Boody Junior High School Launches Phone App To Combat Bullying

I.S. 228 David. A Boody Junior High School (228 Avenue S) is the first school in the nation to deploy bullying prevention software designed to curb harassment within its hallways.

Using any web-enabled device, including phones, tablets and desktop computers, students, parents and teachers can now inform the school’s administrators of incidents of bullying and harassment.

The software was designed by Bridg-iT School, and keeps records of reports tipsters file so that school administrators can determine patterns of behavior. It also will inform the school’s principal the moment a report is filed. All reports are kept confidential.

Principal Dominick D’Angelo told the Daily News that it will help address one of the top problems in tackling bullying in the hallways – simply being aware of it.

“This is a life-saving and life-changing opportunity because you don’t know the full extent of bullying within a particular school,” said D’Angelo. “The biggest challenge we have is knowing when something is happening.”

He believes students will be more willing to file the report confidentially and discreetly through a phone or computer than by openly approaching an administrator.

That jives with what students at the school told CBS:

Many students at I.S. 228 David A. Boody in Gravesend, Brooklyn have said they are afraid to come to an authority figure or adult about bullying.

“If they see you going to, like, the dean’s office or (principal) Mr. D’Angelo’s office, you’d be called a snitch and be bullied too,” said eighth grader Paola Price, 13.