School psychologists across the country say it's an unfortunate
but not an unheard of tactic to stop bullying. "In my middle
school kids are arrested [for bullying] all the time, although I
don't necessarily agree with it," said Lisa Persinger, a
psychologist at the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona
and chairwoman of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender and
Questioning Issues Committee of the National Association of
School Psychologists. Persinger said schools need not discuss
sensitive issues like homosexuality to combat bad behavior and
slurs. Instead, a better tactic is to pre-emptively discuss what
behaviors and words are allowed. "The schools that do better
with this are schools that have schoolwide positive behavior
support rather than schools that use only discipline measures
when students misbehave," said Persinger. Greenfield's work
across the country supports similar stances; pre-emptively talk
about acceptable words and behavior but avoid going too far into
the personal lives of children. "