn when they're sitting
28:10
Speaker 5: in that circle. One, we're practicing our social skills, listening,
28:13
Speaker 5: taking terms. But by facing each other in the circle,
28:17
Speaker 5: we're all signifying that every single one of us sitting
28:21
Speaker 5: together looking at each other matter, We are all important.
28:26
Speaker 5: And yes, we practice talking about who we are as people,
28:32
Speaker 5: getting to know each other.
28:33
Speaker 4: So it's really building this sense of.
28:36
Speaker 5: Community because by building that, you're also building some empathy
28:41
Speaker 5: for each other. And if you have that empathy, you're
28:45
Speaker 5: less likely to bully or be mean to that person.
28:50
Speaker 5: If you've gotten to know them on that personal level.
28:54
Speaker 5: I think that's the greatest thing about circles.
28:58
Speaker 4: And I've been.
28:59
Speaker 5: Always amazing when when they come in and they run
29:02
Speaker 5: these circles with our students, how quickly they become comfortable
29:06
Speaker 5: in sharing. And there's also fun in the circle too.
29:10
Speaker 5: They always do a quick game. But yeah, it's just
29:16
Speaker 5: there's a lot of power to the circle.
29:18
Speaker 1: All of these guys Aloud and Pat Fish, Josiah, everything
29:25
Speaker 1: that they bring is so profound, it's so amazing. And yeah,
29:32
Speaker 1: I mean, Tom's amazing, but yeah, all of these people
29:36
Speaker 1: and Rick, I mean they just what they bring into
29:40
Speaker 1: a circle and how they get the conversation going is unbelievable.
29:44
Speaker 1: And sometimes a lot of a lot of unexpected things
29:49
Speaker 1: are set. Some emotion can can evoke itself without without
29:58
Speaker 1: it being expected.
30:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, Now I've seen numerous times where you know,
30:06
Speaker 5: kids feel that sense of safety and trust in which
30:10
Speaker 5: they can answer a question that may feel heavy but
30:17
Speaker 5: they but they I don't know, it's just the.
30:20
Speaker 4: Power of the circle. I'm just always amazed.
30:24
Speaker 3: I think that it's.
30:25
Speaker 1: The level of transparency where we're all on the same
30:30
Speaker 1: page and when one person is speaking the rest of
30:34
Speaker 1: us are listening.
30:35
Speaker 3: And yeah, whether.
30:39
Speaker 1: No matter how you feel about that person that's that's speaking,
30:44
Speaker 1: at the very least, at least you'll have some form
30:48
Speaker 1: of perspective. If you are not, you know, particularly best
30:56
Speaker 1: friends with that other student sitting across, at least you'll
30:59
Speaker 1: have ah an understanding from their vulnerability of speaking in
31:04
Speaker 1: front of everyone. At the same time, when you cross
31:08
Speaker 1: them in the hallway, when you pass them in the hallway, right,
31:12
Speaker 1: you have that, you have that empathy. And it's like
31:15
Speaker 1: I've said to Tom before, it's almost impossible to not
31:20
Speaker 1: have it. It's it's kind of I hate to use
31:23
Speaker 1: the word forced, but it's forced empathy, man.
31:25
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's just it's what it is.
31:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think when kids are vulnerable in that
31:32
Speaker 5: moment and they're hearing someone else speak, I think there's
31:37
Speaker 5: also moments where they recognize a way, I'm not alone
31:41
Speaker 5: in feeling this way, and it's okay that I feel
31:46
Speaker 5: this way, and it's okay for me to talk about it.
31:52
Speaker 4: And so yeah, there's just so you.
31:55
Speaker 1: Have you have students right now that are in their
31:58
Speaker 1: second year that that have been have been doing this.
32:03
Speaker 1: What what's happened to their level of confidence.
32:08
Speaker 5: Melissa, Yeah, it's it's been amazing, just amazing.
32:13
Speaker 4: To watch the growth.
32:17
Speaker 5: You know, Uh, last year as seventh graders, you know,
32:21
Speaker 5: they were they were working with some eighth graders. They
32:25
Speaker 5: seemed a little intimidated, but still very excited, and once
32:32
Speaker 5: they were in front of students, it's like this whole
32:36
Speaker 5: new level of confidence comes out. And so this year,
32:40
Speaker 5: you know, as eighth graders there with with step. They're
32:46
Speaker 5: actually working with Louden to create their lesson or presentation
32:53
Speaker 5: and they're working in pairs and again Louden is really
32:58
Speaker 5: working with them about about, you know, some positives of
33:03
Speaker 5: what you can do when you're presenting, how to get
33:06
Speaker 5: that message across. They're practicing it and they're just I
33:11
Speaker 5: don't know, it's just you can see how how much
33:15
Speaker 5: more confident they are because it's the same message. They're
33:20
Speaker 5: giving it to a different group of kids, but because
33:22
Speaker 5: they've had that year of experience, they're like, yeah, bring
33:27
Speaker 5: it on, I can I can do this.
