How to Deal With Bullying as a Teacher: 6+ Steps

Q: What should a teacher do first when a student reports bullying?

Take the report seriously and speak privately with the student who reported the bullying so you can understand what happened, assess immediate safety concerns, and follow required school or district procedures. If multiple students witnessed or experienced the incident, speaking with them separately can help reduce the influence of other students' accounts. Documentation, notification, investigation, and reporting requirements vary by state and district, so teachers should follow the applicable bullying and safety policies.

Q: Should you sit the two students down together to work it out?

Generally, conflict-resolution or mediation approaches that assume equal power may be inappropriate when conduct meets the definition of bullying, which typically involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Schools should prioritize the targeted student's safety and follow applicable bullying procedures rather than automatically requiring a face-to-face meeting. Restorative or facilitated conversations may be appropriate in some circumstances when they are voluntary, carefully planned, consistent with school policy, and safe for the students involved.

Q: How do you support the student who was targeted?

Support should address both the student's immediate safety and the longer-term skills and resources that may help them. Teachers can ask what the student has already tried, reinforce appropriate help-seeking and boundary-setting skills, identify trusted adults and available supports, and work through school procedures to stop the behavior. Person-centered language such as 'the student who was targeted' can also avoid defining a student by the experience, although terminology may vary by school or district policy.

Q: When should a school involve police or a resource officer?

Law-enforcement involvement depends on the nature of the conduct and applicable state law and school or district policy. Conduct involving matters such as credible threats, weapons, sexual assault, stalking, or other suspected crimes may trigger specific reporting or emergency-response requirements. Bullying that does not require law-enforcement involvement can generally be addressed through the school's applicable investigation, safety, support, and discipline procedures. Schools should follow their current policies and state requirements rather than relying on a universal escalation sequence.

By Jon Konen, Last Updated: September 8, 2026

Student holding up a white card printed with a red prohibition symbol over the word BULLYING

Dealing with bullying as a teacher starts with a one-on-one conversation with the student who reported it, not with immediate consequences for the student accused. Gather the full picture, bring it to a school team, address the behavior directly, set a written plan for what happens next, then follow up.

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The Six Steps at a Glance

Most of what you do to deal with bullying as a teacher happens before any consequence is handed out. Each step gets its own section, with the reasoning behind it and the mistakes that undo it. This is the short version, so you can see where a report is headed before you start.

One thing to be clear about first. This sequence is Jon Konen's adaptation, informed by the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and shaped by the practices of the school he led. It is not a universal protocol. Requirements for investigating an incident, documenting it, notifying parents, imposing discipline, and reporting to outside agencies vary substantially by state and by district. Read what follows as one experienced principal's working method, and check it against your own board policy, your student handbook, and your state's statute before you rely on any part of it.


Step	What you do	Who is involved
1. Meet 1:1	Interview the reporting student alone and find out what actually happened	Teacher or administrator
2. Collect more information	Talk to the classroom teacher, then to witnesses and bystanders, one at a time	Classroom teachers, witnesses, bystanders
3. Talk it through with a team	Hand the investigation to the prevention team and build a plan together	Counselor, principal, one or two teachers
4. Address the behavior	Name the behavior to the student, keeping witnesses and bystanders anonymous	Principal, counselor, student
5. Set a plan for the future	Spell out what happens if it continues, including if there is retaliation	Principal, student, parents
6. Follow up	Check back with the student and call parents to confirm it has stopped	Teacher, principal, parents
The "+": law enforcement	Report immediately for conduct that may be criminal. Otherwise, involve the school resource officer as the pattern and severity warrant	SRO, district administration

Is It Bullying, or Is It Conflict?

The most common reason a bullying report goes sideways is that it was never bullying. A single spiteful comment, a shoving match between two kids of equal standing, rough-and-tumble play that went too far: all of these need a response, but not this one. Most working definitions turn on three elements, and the interview questions in Step 1 are built to test all three. Your state and district will have their own definition in policy, and that is the one that governs what you have to do next.

