TROTWOOD — Trotwood-Madison City Schools hosted its B-Against Bullying Community Unity Parade inside the Trotwood-Madison Middle School gym.
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Rain forced the event indoors as students, staff, and community members gathered to celebrate anti-bullying awareness and promote school safety.
The district event comes alongside a reported decrease in bullying incidents across its six schools.
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According to district data, reported bullying dropped from 104 incidents during the 2023-2024 school year to four incidents during the first semester of the 2025-2026 school year.
Erica Osinubi, founder of Detour Program Inc., helped the district implement options for students to report bullying.
Students are able to report bullying on the school website. When students are not permitted to use phones during school hours, they can fill out paper forms and drop them into physical bully boxes located in school buildings.
“So right now, we’re just really raising awareness and making sure that our kids know that we are here for them and they have a way for them to report that they are not safe because we want them safe as well,” Osinubi said.
Daniel Gibson, principal of Trotwood-Madison Middle School, emphasized the role of positive community events in fostering a safe environment.
“Anytime you do these types of events, and you get that family feel, and everybody speaks positive about Trotwood, all of those things reduce bullying,” Gibson said. “So this is just about those opportunity to uplift our students and make sure they understand our expectations.”
Students actively participated in the parade by cheering, dancing, and chanting in the gym.
Noah Burdett, a student at Trotwood-Madison Middle School, shared his perspective on why standing against bullying is important.
“Because it’s just not a good thing. And I’ve been bullied before, and it wasn’t nice, so I just try not to bully nobody,” Burdett said.
Osinubi noted that the district’s ongoing outreach and reporting options have contributed to progress in student safety.
“And so it’s just been a lot of great strides here in the work of prevention and keeping our kids safe,” Osinubi said.
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