October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and Perry Township Schools is proud to support the initiative. On Oct. 24 our students and staff will wear orange to observe National Unity Day to promote acceptance and inclusion among our schools and beyond.

Our Department of Student Services has planned activities for throughout the month in our schools. One of the special events will include a visit by Chris “Lights Out” Lytle to Southport High School, of which he is an alumnus. He is a mixed martial artist, boxer and a veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The former Cardinal founded the Chris Lytle Foundation, an anti-bullying agency whose goal is to encourage, educate and empower people to speak up and stand up for themselves and others. Across our classrooms, instructors will discuss what bullying is, advise students what to do if they’re being bullied, and educate bystanders on what to do if they witness bullying.

Perry Township Schools does not condone bullying behavior toward any student, whether by other students, staff or third parties. It is strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated. Bullying can be an isolating experience – not just for the kids involved but for their parents as well.

We want the targets of bullying, their support system and bystanders to feel empowered to report it and safely take a stand. We encourage students to report bullying or any disagreement in which they feel threatened by telling a school official or calling our Safety Hotline at 317-789-3905. Once a report of bullying is received, an investigation is initiated within one school day.

Staff members gather information from parties on each side of the situation. Based on the outcome of the investigation, school leaders are able to determine the appropriate discipline or intervention based on the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support program.

Our anti-bullying initiatives also seek to educate and counsel students who are the perpetrators of the aggressions.

Perry Township Schools is committed to providing a safe, positive and nurturing environment for all students. For more information about our bullying policy, visit www.perryschools.org/for-students/ bullying/. To learn about the foundation, visit www.thechrislytlefoun dation.org/.

Career exploration and preparation are critical parts of the learning process. When students learn at an early age that there are boundless professional opportunities available to them, they can begin to dream big. They can try activities they may have never considered before. They can join clubs to learn more about a newfound interest. They can look for job shadow opportunities to get an up-close look at what the profession might look like.

They can begin this exploration well before they embark on their senior year. Partnerships from community supporters like IUPUI make this hands-on approach possible. Educators at Perry Meridian High School have teamed with IUPUI to supplement curriculum in unique ways.

Indiana University School of Nursing students spend Wednesdays with Stephanie Kim’s English learners class and Kim Stafford’s anatomy class. It is truly a learning opportunity for our students, as well as the IUPUI students, who are enrolled in a healthy populations practicum course. The course requires aspiring nurses to go into neighborhoods to not only teach the community about the importance of making healthy lifestyle choices, but also how to incorporate healthy choices into their daily routines.

The nursing students are responsible for identifying strengths and needs within the community and then partnering with the community to implement a health promotion activity. In Mrs. Kim’s class, nursing students teach about nutrition – specifically increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables consumed each day, in addition to reducing the amount of added fat, sodium and sugar.

The Perry Meridian students were treated to a health fair where they learned about healthy alternatives to some of their favorite snacks. The nursing school partnered with the nutrition services team from the Marion County Public Health Department, which helped students make nutrient-rich green smoothies trail mix. In Mrs. Stafford’s room, nursing students supplemented the anatomy class’s content, including brain health and function.

Nursing students were also able to integrate their lessons into our Project Lead the Way curriculum, which is designed for students who are interested in studying health sciences in the future. This partnership is beneficial not only for the nursing and Perry students but also to the Perry Township community.

While nursing students are improving their communication, assessment and civic leadership skills, our students are learning how to live healthier lives and build a foundation to possibly pursue a career in health-related professions. The information our students receive will potentially be shared with their families and friends, who might also begin to incorporate healthy choices into their lives.

We are thankful to our community, which supports educators in big and small ways. Some donors give resources directly to the schools where they feel most connected. Others choose to give to our Perry Township Education Foundation, which awards grants to multiple classrooms throughout the year. At times our schools also receive contributions from all corners of the country.

Donors Choose is a crowdfunding platform that allows teachers to list their classroom projects that need funding. The site makes it easy for anyone, anywhere, to help a classroom in need. Donors can even give as little as $1.

Once a project is fully funded, Donors Choose purchases all the requested items and ships them directly to the school. Every donor gets a thank you letter from the teacher, photos from the classroom and a report of how each dollar was spent.

Since 2000, Donors Choose has funded more than 1.1 million projects and raised more than $678 million. Of the 421,000 teachers who have had projects funded, 94 percent of them say it increased their effectiveness in the classroom.

Recently, WISH-TV featured Southport Middle School teacher Kristen Jordan, who has experienced great success with Donors Choose. In fact, she’s had 25 projects funded in the 10 years since she’s been teaching, and she credits crowdfunding sites with providing her with creative tools to help make learning fun.

For example, donors once came together to purchase several Battleship board games, which allowed Mrs. Jordan to teach her former social studies classes about longitude and latitude in an interactive way. As a Project Lead the Way teacher, Mrs. Jordan now has science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related resources listed on Donors Choose. She is one of several Perry Township teachers looking for a little help to fund classroom projects.

At Clinton Young Elementary, third-grade teacher Lauren  Krumholz has requested several items, including 30 wireless mice and six portable lap desks. Southport Sixth Grade Academy teacher Amanda Harper requested more comfortable seating options. In April a generous donor contributed $29 million to fund classroom projects in 16,561 schools across all 50 states.

Eleven Perry Township schools were among the recipients of the good deed, provided by Ripple, a San Francisco-based startup that’s developing digital currency for faster global financial payments. However, it’s important to remember that every donation is appreciated – no matter how small. Sites like Donors Choose complement the work done by the foundation (www.ptef.org). To view classroom projects that are listed on the Donors Choose site, visit www.donorschoose.org and search for schools by zip code

Attendance matters. That is why Perry Township Schools is joining the Indiana Department of Education in recognizing Attendance Awareness Month. Consistent attendance must start at an early age. Chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy are important predictors of school performance, including high school graduation.

According to Attendance Works, which “advances student success and reduces equity gaps by reducing chronic absence,” absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year, which can also influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.

By sixth grade, chronic absence (missing 18 or more days per school year) becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school, according to research. When students improve their attendance rates they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating. If a student is chronically absent by the time he or she is in 12th grade, over a year of instructional time has been lost.

We are committed to tracking not only unexcused absences but also excused absences that can derail a student’s academic performance. It is our intention to reduce the number of all lost instructional days. Even late arrival and early departure leads to lost instructional time. By working with students and parents we can help our community understand how attendance relates to academic, social and vocational success.

Our administrators, teachers and social workers engage with our families to help them understand how chronic absences negatively affect students’ long-term success. We also recognize that factors, including unstable housing or illness, can contribute to poor student attendance.

Once we identify these impediments, we try to direct families to solutions or resources to relieve the problem that contributes to absences. Parents who have concerns regarding their child’s absences should contact the school’s social worker by visiting www.perryschools.org/ for-parents/student-services/. For more information about encouraging student attendance, visit attendanceworks.org.