The behavior is aggressive and intended to harm. Not an accident, not a misfired joke that landed badly. Something meant to hurt, frighten, humiliate, or exclude.
It repeats, or it is likely to repeat. One incident is an incident. Bullying is a pattern, which is why one of the first questions you ask is whether this has happened before.
There is an imbalance of power. Size, age, grade, social standing, numbers, or knowing something the other student wants kept quiet. Two evenly matched students in a dispute are having a conflict.

Nothing here requires the student to have asked the other student to stop first. That can be useful information, and it can tell you the behavior was deliberate, but it is not a precondition for calling something bullying, and it is not something to hold against a student who never said a word.

Getting this wrong costs you in both directions. Treat a one-off as bullying, and you spend a week investigating something a short conversation would have settled. Treat a pattern as a one-off, and it keeps running.

Step 1: Meet 1:1

Meeting one-on-one with the student who is reporting is your first step to getting the bully behavior stopped. Many times teachers and administrators don't spend an adequate amount of time in this initial first step, and subsequently, they spend more time addressing the bully behavior than anticipated. I would like to say there is always more to the story than just the first phrase reported to you, "Johnny is bullying me." It would be very efficient if we could then go and hand out consequences to Little Johnny and feel like the incident is solved. It is NEVER that easy! This is where parents and community members may become frustrated. Their son or daughter reported to them that they are being bullied, so a teacher or administrator should hand out consequences immediately. While I agree there will probably be consequences involved, there is a whole lot more research, investigating, and re-teaching that needs to occur in order for the bully behavior to stop!

When we meet one-on-one with the student who has been bullied, we always meet with only one student at a time. Sometimes we get multiple students who want to report the bully behavior. This is fantastic as it builds our case, but we need to hear from each student individually so we can build the story and situation. Many times the story changes when more than one student is in the room…either the story is exaggerated, or it is diminished from what really occurred. Seldom do we put the student being bullied in the same room with the student who is bullying (We would never put a person who commits an offense in the same room as the victim when solving a crime; only if the student wanted to repair the relationship). We must dig deeper and find out what bully behavior is being exhibited. We can then address it and build a plan for success. *NOTE: We refrain from using the word "victim," as we feel a victim implies they have no power. We want to empower the person being bullied and NOT give them a "victim's mentality."

When we question the student, we need to find out some specific information. Here are questions we use that have been successful, but are not limited to the following:

What bully behavior is occurring? (Dig deeper to what is actually occurring; the answer is NOT simply, "Johnny is bullying me.")
Why do they believe it is considered bully behavior? (This is important, as some incidents are not bullying behavior…it could be rough-and-tumble play, an isolated spiteful incident, etc.)
Is this repeated behavior or is it a random act of spitefulness? (Further establishing whether the incident is bully behavior, as well as re-teaching the student about our school's definition of bully behavior.)
Is there an imbalance of power? (This question is age-dependent and can be determined by what you have already taught your students in your school; this may remain at the adult level.)
Where is the behavior occurring? (Is there proper supervision in this area? Can we add more supervision? Can we set up any other protocols or procedures for this area?)
Who was involved in the incident? (Was there more than one student exhibiting bully behavior?)
Were there other witnesses? What did they do? (Were there bystanders, and what did they do when the bully behavior occurred?)
Where was the closest adult? (Did the student report to the closest adult, their teacher, or the most trusted adult, etc.?)
What happened before and after the incident? (These two questions don't get asked as frequently as they should be. This information gives you a better picture of what was going on in this location, as well as how the incident ended…vital information in order to get the bully behavior stopped.)
What did the student do to address the bully behavior? (This is important to empower the student. Sometimes, the student can state, "Please stop," and the student who is exhibiting the bully behavior now understands that it is unwanted. In addition, the student is setting boundaries for how they want to be treated. This is an important skill we will use the rest of our lives.

Step 2: Collect More Investigation Information, Repeat…

In order to get the bully behavior stopped, we must collect as much information as we can. Missing one piece of information can lead to repeated occurrences, not addressing the real issue, or wrongfully implementing unintended consequences.

In our school, we hand out a new notebook every year for all employees where they can write down incidents of bully behavior, all parent contact, and any other important information that needs to be documented. Talking with the student's classroom teacher can give you more of an insight into the incident. You will find if there is already a pattern of bully behavior, or if this is the first occurrence. Ultimately, involving teachers who have a relationship with the student is important. Whether this is new information for the teacher or it is something they have already dealt with in the past, getting more staff members involved is another key to getting the behavior stopped. We have found that teaming around these students is most effective.

