To the Editor:

I was fortunate enough to attend the Knoxville Police Department’s anti-bullying summit on July 30 at the Expo Center on Clinton Highway. The main message given at the summit was summarized really well by the headline in the Knoxville News Sentinel the next morning: “Expert: Confront, rehab bullies.”

Dr. Steve Edwards, a former teacher and school principal, talked about methods he developed in which he would get to know the bullies in a school and find out their interests and what they felt was wrong in their school experience. He would then engage them in some way in helping the school. He said also that bullies often have leadership qualities which need direction. [Read more…]