After the bully zones have been identified, they must be monitored.

The proper monitoring of a school campus by adults is one of the most effective ways to help reduce the number of bullying incidents. Bullying can happen anywhere. However, bullies prefer to harass their victims when adults are not present. For this reason, bullies look for areas of the school campus that are not frequented by adults. Let’s call these areas the bully zones.
Before the bully zones can be monitored, they must be identified. Staff members can easily identify the bully zones by surveying the students or simply by walking around the campus and identifying the areas themselves. Bully zones that are common to most campuses are the restrooms, cafeteria, and any area that is not in direct view of the staff.
It’s not enough to identify the bully zones. After these areas are identified, they must be monitored. Identifying the bully zones is easy, but making sure they are monitored is a much more difficult task. What makes this task difficult is when staff members are not willing to go the extra mile to make their school safe. If the number of bullying incidents is going to be reduced, all staff members must be willing to do a little extra work.
Most of the activity in the bully zones takes place right before and after school. Lack of proper monitoring during these times will allow bullying to continue. The reasons for not properly monitoring the bully zones before and after school are varied.
• Campus staff is not aware that these areas are a concern.
• Teachers and administrators are too busy with other responsibilities.
• The campus may be understaffed.
• Staff members who are scheduled to monitor these areas do not report for duty.
• Substitute teachers are not given specific instructions about their monitoring responsibilities.
Monitoring of the bully zones is not an option. These areas must be properly identified and monitored. If not, bullying will continue to thrive, and victims will continue to suffer.
If the entire staff is genuinely concerned about putting a stop to bullying, monitoring the bully zones is as simple as putting together a schedule. This schedule should include all staff members, and the responsibilities should be equally distributed. This is a key component to assuring staff morale stays high and bullying incidents stay low. Teachers should have a schedule of their monitoring responsibilities in their substitute teacher’s folder along with instructions for properly monitoring the assigned area. This assures that the bully zones will be monitored even if teachers are absent.
It is the responsibility of the administrative staff to make sure that all of the bully zones are being monitored. In smaller schools, one administrator may be able to accomplish this task quite easily. In larger schools, it may take an administrative team to assure that the bully zones are being properly monitored.
In addition to teaching content, schools are required by law to assure the safety of their students. Identifying and monitoring the bully zones is an important aspect of this responsibility. Incidents of bullying can be significantly reduced by the simple tasks of identifying the bully zones, assembling a schedule for staff members, and monitoring the bully zones.