We must also talk with any witnesses or bystanders around the incident. We interview these students one-on-one also. Putting all the information together will give us the best idea of what occurred, as well as the perceptions of everyone else around the incident. This could lead to further re-teaching with these bystanders and what they can do to support stopping the bully behavior.

Step 3: Talk It Through With a Team and Develop a Plan

Many schools that have a Bully Prevention Program have a team of staff members that look at data, discuss school-wide plans, and support teachers in getting the bully behaviors stopped. In our school, it is usually the counselor, principal, and one or two classroom teachers. After the initial investigation has been done, we give the information to the team so everyone is "in the know."

The principal and the counselor are involved in all bully incidents that are deemed level 2 in our school (we have a leveled system of discipline: level 1 is handled by classroom teachers or aides, level 2 is handled by both the teacher and the principal, and level 3 is automatically dealt with by the teacher, principal, and parents and may include threat assessments, police involvement, behavior plans, and more). Once information has been gathered and staff members have been involved in communicating necessary information, a plan can then be developed.

The team supports the counselor and principal in making further decisions in how the bully behavior is going to be stopped. We talk about what we can do as adults: increase supervision, increase consequences, re-teaching opportunities, parent contact, friendship teams, bystander re-teaching, classroom discussions, setting up reporting systems, and more.

Step 4: Address the Bully Behavior

Addressing the student who exhibits bully behavior is the most important step in getting it stopped. We have initially interviewed the student. We take explicit notes from that conversation. We then let them know we have gathered more information and that we have a plan to support them in getting the behavior stopped. When we use the information gathered, we keep witnesses and bystanders' names anonymous. We do use the name of the student who has been bullied so they understand that the behavior is unwanted and needs to stop.

Treat that last part as this school's practice rather than a rule to copy. Who gets named in a bullying investigation is governed by your district's investigation procedures and by student privacy law, and there are cases where naming the targeted student raises a real risk of retaliation. Work out the disclosure question with your administrator and your policy in front of you, not on instinct in the moment.

A level 2 bully behavior incident in our school always has the following protocols attached to it: 1) parent notification of both sides, 2) re-teaching, 3) a plan for future incidents, 4) restorative practices (restore relationships if possible), and 5) consequences that mirror the behavior (if it occurs at recess, we need more re-teaching of appropriate behaviors at recess, which may mean missing some recesses or, in extreme cases, an adult supporting them outside for success).

Step 5: Implement Plan for Future

Letting the student who exhibits the bully behavior know what will happen to them if it persists is important. Setting out specifically what it will look like for the student can be one strategy that lets students and parents know that we mean business. This may include, but is not limited to, the following: 1) further consequences, 2) more parent involvement, 3) further restrictions, and 4) more re-teaching. We let students know that their whole learning environment can be changed and modified if the bully behavior doesn't stop. This can include how and when they transition, where they eat, whether they are on the playground or not, and even where they are getting their instruction. We also make it a point to talk about retaliation. The consequences are even more severe if there is retaliation.

In extreme cases, when a student receives several level 2 discipline referrals and even level 3, the principal updates the SRO (school resource officer). After we have used all the above interventions and nothing has worked, the next step is to involve law enforcement. When using the SRO, making sure upper administration in the district is updated is important as they may become involved in the situation. Personally, I have found success with letting the SRO know early in the process that we are unable to get the bully behavior stopped. Of course, involving the SRO too early can be a waste of their valuable time. I believe the SRO must know that I have tried "x" number of interventions and I am finally coming to them for support. Hopefully the SRO understands this and is ready to take action with the student and parents. Making decisions together will help in getting the behavior stopped.

Step 6: Follow Up

This may be the most difficult piece to do effectively: the follow-up with students. Many times educators set forth with an investigation, hand out consequences, and they feel like the incident has been addressed. Continuing to check in with students who have been bullied is important for several reasons. The staff will learn if the bully behavior has stopped; if it is continuing, we need to revisit our plan and the reporting system that we have set up. The student will feel like the staff cares about them and is willing to check in because they care. Making a phone call to parents to check in with them can be powerful, too. It lets them know you care and are engaged in getting the bully behavior stopped.

