By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
Imagine a school where students treat each other with respect and go out of their way to positively affect another student’s day. The Civil Rights Team at South Portland’s Memorial Middle School is actively making that vision a reality by engaging fellow students in activities, such as last week’s “Imagine Equality Day,” with the intent of  making the school a safer and more welcoming environment for all students.
“This day is because of the kids’ desire to want to make a change in the way they interact with one another,” said Assistant Principal George Conant, who wore a green T-shirt with the words, “The Wildcat Way,” – the school’s motto and a reminder to be kind and respectful to others – emblazoned on the back.
Principal Megan Welter said Conant helped re-energize the civil rights team, which currently has nearly 40 members. In addition to the “Imagine Equality Day,” the team sponsored a “Mix It Up Day,” in which students were encouraged to eat with a different group during lunch.
Last week, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students participated in several classroom activities designed to promote group discussions about bullying and name calling.
In the morning, students watched, “A Bully Carol,” a movie produced by the civil rights team and modeled after Charles Dickens’ familiar tale, “A Christmas Carol.”
A faculty advisor to the team and seventh grade teacher Jeremy LaRose said the team wrote, created and edited the movie, which attempts to spread awareness about the consequences of bullying.
In an activity titled, “Don’t Just Stand By,” LaRose’s students formed small groups and contemplated what they would do if they witnessed a classmate being bullied by another student.
The first scenario called for the class to brainstorm what they would do if they saw a classmate making insulting remarks to a smaller student in the locker room after physical education class.
“I’d get in front of the two people and try to stop his comments – I would talk with the person after class and tell him to forget what the bully said,” said Tyler Boucher.
Matt Amadei said he would ask the bully, “How would you feel about being bullied about your size?”
The class also discussed what they would do if they overheard a student concocting a false rumor about a classmate.
“Some people would actually start a rumor about the people who said it, [but] that’s the wrong thing to do,” said Jenna Wing.
Boucher said students should try to stay out of the rumor mill.
“You need to be the bigger person and not really get into it, but tell the teacher what’s going on,” he said.
LaRose said he was initially worried the students might not take the activities seriously, but he said the students are realizing bullying is a real problem. Addressing the class, LaRose said he knew two students who were constantly harassed and committed suicide.
“It happens,” he said. “This is really, really real.”
Maine Assistant Attorney General Thom Harnett spoke to students about the civil rights laws and the potential legal ramifications of bullying and harassment. Harnett directs the Civil Rights Team Project that has established similar teams in more than 220 schools in the state.
He said he enjoys speaking to students about bullying because by the time he is notified of an incident at a school, “all I’m doing is cleaning up the mess – I can’t make it better.”
Harnett shared a story about, “John,” a Maine high school senior, who in his freshman year decided it would be cool to dye part of his hair blue. A group of his classmates decided that meant John was gay and they started to verbally harass him. Harnett said, by John’s senior year, the “constant drum beat” of the bullying became so intolerable he made a plan to commit suicide. It was a dream in which he saw his family and friends inconsolable about his death that stopped John from taking his life. Then at a dance, the bullying escalated to a threat of physical violence, when a student said he was going to fight John.
“That kid broke the law at that moment,” Harnett said.
A lawsuit was brought against the student and he was ordered to stay away from John.  Harnett said John quit school, however, and was home-schooled for the last four months of his senior year. After he graduated, he left Maine as fast as he could, said Harnett.
“We brought the person to justice, but so what?” he said.
Civil Rights Teams across the state, however, are making a difference, Harnett said.
“[They] work and we are seeing an improvement in the school climate,” he said.