33:30
Speaker 4: They're so excited. We're so looking forward to them.
33:34
Speaker 5: They're going to present in March to all of our
33:37
Speaker 5: first graders and you can just see their excitement and
33:41
Speaker 5: momentum building.
33:42
Speaker 4: It's great.
33:43
Speaker 1: This Uh, the Kennedy Columbus Step program is just popping.
33:48
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you anyone who's watching, listening right now
33:53
Speaker 1: who is not yet familiar with it, be warned. Uh,
33:57
Speaker 1: this is something that is going to be sweeping, not
34:01
Speaker 1: just New York State, but it's going to be hitting
34:04
Speaker 1: the whole region. This is an incredible program. If if
34:08
Speaker 1: Sweethearts and Heroes is not yet in your school, Frankly,
34:17
Speaker 1: that's a shame. What what do you say, Melissa to
34:21
Speaker 1: to two schools who have not yet at least been
34:26
Speaker 1: on Sweethearts and Heroes dot com.
34:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, I can't say enough good things about it. I
34:34
Speaker 5: would I would highly recommend because I have just seen
34:38
Speaker 5: won the benefit to our school community. I've seen the
34:44
Speaker 5: benefit to our younger and older students. The younger students
34:50
Speaker 5: just get so excited when they have what they would
34:54
Speaker 5: call the big kids come down and talk to them.
34:57
Speaker 5: Their eyes are glued to them, they are totally listening
35:01
Speaker 5: to what they're saying. They love uh being able to
35:05
Speaker 5: do some role playing, some practicing with the older students,
35:09
Speaker 5: and then to see these older students take on this
35:14
Speaker 5: role and to see how much joy it brings to them.
35:20
Speaker 5: You know, I just I can't say, like, I just
35:25
Speaker 5: encourage people to bring it to your school so you
35:27
Speaker 5: can see it for yourself.
35:30
Speaker 4: You know.
35:31
Speaker 5: I've I can't tell you how many times I've had
35:34
Speaker 5: teachers just be so thankful.
35:36
Speaker 4: I've had parents of.
35:38
Speaker 5: These students who are in this leadership role talk about
35:42
Speaker 5: how their kids are loving it. Yeah.
35:46
Speaker 4: There's just so many benefits.
35:48
Speaker 5: And even if you just start, I mean, I would
35:50
Speaker 5: say at least start with having Rick and Tom do
35:54
Speaker 5: an assembly for your school. That assembly alone is amazing.
36:01
Speaker 3: Yeah.
36:02
Speaker 1: In a shout out again to Handy Chevrolet and all
36:07
Speaker 1: of the North Country Chevy dealers for getting behind Sweethearts
36:11
Speaker 1: and heroes their mission. Uh, they're literally and I mean that,
36:17
Speaker 1: and I don't at least I try not to say
36:19
Speaker 1: this too often, but they're literally kind of like saving
36:23
Speaker 1: the world here.
36:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.
36:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I think it's.
36:29
Speaker 5: It's just we have been blessed to have them support
36:35
Speaker 5: our school and our community in that way and allowing
36:40
Speaker 5: for this opportunity for Sweethearts and Heroes to be here
36:45
Speaker 5: and to be involved in these various programs. Because I
36:51
Speaker 5: know the students too that once they leave Georgia. Our
36:56
Speaker 5: kids go to various high schools, and so I just
37:01
Speaker 5: know that, you know, I'm They're going off to high
37:04
Speaker 5: school and can be, you know, be a leader there, right,
37:09
Speaker 5: And I encourage those students to do that because they
37:13
Speaker 5: are that well prepared. And the more we can get
37:17
Speaker 5: that message out, the greater we will be for sure.
37:21
Speaker 3: Yeah.
37:22
Speaker 1: Melissa Fisher, the dean of students at Georgia Elementary School,
37:27
Speaker 1: with us on the line this morning on our Wednesday
37:30
Speaker 1: edition of Aired Out with Sweethearts and Heroes. Question here
37:35
Speaker 1: that has just come in. Do you feel going back
37:37
Speaker 1: to a slightly older way of dealing with behavior and
37:41
Speaker 1: bullying issues may be warranted? An example, a student acts
37:47
Speaker 1: out and ends up sitting in the principal's office for
37:49
Speaker 1: the rest of the day waiting to find out their consequences,
37:52
Speaker 1: and the parents come and discuss the matter as well,
37:57
Speaker 1: not suggesting that that may or may not have happened
38:00
Speaker 1: with me when I was in elementary school.
