Teaching kids to make ethical choices is an increasing concern for parents, especially in the wake of the death of Phoebe Prince, a 13-year-old middle school student in Massachusetts who committed suicide this year after excessive bullying.

On Thursday, Rye Middle School parents attended a discussion for "Facing History and Ourselves," an organization that helps young people and adults make the connection between history and their own lives. 

The organization conducts training for educators and gives them the resources to incorporate history lessons from past incidents of racism, violence and genocide, into the classroom, so that students can use these lessons to fight prejudice and become more compassionate towards each other.

Facing History's presentation was especially timely, considering that Rye Middle School sent a note to parents this week about bullying in the school.

The note, written by Sara Braun of the Rye Youth Council, said that 6^th grade boys were calling each other derogatory names and that middle school girls were exhibiting "mean girl" behavior.

"There have been several recent incidents of name calling and bullying—especially among 6th graders.  For boys, this has taken the form mostly of teasing and using terms like, "gay and faggot" or references that suggest that a boy is effeminate," Braun wrote. "In the case of boys, it has not been just one or two boys who have been targeted in this way.  Dozens of boys have acknowledged that they have been called 'gay'.  It is almost as if there is a universal urgency to label each other as less-than-masculine in an effort to preserve one's own social status."

Peter Nelson, director of Facing History's New York office, showed attendees a CBS 60 Minutes' interview in 2001 with David Cash, a young man labeled a bad Samaritan after watching his friend begin to assault a 7-year-old girl whom he later raped and murder. Though Cash didn't see the murder, he didn't report it to the police after his friend confessed to him, and in his interview with CBS he appeared unremorseful about his actions.

Nelson used the video to promote discussion among attendees about how students could use Cash's behavior as an example of how they should act in their own lives, particularly in cases that aren't as extreme as witnessing and not reporting a murder.

Many parents in attendance mentioned school teasing and bullying and how providing students with historic examples of inaction could help them draw parallels to how they should react when a classmate is teased or bullied.

"We need to constantly reiterate that your decisions can change the course of lives. There has to be constant reinforcement," said Julie Killian, one of the parents in attendance.

Though Rye isn't unique in terms of bullying, some parents said they had heard their children refer to a "Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3" system of popularity in the middle school and that students were judged and treated based on where they ranked.

Adele Centanni, co-president of the Rye Middle School Parents' Organization, said her daughter has even told her that the City of Rye is like a totem pole, with people of different social status being ranked higher or lower than others.

Because children often mimic the behaviors of their parents, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Steve Cohen said parents can play a critical role in how their children treat one another in school.

"The kids pay close attention to what we all do and they spend a lot of time not in school, so they have a lot of different teachers," Cohen said.

Sara Braun, who wrote the note to parents this week, attended the Facing History event. She said that bullying, particularly in Rye, can be combated by exposing students to more diversity, both in a cultural and socioeconomic sense.

"We need to address how homogenous this community is," she said. "There's not a lot of awareness about what the world is like beyond Rye. It's really hard to be different here."

Braun said the middle school is addressing incidents of bullying as they are reported. It has previously encouraged more engagement and understanding among students through "Make A Difference Day," which was held in April. However, Braun said she thinks Facing History is a worthwhile initiative that should be promoted and used in the district.

The Rye City School District will likely begin a partnership with Facing History in June.

Rye Superintendent Ed Shine said that Facing History, which provides services to 10,000 schools around the world, will have its first event with faculty and staff on June 28, the district's character development day.

Rye Middle School teachers will go to training this summer to learn how integrate Facing History into the curriculum next year, Shine said.

Shine said he expects the entire faculty to be interested in Facing History and that it can be effectively used throughout the district in the future.