Students at Barratt Elementary School in American Fork are on the lookout -- for both potential bullies and the everyday heroes who oppose them.

The school staff and PTA have joined together to institute a program called Bully Blockers. Barratt is one of the first, if not the first, in Alpine School District to use the program, said principal Brent Palmer.

Palmer said the purpose of instituting the program was to prevent future problems, and that it works to help both bullies and the bullied, he said.

"It's not like we have a lot of bullying here," he said. "But some kids aren't kind. We wanted to take a good school and make it even better.

"We wanted to be proactive," he said. "I think on the whole our students are very well behaved. We really don't have a large problem with what most people might consider bullying, which is the physical part of it. I felt like we did have a problem with verbal things like name calling, put downs, ostracizing other students and not letting all kids participate in games."

Ellen Bodine, the Barratt PTA president, said she looked forward to the program.

"We're just really excited about it," she said. "Bullying isn't just the bloody nose on the playground. With Bully Blockers they think it's going to be a really positive way to help kids learn how to deal with bullies and how not to be a bully. Barratt truly believes that education is not just academic. They want children to become successful adults and contributing members of society."

Palmer said he chose this program because of the results it has had in other areas.

"I wanted one that had been tested to see if it was effective," he said. "I know in Salt Lake districts this has been done. East Sandy Elementary has done this for three years with really good results."

To kick off the program, there were two assemblies with professional entertainer Corbin White, who showed the students examples of several types of bullying and ways to prevent or combat it.

Most people think of bullying in the physical sense, with kids hitting, pushing, or otherwise hurting one another. White explained that is a part of it, but there are also other types of bullying, including social and verbal. Some kids intentionally exclude others from activities or conversations in an effort to hurt them emotionally. They may call others names or remark on their clothing, hairstyles or physical attributes.

Bullies often act out to get attention, be popular, impress others or because they are jealous of others, he said. "They may be picked on at home," White said. "One thing bullies need to learn is empathy. Bullies only see things from their own point of view and are selfish."

When students are bullied or see someone being bullied, they should report the incident to a responsible adult. White told the students about a technique to discourage bullies and he called it "The Secret Scrunch." He told the students if they are bullied they should scrunch up their toes, ankles, knees or other body parts in a way the bully doesn't see. Doing that invisible scrunching and following it with relaxing the muscles allows the student to maintain control and not become the victim of a bully, he said. They may also think of something else, sing to themselves or count.

White asked the students if they had sent text messages, e-mail or other types of messages. Following an overwhelming response, he told the students that once something is sent it cannot be taken back.

"The same is true of bullying," he said.

He told potential bullies, however, that they could change their behavior. "You can decide not to be a bully. It is a learned behavior."

There are activities planned every week to continue the program.

"We will have poster contests," Palmer said. "The kids have signed a pledge. There is a year-long calendar of weekly lessons, including skits and role playing activities. There is a series of videos that go with the program. They are like a cartoon and are real clever. The kids will really like them."

Faculty and staff members at Barratt have begun the process of rewarding students who are demonstrating the good behaviors of everyday heroes.

"We have a program where each week the teachers meet in collaborative teams on Monday afternoons," Palmer said. "Each week they turn in the names of students who are demonstrating the behaviors we are looking for -- everyday heroes. We are looking for the kids who step in and defuse a situation or help to mediate a dispute, kids that are being proactive to demonstrate through their behavior the kinds of things we have been addressing. I can bring them down and give them a special reinforcement from the principal.

"We probably had a dozen kids' names turned in for good behavior during the last week."