In the fall of 2025, Eagleville Elementary Charter School Counselor Robyn Keil noticed a troubling spike in unkind behavior among the K-6 school’s older students. Before long, it was wearing on student and staff morale.

“I pulled my principal aside and said, ‘We need to do something,’” said Robyn.

Then the answer arrived in her email inbox: The Children’s Wisconsin e-Learning Center invited schools to apply for promotional materials and support for a schoolwide bullying prevention campaign. Robyn, who already used the Children’s Wisconsin Act Now! bullying prevention curriculum as part of her school’s biweekly social-emotional lessons, knew a schoolwide campaign was just the reset button Eagleville needed.

“Bullying, unfortunately, does happen and it happens more in schools than probably anywhere else,” said Robyn. “And being a school counselor, I want to make sure that we promote kindness and inclusive behaviors and kick out any kind of bullying right away at the beginning of the school year.”

The focus on bullying prevention made a big difference: Eagleville saw a 58% reduction in behavior incidents after the schoolwide campaign — and the positive behaviors persisted months later. 

Providing Resources for Schoolwide Impact

The Children’s Wisconsin e-Learning Center offers schools a wealth of on-demand resources on bullying prevention, mental and emotional health, nutrition and physical activity, alcohol and other drug use prevention, and safety and injury prevention.

But the schoolwide campaigns, which are available again this school year, enhance the learning even more. Schools can apply to receive a launch kit with items such as bullying prevention pencils, stickers, stress balls, posters and brochures. Participating schools agree to organize a schoolwide bullying prevention activity, such as:

• Chalking anti-bullying messages on the sidewalk
  
  
• Holding a video contest related to bullying prevention
  
  
• Creating a pledge wall where students sign their names and commit to standing up against bullying

Schools also participate in staff training as part of the campaign. “We want teachers to understand the common language around bullying, what the protocol is as far as reporting it, and give them an opportunity to discuss what they’re seeing in their school and how they can reduce bullying and improve school climate,” said Clay Anton, an e-Learning Specialist at Children’s Wisconsin. 

The campaign kits and support are provided at no cost to schools.

“As we’ve worked with schools, we know that they need more resources in this space,” said Katie Horrigan, MPH, Director of Community Education and Outreach at Children’s Wisconsin. “They need easy-to-access, high-quality resources, as well as sometimes dollars.”

To that end, the first 20 K-8 schools that complete the bullying campaign requirements in the 2026/27 school year will receive a $1,000 stipend supported by funding from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. 

Robyn is grateful for all the resources that Children’s Wisconsin provides. “I love that Children’s Wisconsin focuses on the whole child,” she said. “It’s not just about physical needs, but it’s looking at students’ social, emotional and mental wellbeing. If kids don’t feel safe or comfortable or emotionally stable, they’re not going to be able to learn their best.”

The e-Learning campaigns also support a larger strategy. Every three years, Children’s Wisconsin partners with other area health systems to complete a comprehensive assessment of community health needs and develop an action plan to address those needs. Two consistent priorities in recent years have been mental and behavioral health and safety and violence. 

Children’s Wisconsin is committed to investing its resources to ensure children and families receive the care, education and support they need to be healthy and well. In 2025, Children’s Wisconsin invested more than $201 million in community benefit activities, including the e-Learning Center, that respond to these and other community health needs and aim to improve the health and well-being of kids and families across Wisconsin.

Teaching Kindness Over Bullying

As part of Eagleville’s campaign, students in grades K-6 engaged in age-appropriate lessons on how to define bullying, how to speak up and when to ask for help, and the difference between tattling and reporting. Parents also received resources on what to do if a child is being bullied or is bullying others and how to help kids build resilience.

To show their commitment, students and staff traced their shoes on colored paper and decorated the cutouts with their pledge to “Stomp Out Bullying.” The paper footprints were displayed with a banner in a school hallway.

The majority of Eagleville students also participated in an optional bullying prevention poster contest, and the at-home poster-making sparked conversations around the kitchen table. 

Schoolwide participation and family engagement are key, said Robyn.

“It really helps enhance the communication piece around it so that we’re all on the same wavelength of what we want from our school culture,” she said. 

While Eagleville’s campaign is over, the impact continues. 

“We’re off to a great start,” said Robyn. “I’m seeing more positivity, and our behavioral data is showing very low incidents right now. It’s definitely carrying into the new school year, and we’re excited to continue to add to this program.”

To build on the momentum, Robyn recently launched a new school Kindness Club to promote leadership through positive behaviors. The club’s 20 participants meet over recess. They started by chalking kindness messages all over the school playground and are eagerly planning other activities to encourage healthy choices.

“I wish we could have Kindness Club every day!” one student said.

The e-Learning Center’s bullying and vaping prevention campaigns run from September through March. To learn more about the bullying prevention campaigns for K-8 schools, sign up today.