38:03
Speaker 3: What say you about that?
38:06
Speaker 4: Yeah?
38:07
Speaker 5: I think the way we approach it here is there
38:13
Speaker 5: are many teachable moments, and I think when we have
38:20
Speaker 5: a situation come up, it's a teachable moment. It's helping
38:24
Speaker 5: that student to understand like what's what's behind it, what's
38:28
Speaker 5: going on And oftentimes, you know, if I just said
38:32
Speaker 5: here's the consequence for you, you're going to sit in
38:35
Speaker 5: this office for the rest of the.
38:37
Speaker 4: Day, it's not again preparing them.
38:44
Speaker 5: For what happens beyond that day, right, So it's really
38:49
Speaker 5: about trying to understand how it impacted the other student, because.
38:56
Speaker 4: If roles were reversed, they.
38:59
Speaker 5: Probably wouldn't feel good if someone was treating them in
39:02
Speaker 5: that way.
39:03
Speaker 4: That is the reality. You know, we add in social media.
39:08
Speaker 5: And cell phones, and you know, we see a rise
39:14
Speaker 5: in bullying happening there, and it's.
39:17
Speaker 4: Because they don't see that person's face.
39:20
Speaker 5: They don't see how it impacts them. And so our
39:25
Speaker 5: job is to help them to understand why this is
39:29
Speaker 5: not a way that we want to treat each other.
39:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, well said, Well said Listen, you know, I've
39:38
Speaker 1: got us a started this morning's program. I've got a
39:46
Speaker 1: lady that just reached out yesterday who has a bullying
39:53
Speaker 1: problem that's rather serious with her child at one of
39:58
Speaker 1: our local schools that has not incorporated Sweethearts and Heroes
40:05
Speaker 1: yet anyway, and there's a there's a great deal of
40:12
Speaker 1: despair and loss of hope here, the feeling of not
40:17
Speaker 1: being heard, not being understood, nothing productive coming out of this,
40:23
Speaker 1: no progress being made, and this individual has has really
40:31
Speaker 1: you know, I think of of Rick's message of hope,
40:34
Speaker 1: but uh, it's it's kind of lost here, and she's frankly,
40:40
Speaker 1: uh desperate to the point where you know, and we've
40:47
Speaker 1: heard listen, we've heard plenty parents say I don't know
40:52
Speaker 1: what else to do. I guess I'm going to have
40:54
Speaker 1: to pull my kid out and homeschool. And and this
40:59
Speaker 1: individual's going to be possibly sharing a microphone with me
41:05
Speaker 1: this coming Tuesday. What would you say to this.
41:10
Speaker 5: This parent, I would certainly encourage them to reach out
41:20
Speaker 5: to who they feel is their trusted adult in the
41:23
Speaker 5: school building, right, and to have a conversation and maybe
41:33
Speaker 5: have your child there too, to just talk about the
41:37
Speaker 5: impact of it. And I would hope that from there
41:43
Speaker 5: they could work to make a plan moving forward, like how,
41:48
Speaker 5: you know, what can we do? What can they do
41:51
Speaker 5: as a school community? Two help their child? Right, Because
42:00
Speaker 5: you know, every student the message I give students at
42:04
Speaker 5: the beginning of the year, because I go around and
42:06
Speaker 5: I talk about on the middle school, and and it
42:12
Speaker 5: happens with somebody else on the elementary end. But just
42:16
Speaker 5: about what bullying and harassment is, and that everyone who
42:23
Speaker 5: walks into our building deserves to feel respected, to feel safe.
42:31
Speaker 5: And you know it's not to say that in our
42:34
Speaker 5: building sometimes it goes unnoticed in the sense of it
42:38
Speaker 5: doesn't get reported to us. And again that's continued work
42:42
Speaker 5: on our part to make students feel like we want
42:46
Speaker 5: you to feel you can tell some adult in this
42:49
Speaker 5: building what's going on so we can help you, because
42:54
Speaker 5: we don't. We wouldn't want it to continue. So yeah,
42:58
Speaker 5: I guess I would encourage that parent to meet with
43:05
Speaker 5: who they feel is that trusted adult in their school building.
43:10
Speaker 5: I hope that they have one, Yeah, and.
43:15
Speaker 1: To contact you know, maybe Tom or or someone at
43:20
Speaker 1: Sweethearts and Heroes at least have a conversation and see
43:25
Speaker 1: if they can get them into this local school right
43:30
Speaker 1: here in central Verman And and there's there's a few
43:33
Speaker 1: of them.
