With the school year starting for districts across the state, it’s time for teachers and administrators to take a serious look at how they can reduce bullying, and that starts by enforcing good behavior.

Before students can get the most out of an education, they need to feel safe. Some parents — and even some teachers — feel bullying is simply a part of childhood. But it’s bad for the individual student’s self-esteem and social development, and it’s bad for the educational process. Much of it can be avoided.

Prevention starts with the faculty and staff. The groundwork can be laid at the state or local administrative levels with strategies and regulations, but until teachers actively choose to implement these strategies and students embrace them, policies and guidelines are just that — policies and guidelines. Some teachers are great at nurturing a positive learning environment, but it only takes one or two unruly classrooms to greatly diminish a student’s educational experience for the day.

When faced with bullying at the elementary level, teachers need to instruct students how to react to bullying — educating them on critical thinking and problem solving when faced with difficult situations — but also by encouraging them to take a more proactive approach. If students are taught character education to change their behavior, many of these situations can be prevented. It’s about teaching students to be good human beings, not teaching them to be good when an authority figure is around.

Faculty members at Albert Lea Southwest Middle School are currently being trained on a program called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, which encourages teachers to treat behavioral expectations in the same manner as core curriculum classes. This program and ones like it are great, but it’s up to the individual teacher to apply it to his or her unique situation.

High school teachers in particular have new challenges, such as combating cyber-bullying. If a student is harassed on Facebook or Twitter after the school day is over about something that happened at school, is it the parents’ or the teachers’ responsibility? Or is it both? Bully prevention is a moving target, and techniques need to change along with the technology.

After all, a constructive education starts with a positive — and safe — learning environment. Let’s have a good school year.