When Police Action Is Warranted

Before anything else in this section: some conduct is not a school discipline matter to work through in stages. Credible threats, weapons, sexual assault, stalking, and other potentially criminal behavior may have to be reported to law enforcement or child protective services immediately, and in many states that duty is written into statute rather than left to a principal's judgment. A school resource officer is not universally a last resort. Know which categories your state and district require you to report on sight, and report those on sight.

What follows describes escalation in cases that stayed inside the school discipline system.

We are lucky to be in a school that doesn't have to involve police very often for bully behaviors. We like to assure our parents that we can get bully behaviors stopped…but there are going to be times we can't. We must be ready to use the SRO (School Resource Officer) when all our other interventions do not work.

What follows is one case at one school. What charge, if any, results from a given incident depends on state law, the conduct itself, and prosecutorial discretion, so treat this as an account rather than a forecast of what would happen at your school.

Recently, we had a student who continually made sexual comments towards another student. After addressing it with the student, handing out further consequences, adding restrictions on movement in and out of school, parent involvement, using a lot of time to reteach, increasing supervision, in-school and out-of-school suspensions, classroom changes, and more, we concluded we needed further support.

Our first meeting with the SRO came after an out-of-school suspension. This was part of Step 5 above, Plan for Future. We let the student know that another incident would be referred to law enforcement. Unfortunately, the following week another incident occurred, and in this case the student was charged with disorderly conduct and a probation officer was assigned. The SRO let the student know, from the law enforcement side, what the next steps would be if the behavior continued. Every incident in and out of school would have law enforcement involved. Parents filed a restraining order against this student. I would like to say there is a happy ending for the student who bullied, but there is not. There is a happy story about the student who was being bullied; the tools and strategies given to him by staff members and his proactive parents have supported his transition from elementary to middle school.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should a teacher do first when a student reports bullying?

Talk to that student alone, and give it real time. The reported phrase is almost never the whole story, and skipping this conversation is what turns a short problem into a long one. If several students want to report the same thing, interview each one separately, because stories shift when there is an audience.

Should you sit the two students down together to work it out?

Generally not. Putting the student who was targeted in a room with the student who bullied them assumes a level playing field that is not there, which is the whole reason it counts as bullying. The one exception is when the student who was targeted asks for it because they want to repair the relationship.

How do you support the student who was targeted?

Two things at once: make the behavior stop, and leave the student with something they can use. Ask what they already tried, and name it as a real skill when they tell you they asked the other student to stop. Setting boundaries about how you want to be treated is a skill that outlasts this incident by decades. On terminology, many schools, including Jon's, prefer person-centered language such as "the student who was targeted" over "victim," and that is a reasonable default even where policy does not require it.

When should a school involve police or a resource officer?

It depends on the conduct, and the first question is whether the conduct may be criminal. Credible threats, weapons, sexual assault, and stalking can trigger an immediate reporting duty under state law or district policy, and those do not wait on a discipline sequence. For behavior that stays inside the discipline system, a resource officer is generally brought in as the pattern and severity build rather than on a first report. Check your own policy for which categories require immediate reporting, because that list is not the same in every state.

Start with the reporting student, alone - the phrase "Johnny is bullying me" is the beginning of an investigation, not the end of one.
Consequences are the smallest part - parent notification, re-teaching, a forward plan, and restorative work all sit alongside them in a serious incident.
Handle names by policy, not by instinct - who is identified to whom during an investigation follows your district procedures, student privacy law, and a real look at retaliation risk.
Follow-up is the step most often skipped - a check-in tells you whether the plan worked and tells the student someone is still paying attention.
Some conduct is reportable on sight - credible threats, weapons, sexual assault, and stalking may require immediate law-enforcement or protective-services referral, and that duty is set by your state and district, not by a discipline sequence.

Handling bullying well is a school-wide skill, and the staff who end up leading that work usually have some training behind it. If the next step for you is a credential rather than another strategy, the sponsored program listings on this page are a place to see what is available and how each one is structured.

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