43:34
Speaker 3: And you know we've.
43:35
Speaker 1: Heard, well, this school has as a bullying problem that's
43:38
Speaker 1: worse than that one. And you know we've all heard
43:40
Speaker 1: that bullyings everywhere. Yeah, it's it's a disease and if
43:46
Speaker 1: you can aggressively work at it, Consistency is key. I
43:51
Speaker 1: think having the tools, like you said, You've said the
43:54
Speaker 1: word tools several times. Having them the knowledge and and
43:59
Speaker 1: the tools and the skill to combat it every single day.
44:05
Speaker 3: Is the way to stay ahead of it.
44:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's you know, it's and then once you
44:11
Speaker 4: have you know.
44:13
Speaker 5: Tom and Rick, et cetera, you know, in your building,
44:18
Speaker 5: then it's it's you know, the work doesn't.
44:21
Speaker 4: Stop, right, It's about the adults in.
44:24
Speaker 5: The building continuing to spread that message of you know
44:28
Speaker 5: what to do if you see this happening, and you know,
44:33
Speaker 5: if a teacher notices something in their classroom, like having
44:38
Speaker 5: a circle with your students and having a conversation about
44:42
Speaker 5: you know, how do we how should we be treating
44:45
Speaker 5: each other in our classroom community?
44:47
Speaker 3: Right?
44:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, great stuff, Melissa, Thank you ever so much
44:55
Speaker 1: for coming on the air with us. Tom sings your
44:59
Speaker 1: praises U so does so does Loud. How How was
45:04
Speaker 1: how was loudnes as a as a student? Just air
45:08
Speaker 1: it out, just let.
45:09
Speaker 5: It go right, No, I can't say loud and never
45:14
Speaker 5: got sent to my office.
45:16
Speaker 4: No, he was a good kid. He was a good kid,
45:18
Speaker 4: and I know his parents too. They they work for our.
45:23
Speaker 5: Uh well, his father worked for our school district for
45:27
Speaker 5: many years. His mom continues to so his family has
45:33
Speaker 5: deep connections to Georgia.
45:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.
45:37
Speaker 3: So good people.
45:37
Speaker 5: But it's like I said, it's great to see him
45:40
Speaker 5: in this adult role. I always like to see when
45:43
Speaker 5: our students come back. I have many now that are
45:47
Speaker 5: parents that have students in the building. So that's how
45:49
Speaker 5: long I've been here.
45:52
Speaker 3: Yeah incredible.
45:54
Speaker 4: Uh.
45:54
Speaker 1: Dean of Students at Georgia Elementary School, Melissa Fisher, thank
45:58
Speaker 1: you ever so much for your time this morning. We
46:01
Speaker 1: really appreciate it.
46:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you so much. Jadie.
46:04
Speaker 1: Great chatting with you, and I hope to meet you someday.
46:07
Speaker 1: I love conversations like this. This is what it's about
46:12
Speaker 1: right here. Listen, you know, And I want to say this,
46:15
Speaker 1: if you have if you have a feeld good story
46:19
Speaker 1: that you would like to share with the aired out audience,
46:25
Speaker 1: get it to me for the daily dose of feel good.
46:27
Speaker 1: If there's something that's either funny or happy or light,
46:32
Speaker 1: just DM me on on Facebook and I will share
46:36
Speaker 1: it on the air as we travel through the rest
46:40
Speaker 1: of the week. I am going to be taking tomorrow
46:42
Speaker 1: morning off. As some of you know, I've got some
46:46
Speaker 1: upcoming surgery and we got all the medical pre op
46:52
Speaker 1: stuff that's got to go with it, and it's kind
46:55
Speaker 1: of tapping into my schedule a little bit. So I'll
46:57
Speaker 1: be off tomorrow morning and then back Friday morning with
47:02
Speaker 1: g and I look forward to it. We're gonna have
47:05
Speaker 1: a whole heck of a lot of fun and laughs
47:07
Speaker 1: as we head into a very cold weekend. In the meantime,
47:12
Speaker 1: Look at this guy right there, Tom Murphy, truly loving
47:21
Speaker 1: what he's doing, making a difference in the lives of
47:24
Speaker 1: so many kids with Sweethearts and Heroes. Thanks to Melissa
47:29
Speaker 1: Fisher the Dina Students at Georgia Elementary School for being
47:32
Speaker 1: our guest this morning, and thanks to the entire team
47:35
Speaker 1: at Sweethearts and Heroes as we bring him on every
47:39
Speaker 1: single Wednesday right here on the aired out.
47:43
Speaker 6: Podcasts Stas st Steps Steps passssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss