Gladewater Independent School District in Gladewater, Texas is one of the latest school districts to implement a new program to confront bullying using cell phones and psychology. In less than a week, the high school librarian had set up an anonymous tipping program called uTip – The Bully Buster. The program works by blanketing the school with posters that both explain how the program works while warning would-be perpetrators that anyone can report them with unprecedented ease. A simple, benign text message is all it takes. The uTip program is provided free of charge for the first year by Omnilert's e2Campus, the leader in school safety communications.
"We don't have a whole lot of bullying going on, but we wanted to have something in place to be proactive," said the Principal at Gladewater High School, Cathy Bedair. "Our librarian had taken charge of this program and had it set up within a week. The feedback from teachers so far is that it has been helpful."
Bedair continued, "We chose to use the posters provided by uTip, because it was easier and it was a well designed poster. We now have posters all around school and used the same poster for our website, which was very convenient."
"We get the emails and text tips immediately on our phones, as soon as the tips are submitted. They go to my two assistant principals and me. The tips that have come in so far have been related to bullying, but it can really be used for anything like theft, vandalism, cheating, or drugs. It's a quick and easy way for students, parents, and community members to have a direct line to the three of us if they see anything, even after school hours."
"uTip is an excellent way to help the school be proactive and keep the students safe. It takes very minimal effort to set it up and the payoff is extreme. It’s been a win-win for all of us here."
About uTip – The Bully Buster
Already in place at schools around the country, uTip – The Bully Buster is the award-winning revolutionary "Bully Deterrent System" that combines technology with psychology to decrease bullying and crime at school. uTip uses SMS text messaging to put the power in the palm of students’ hands – enabling them to discreetly and anonymously report a situation immediately, so schools can respond quickly. Plus, uTip includes free promotional materials for the school to inform tipsters while sending a warning to would-be bullies. School administrators can access cloud-based reports anytime or receive real-time tips on their phone. Results are guaranteed. New customers can experience uTip free for the first year of service. Learn more at www.Bully-Buster.com.
About e2Campus
Used by more than 800 schools around the country, e2Campus is the leading safety communication solution for schools. The e2Campus 360 Safety Suite includes uAlert, uTip, uCall, uSafe, uConference, Hotline and the Multimodal Showcase. The award-winning flagship service, uAlert, is the first and most trusted interactive unified emergency notification system in education. Higher education clients include large universities such as Penn State and Cal Poly as well as smaller colleges with less than 100 students. K12 clients range from large school districts to small private day schools. To learn more, visit www.e2Campus.com. Parent company Omnilert keeps communities safe and connected for 11,000 clients including U.S. Army, Bayer, Mazda, DuPont, Philips, and American Red Cross.
