Fun and informative, the Rochester Memorial School’s open house drew a large crowd made up of parents, teachers, administrators, and students on Thursday night.

Principal Derek Medeiros and Assistant Principal Charles West were on hand to greet the visitors. Medeiros was hired over the summer and West was named assistant in August. Previously, he had been the school’s social worker for 10 years.

Children in grades four through six roamed the halls with family. Inside the classrooms, student projects were on display and many teachers gave presentations on student progress. Kindergarten through third grade students had their open house the night before.

In Ms. Griffin’s fourth grade classroom, Emily Thayer excitedly showed her mom and dad a project she made that shows her interest inside and outside of school.

“There’s math, there’s a drawing of me, and other things,” Emily said. “It’s all about me!”

At the start of the night, West gave a presentation on bullying and what policies the school has in place to keep students safe.

Most importantly, kids should feel they can approach teachers and staff should bullying arise.

“We need to hear about it. It’s important that we have that information to keep kids in a non-threatening environment,” said West.

Three years ago, Massachusetts passed an anti-bullying law. Schools across the commonwealth are now required to have detailed policies in place to address the issue.

He stressed that bullying has not been a major problem at the school, but everyone must be aware of the issue. With the rise of social media, he said bullying has moved off of the playground and on to the Internet. While there are less instances of physical bullying, he said psychological and emotional bullying has risen.

West noted bullying can be defined by three criteria; one, it’s hurtful; two, it’s a repeated act not an isolated incident; three, there is an imbalance of power between bully and victim.

According to Medeiros, students should speak up when they see bullying: “I think the key to this is communication.”