Bullying behavior has been a much reported and publicized issue in most American schools for many years.

However, due to the abstract nature of the definition and reporting tendency of the issue, it is often difficult to assess just how much of a problem bullying is in a school like Rose Hill High School.

This article takes into account the views of students, teachers and administration in Rose Hill High in an effort to discern to some degree how much of an issue bullying really is at Rose Hill High.

“Bullying-wise, no I don’t think we have a problem here at Rose Hill High School,” said Assistant Principal Aaron Jackson. “You know I think we have a lot of good kids. I think the other schools do a good job at coming through and teaching that bullying behavior you know is not accepted. So I don’t feel we have a problem.”

Junior George Jameson agreed with Jackson.

“I’ve seen it around a few times,” said junior George Jameson. “But I wouldn’t say it’s exactly a problem.

Are there some things that go on when you throw 500 kids in one building? Sure. But is it called bullying or is that bullying behavior an issue?

“No,” clarified Jackson. “But like I said I’m sure we’ve got an instance here or two when maybe somebody is showing that, but it’s not a problem.”

Some students believe that bullying is significantly less prevalent in high school than it was in middle school.

“I think it does happen but it’s not as big as it’s put out there to be,” said senior Reagan Evans on bullying in the high school. “I’d say middle school bullying is probably a lot worse because it’s just like very immature, and I think like kind of once you get into high school you see it in the freshman sophomore classes more and then once you become an upperclassman it dies down cause everybody matures.”

Jackson thinks the size of the district plays a factor into the minimal bullying.

“Again it’s taught coming up through the younger grades including in high school that it’s not accepted,” Jackson said. “And pretty much here everybody knows everybody. The teachers know all the kids and all the kids pretty much know each other. And if they do witness something that they feel is improper or wrong they bring it to my intention or you know we’ve had other kids shut down other kids.”

Some schools have 2000 students in a building, which can lead to students getting lost. Students have chosen to come to Rose Hill because they do not want to deal with issues like bullying that is more prevalant at larger schools.

“I’m not knocking those districts, that’s just the nature of the beast when you throw 2000 kids in there,” Jackson said. “You know me as assistant principal, Mr. Haydock as principal and Mr. Linot as AD – the three of us know every kid in the building, Whereas if you go out and go to Derby or Southeast that’s not the case.”

Andrea Holland, who teaches science, who previously taught in Derby, said bullying is not as significant here because teachers are able to pay closer attention to student interaction.

“It’s (bigger schools) a lot larger so it’s a lot harder to watch and monitor,” said Holland. “You have a lot larger population of different groups of people that don’t always mesh.”