COEUR d'ALENE - Principal Bill Rutherford noted a calmness blanketing the hallways of Fernan Elementary School on Friday afternoon as another week of learning and teaching was coming to a close.

There were no outbursts of unruly children's voices echoing through the school's hallways, and no teachers could be heard straining their own voices trying to regain control of their classrooms.

No anxious children or parents were waiting for a turn to go into the principal's office to discuss an issue or problem.

"It's nice when kids are making good choices," said Rutherford, the Coeur d'Alene School District's unofficial "anti-bully czar."

Helping students and school district staff members learn to make "good choices" when it comes to bullying has always been one of the school system's highest priorities. But in 2013 school officials ramped up their efforts in response to several parents' complaints that their kids were being targeted by bullies in district schools.

Rutherford, also a licensed professional counselor who worked as a school counselor for 10 years in Coeur d'Alene, has coordinated and led much of the renewed effort.

An anti-bullying task force - a team of several dozen education professionals, school resource officers, some trustees and concerned community members - came together in March 2013 to find a new way to address the problem of bullying.

Rutherford, who was on the task force, said they knew they had to do more than purchase a program. They had to change a culture.

"It's something we need to create, an idea, a philosophy of kindness, a philosophy of being kind to each other, and with some training and education ... having people gain empathy through understanding, and then owning it, realizing that everybody is responsible when a child is bullied," Rutherford said in early February, when he gave school district trustees an update on the anti-bullying efforts.

Defining bullying

One of the first challenges faced by the task force was finding a clear, single definition of bullying.

Rutherford said many people believe that if one child is mean to another, that's bullying, but that's not always the case. Sometimes it's just kids being mean.

"We treat a kid being mean differently than we treat a bully, and the victim is treated differently," he said.

To illustrate the difference, Rutherford said that if children are playing outside and one gets out of control and pushes another child down, that's being mean and out of control.

"But a kid who targets that kid, who goes out at every recess looking for that kid to push down, that's bullying," Rutherford said. "It's usually repeated over time, and there is an imbalance of power."

Learning from Wessler

With the help of a $16,000 grant from the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and Kootenai Electric, the school district was able to hire consultant Stephen Wessler, an internationally recognized hate crimes and discrimination expert.

Wessler spent time in the Coeur d'Alene schools in the fall of 2013. He held focus groups with teachers and students in order to uncover the issues specific to the school district.

Wessler reported his findings - evidence of race and gender bias and prejudice - to school officials in February 2014.

But the students in Coeur d'Alene also showed courage and empathy, Wessler said, offering hope that the situation could be turned around if those characteristics were strengthened in the community.

A group of school district employees and community members were then trained in following the Wessler philosophy. Since then, the trainers have been working toward having all students in the district receive the training.

"They really work on what it feels like to stand up to the bully ... being the bystander and being a strong positive voice," Rutherford said. "So there's a lot of social training too, that the words you say really do affect people."

Rutherford said Wessler's program is designed to make a difference for today's students and their children, the future generations of kids in Coeur d'Alene schools.

"It will perpetuate itself. That's what he sees in the communities he works in, so that's our hope," Rutherford said.

Nearly 400 Coeur d'Alene middle and high school students have since received the interactive, day-long Wessler training.

Lake City High School junior Colton Gednalske said he already sees a positive change.

Gednalske, 16, works as an aide for one period each day in the school's central office.

"You don't really see a lot of people in there for bullying anymore," Gednalske said.

Pam Asher, a longtime school counselor who is now an art teacher at Lake City High, recalled the day Wessler met with all the teachers at the school and shared his findings.

"It was very eye-opening for some people," said Asher, who serves as the high school leader for the district's anti-bullying emphasis.

She said the students at Lake City have been receptive to the Wessler training, and she has seen it spark something in teens that they often don't expect.

"I think when they leave they have their eyes opened to the difference being kind can make, and what other kids are going through," she said.

Asher said she has witnessed a change in the school community.

"Everyone is nice in my class, but I do lunch duty," Asher said. "I haven't heard that kind of unhealthiness. It seems as if there has been a breath of fresh air that's come through our halls."

She said that while she thinks the anti-bullying efforts are making a difference, there is always room for improvement, so it's important they continue the work they have done.

The message is consistent and ongoing, she said.

"I think we promote it every chance we get, because if kids don't feel safe and comfortable in the school, they can't learn," Asher said. "I never let it die."

Other steps

The anti-bullying effort is widespread throughout the district. There are grade-level appropriate training programs being taught in all elementary schools and middle schools.

Anti-bully, harassment, intimidation and threat posters now hang in every hall of every school. Schools regularly hold special anti-bully events and assemblies.

"I went to Woodland (middle school), and Woodland has a huge policy on bullying, I mean, it's huge," said Lake City freshman Shayla Anderson, 14. "When we came into high school, there was no bullying, I didn't see any bullying, I was never bullied, I was never a bully."

She said ninth-graders meet regularly with older students to talk about bullying and how to deal with it.

"It's made a huge difference," Anderson said.

Teachers now have icons on their computer desktops that enable them to quickly email bullying reports with just a few clicks of a keyboard and mouse.

An online bullying reporting system for the entire school community is expected to go live within the next month.

After researching what other school districts have done to make it easier for those who are bullied, or who witness it, to come forward, Rutherford said they decided to institute a system that allows those reporting the option of remaining anonymous.

"The middle school educators thought people would not report bullying if they had to give their names," Rutherford said. "That's not what we want."

The plan is to have the reporting system installed on every computer in the school district.

Rutherford said the schools instituted a new tracking system this year and by the end of this school year, they should have data that will tell them what's working and what isn't.

He said he hears positive feedback from parents all the time. They say their kids feel safe, he said, and they often say they're glad their children go to an "anti-bullying school."

"We're not an anti-bullying school. We're just a school that doesn't put up with bullying," Rutherford said.