Red Ribbon Week (October 23rd through 31st) highlights the importance of living a drug-free life. It presents an opportunity for parents, educators, and communities to reinforce the drug-free messages they share with their children throughout the year. During Red Ribbon Week, youth and adults around the nation pledge to increase their knowledge by learning more about the destructive effects of drug abuse, including prescription drug misuse, and renew their commitment to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Research shows that kids are less likely to use tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs with effective prevention efforts. Teaching the importance of health and wellness to our youth will help guide them to make positive choices throughout their life.

• Use Red Ribbon Week as an opportunity to continue talking to your kids about drugs
• Sign the Red Ribbon Pledge
• Watch Natural High’s free celebrity drug prevention videos with your child and use their discussion questions to have a conversation with them about drugs and alcohol
  
• Use social media to post Red Ribbon Week messages on your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts
• Secure and take inventory of your medicine cabinet to prevent prescription drug abuse
  

Bullying is a repeated aggressive behavior where one person (or group of people) in a position of power deliberately intimidates, abuses, or coerces an individual with the intention to hurt that person physically or emotionally. Acts of bullying can be physical or verbal. Bullying can also take place through technology, known as cyberbullying.

• Single episodes of social rejection or dislike
• Single episode acts of nastiness or spite
• Random acts of aggression or intimidation
• Mutual arguments, disagreements or fights

There are many other types of aggressive behavior that don’t fit the definition of bullying. This does not mean that they are any less serious or require less attention than bullying. Rather, these behaviors require different prevention and response strategies.

Parents play a key role in preventing and responding to bullying. Your child could be being bullied, bullying others, or witnessing bullying.

We can help kids stop the bullying cycle by:

• Learn what bullying is and what it is not
• Recognize the signs of bullying
• Talk to your child about bullying
  
• Get informed about cyberbullying
• The bystander: teach kids to prevent bullying when they see it
  
• Teach kids to treat others with respect and kindness
  
• Be a good role model for constructively solving problems

Join us in dropping off your unused, unwanted, or expired medications.

safeschools@durantisd.org 580-924-1276

The mission of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program is to help ensure that children are mentally and physically ready to learn and have healthy and supportive families, and to promote a safe community by equipping individuals with skills, knowledge, standards, and resources to live healthy lives.