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Four hundred kindergartners, first- and second-graders packed into the gymnasium at the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School, 2407 S. Broad St., Tuesday morning to get a tutorial on standing up to bullying. The Harlem Globetrotters sent one of their stars, a Pennsylvania hero, to give them easily digestible and highly repeatable mantras for making their school a better social environment and to work towards making the building bully-free.
Chris “Handles” Franklin is visiting 12 schools in the Philadelphia and Trenton areas this week to teach the “ABCs of Bullying Prevention.” The Harrisburg native and Lock Haven University alum stands 6-foot-1 and towered over the students, whose heads barely reached his hips.
One might think it could be hard to control and command the attention of a few hundred kids who haven’t even reached age 8, but Franklin had them in the palm of his hand. For 50 minutes he drilled six essential points into their heads and by the time they were lined up and heading back to their classrooms, they were repeating them without prompts.
The 41-year-old was proud of how far he’d come, telling the captive audience that basketball had taken him to every state in the nation, all over the world and to television shows like “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” “The Wendy Williams Show,” and, soliciting the most excitement from the crowd, Disney’s “Kickin’ It.”
“You may have even seen me playing basketball at the White House with Barack Obama,” he said to the rapt pupils. “I’m gonna talk to you about something very important because we believe that bullying is not cool, and it is not cool to pick on others.”
The ABCs are pretty simple.
A is for action: “If you see someone being bullied, if you are being bullied, take action,” Franklin explained. “Tell your teacher, tell a principal; without action, the bully will continue to bully.”
B is for bravery: “It takes bravery when you’re taking a stand against bullying,” he said. “It takes bravery not to laugh when someone’s getting teased. We stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.”
C is for compassion — a fairly large word for a 6-year-old to wrap his or her head around. “That means caring for others,” Franklin said. “Be compassionate; a lot of bullying takes place because someone doesn’t have enough friends. Be a good teammate, and be a good classmate.”
After a few good laughs, call and responses, ball tricks and a couple games with the audience, Franklin kept going with the memorable messages to hammer home the 1, 2, and 3 of bully prevention.
“No. 1, it’s important to listen to your parents, your teachers and your principal,” he went on. “They’re trying to lead you in the right direction, and they are here because they care about you.”
“No. 2, school is important,” Franklin professed. “Work hard in school, do your best. You guys and girls are important. You can never get enough education; you guys are our future, so don’t sell yourself or sell us short.”
“No. 3, believe in your dreams. You can be whatever you want and go wherever you want,” he said.
Franklin shared the story of seeing the Globetrotters for the first time in appearances on “Scooby-Doo,” and he knew then that was what he wanted to do when he grew up.
What followed was testing to see if the students were listening. For the most part, they succeeded in rattling off their ABCs and 123s of bully prevention.
One of the two school counselors, Jennifer Berry, knows that bullying isn’t what it used to be.
“It’s so much worse these days. With social media and texting and everything else, it’s a 24-hour cycle that you can’t escape,” she said.
It’s early for these kids, but at 2600 S. Broad St., the building for the third through eighth grades, there’s certainly much more animosity between warring cliques and conflicting personalities.
“If we can sew the seeds now and keep it in their minds to be people of action, people of bravery and compassion, then that’s something that will follow through with them to growing up and into adulthood,” Berry said.
“I thought it was very successful,” Vice Principal Angela Ciccanti added. “They were able to repeat everything and as they were leaving, all of them were saying it.”
She seemed confident bullying isn’t a huge problem in her buildings and that the school makes a solid effort at addressing issues as they arise.
“The bullying that occurs [here] is very, very minimal,” Ciccanti said. “We do try to address it as best we can. We do act on any reports of bullying immediately, but basically, these kids are very good.”
As teenage suicides continue to make evening news headlines and storylines like the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin Miami Dolphins fiasco engage the public, seeing grown athletes and anti-bully allies speaking up puts a refreshing spin on the problematic topic. With efforts like Franklin’s and last month’s visit by Eagles wide receiver Arrelious Benn to James Alcorn Middle Years Academy, 1319 S. 26th St., to give a similar talk, athletes and leaders proactively encouraging compassion could be slowly turning schools into less terrifying places for some kids.
Coming from just anybody, the message might have caused eye rolling, but coming from Franklin, it might resonate.
“If you see someone in your class that doesn’t have a friend,” he said, “be their friend!”
Contact Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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