Students at the Irving School in Derby have a bold new sign to highlight the school’s “buddy bench” thanks to volunteers from Pitney Bowes in Stamford.
What’s a buddy bench, you ask?
It’s a way to nip bullying in the bud.
A child sits on the bench during play time to send out the signal — “I need a buddy!”
It’s a way for kids who are shy, apprehensive, having an issue with a student, or just having a bad day to communicate a need.
The other kids will recognize someone’s on the buddy bench, and, voila — insta buddy!
The buddy bench concept has caught on within schools across the country.
The video below is a feature story on a buddy bench in Minnesota from USA Today:
The Today Show did a segment, too. Click here to watch it.
“If you want kids on a playground, you’ll see kids involved in play, but then you’ll also see the outliers,” said Jennifer Olson, the Irving School principal. “The kids who want to engage in play but maybe are too shy, or maybe they’re having a conflict with a child they normally play with, or they’re by themselves by choice.”
The child may want to join the other kids playing, but can’t overcome the issue.
“Instead it becomes this sad feeling,” Olson said. “Now they’ll go over and sit on the buddy bench if they want someone to play with them.”
The concept of the buddy bench plays into Olson’s efforts since she was hired three years ago to improve the school’s climate.
The concept of the bench — how it works, how it should be used and why it should be used — will be taught to all Irving students.
“We will train all of the students to be on the lookout for someone on the buddy bench,” Olson said. “If you see someone on the buddy bench, it is your job, as a good person of our school, to go over there and get them and say ‘Hey, do you want to come over and play?’”
The bench is now in the playground, and the sign from Pitney Bowes will be mounted within a few days.
The sign for the buddy bench was far from the only donation the folks from Pitney Bowes gave Wednesday (Oct. 1).
About 40 employees traded their office chairs and cubicles for paint rollers and wash rags as they were put to work by Olson.
This week is “Dedication to Education” at Pitney Bowes, which has been based in Stamford since 1917 and has facilities in Danbury and Shelton.
It’s a community service effort involving some 400 Pitney Bowes employees involved in about 30 education-related projects.
The company’s CEO is reading to preschoolers this week in Stamford, while other employees are digitizing the card catalog at a school in Bridgeport, according to a press release.
At Irving, a kindergarten through fifth-grade school on Garden Place, crews scrubbed walls and painted the hallway along with classrooms on the building’s lower level.
The volunteers also hung students’ artwork on the walls in the school’s library.
And they put out large planters with blooming mums along the front and the side of the school.
Pitney Bowes and the Irving School were connected by Patricia Tarasovic of the Valley United Way’s volunteer center.
Daniel Goldstein, executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer at Pitney Bowes, said Pitney Bowes has long been committed to spending time and money on education.
“We were looking at various ways we could contribute and help an educational institution in a tangible way,” Goldstein said. “This project came to us and we thought it would be a good way to contribute.”
Mark Thunem and Patricia Hinds-Webb of Pitney Bowes teamed to coordinate the Irving School initiative.
“Just to be able to come into the community, to see the kids, to get a tour of the school and see a project from the bottom up, and making it happen — it’s just awesome,” Hinds-Webb said.
The Pitney Bowes volunteers were scheduled to be at the school all day Wednesday.
