LORIS - Statewide efforts are underway to make our schools safer.
Research shows nearly one out of four students in fourth through the sixth grade is bullied multiple times in his or her life.
Loris Elementary is proactive in stopping that problem from getting worse.
Having worked with autistic students as a career, Shawn Elliot has heard countless stories of kids getting picked on.
"It’s heart breaking,” Elliot said. “I've cried many tears thinking about children being sad and afraid and even unsure that the adults are going to do something."
Students Camryn Cook and Tynisha Isaiah said they know of several cases where fellow classmates have been bullied in the classroom or after school.
"They were telling [the student I saw] he was dumb and that nobody wanted him around," Cook said.
"I had saw the kid be bulled before. He got knocked in the face," Isaiah said.
A bully prevention committee was formed at Loris Elementary School last October.
The group received prevention training earlier this year.
Friday, the school had a bully free kickoff event to show folks in the community, parents, and students that kids getting picked on won't be tolerated.
The event was thanks to Olweus Bully Prevention, the same group that provided training materials for the committee.
Loris is one of just 11 schools in the state that have been chosen to pilot the program.
"The whole basis of the program is to get all of the students feeling very comfortable talking to an adult and reporting bullying to an adult and then also feeling like the adult will do something about it," said Hannah Hopkins, South Carolina Association of School Administrators.
Though it wasn't easy, Cook and Isaiah reported the bullying they saw, and said the in-class training prompted them to talk to a teacher and help out their classmates.
"I was a little nervous but I just had a little bit of bravery in me and went ahead and said what I needed to say," Isaiah said.
“I'd like to see the Olweus Bully Prevention program implemented in every school,” said Elliot. State school officials back the program.
State Superintendent, Mick Zais, wrote the school a letter that was read during the event.
The letter stated South Carolina’s support for Loris Elementary’s implementation of the Olweus program.
Olweus Bully Prevention has been around for more than 30 years, but it wasn’t until recently that there was a push to get the program into state classrooms.
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