Taking bullies by the horns

Cherry Creek targets classroom aggressors with ‘Bullying 2.0’

By Peter Jones

Bullies on the playground are as storied as apples on the teacher’s desk, but the Cherry Creek School District is prepared to do something about them.

The district’s recently retooled program, now called Bullying 2.0, is a multi-tiered effort to curb the age-old problem through a mix of educational courses, direct intervention and victim empowerment. Cherry Creek has also assembled a team of mental-health professionals well versed in the causes and cures of education’s oldest schoolyard problem.

Dr. Marla Bonds, a clinical psychologist who serves as Cherry Creek’s bullying-prevention coordinator, says the comprehensive grant-funded Bullying 2.0 program encourages the entire school community to become aware, get involved and use