School Bullying Council

A suspect is in custody following a shooting at Perry Hall High School in Maryland Monday morning, and sources say the incident may have been motivated by school bullying.

“It appears this was a one-on-one grudge situation,” a police source told CBS News.

A student reportedly entered the school cafeteria and shot another student in the back by firing at random, according to WJZ-TV. Students report that teachers tackled the suspect, and an estimated 200 students were in the cafeteria at the time. One student was shot and has been flown to a hospital for treatment.

One Facebook page that is being passed around as belonging to the suspect bias this last update: “First day of school, last day of my life. t(~_~t), f— the world.”

An unconfirmed post on a Democratic Underground forum notes that the suspect was bullied over the summer, and “was one of the all-in-black/trenchcoat types.“

“We send our students to school to be safe and this is a horrible way to start a school year,” Maryland State Schools Superintendent Lillian Lowery told Perry Hall Patch.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Need Help? Call the Crisis Call Center 1-800-273-8255 (24/7) Text ANSWER to 839863 (24/7)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/02/showbiz/lady-gaga-foundation/

Supt. Steve Matthews is not one to hide the fact that bullying occurs regularly in the Novi Community School District.

It happens in the form of physical violence, verbal degradation or through the computer or cell phone, and the negative impact it has on students is seen in their grades and often in their lifestyles.

In an effort to confront bullies, the school district — along with city officials and the police and fire departments — will don pink today to show they are taking a stand against bullying on National Bullying Prevention Day.

“It’s an issue and we know it’s an issue and we do a lot in school to make students aware of it,” Matthews said. “Our hope is the students realize this isn’t something we should tolerate in our buildings, and if they see it happening, or are a victim, my hope is the students understand they can find someone who can help them.”

Residents and business owners also are encouraged to wear pink today as bullying is not just something that takes place in schools.

This marks the second consecutive year the city has participated in the fight against bullying by wearing pink. The idea came from Sheryl Walsh, director of communications for the city, who heard about a high school freshman in Nova Scotia, Canada, who was bullied in 2007 for wearing a pink shirt. Two seniors decided to stand up for him and encouraged their friends to wear pink shirts to support him.

Schools in Novi were a sea of pink last year, a sign to Novi Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police David Molloy that the idea resonated with the students.

Last year the focus was on the high school, while this year it will be at Novi Middle School.

“I believe it’s a serious problem many communities have and we need to do everything we can to be proactive,” Molloy said. “I think we all are stepping outside our comfort zone on this day.”

Matthews said it’s “one of those hidden parts of a school.”

“It’s just hard to see all the time and we do all we can to promote the idea we don’t want this to happen,” he said. “We want safe schools where kids feel like they can be themselves.”

nmueller@gannett.com (248) 437-2011, Ext. 255

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20111020/NEWS13/110200439/Novi-takes-stand-against-bullying?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CRoyal%20Oak%7Cs

Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old high school freshman in Buffalo, N.Y., was bullied. A lot. After years of being called gay slurs at school and being told by anonymous people online that he should die, he killed himself Monday.
Jamey Rodemeyer.
(YouTube.)

Jamey’s mother, Tracy, told the Buffalo News that her son had questioned his sexuality and that his classmates began to tease and bully him. His parents were supportive of their son, and Jamey was seeing a social worker and a therapist. But that didn’t stop the bullying, and it didn’t ease Jamey’s pain, which spilled onto his Tumblr account.

“No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you’re the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing me down,” he wrote on Sept. 8. He said the next day: “I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. … What do I have to do so people will listen to me?”

Despite their son’s numerous cries for help online, Jamey’s parents thought he was doing well. His father Tim told WGRZ that Jamey said that he was happy.

Last May, Jamey told his friends that he was bisexual and created his own “It Gets Better” video. He thanked Lady Gaga for supporting the gay community and told the viewers, “Love yourself and you’re set.”

Indeed, he received an outpouring of support online from Gaga’s fans, who call themselves “little monsters,” as well as from his friends.

But others online did not embrace him. “JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!” an anonymous commenter said on Formspring. “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it It would make everyone WAY more happier!” said another.

Columnist Dan Savage, who created the “It Gets Better” project, said on his blog that the people who bullied Jamey should be held accountable “for their actions, for their hate, for the harm they’ve caused.”

“They should be asked if they’re “WAY more happier” now, if they’re pleased with themselves, and if they have anything to say to the mother of the child they succeeded in bullying to death,” he wrote.

Teen suicide is not a new or uncommon problem. Of the more than 35,000 suicides reported in the United States in 2008, 4,513 of the cases were youths between the ages of 10 and 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Savage said the high number of teenagers who are gay, bisexual or transsexual who have taken their own lives prompted him to found “It Gets Better,” a platform where adults could tell bullied kids that someday their lives will be brighter. But, as he wrote on his blog, the negativity is sometimes louder than the love:

“The point of the ‘It Gets Better’ project is to give kids like Jamey Rodemeyer hope for their futures. But sometimes hope isn’t enough. Sometimes the damage done by hate and by haters is simply too great. Sometimes the future seems too remote. And those are the times our hearts break.”

Watch Jamey’s “It Gets Better” message, and Jamey’s parents talk to WGRZ2, below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/jamey-rodemeyer-bullied-teen-who-made-it-gets-better-video-commits-suicide/2011/09/21/gIQAVVzxkK_blog.html

Anti-bullying measures are getting pretty tough.

According to The New York Times, New Jersey has implemented the nation’s toughest anti-bullying law.

It “demands that all public schools adopt comprehensive antibullying policies (there are 18 pages of ‘required components’), increase staff training and adhere to tight deadlines for reporting episodes.”

It requires that “each school designate an anti-bullying specialist to investigate complaints; each district must, in turn, have an anti-bullying coordinator; and the State Education Department will evaluate every effort, posting grades on its Web site.”

Educators who fail to comply could lose their licenses.

I endured my share of bullying when I was little. One bully rubbed my head in dog droppings once.

In eighth grade, another bully — I’ll call him Frankie — busted up my go-cart. A big, fat kid, he laughed out loud as he kicked my handcrafted vehicle into pieces.

Of course, kids had it better back then. With so many big families around, we always had older siblings to protect us — in my case, my sister Kris.

She tackled Frankie from behind. As he lay on his belly, Kris pounded his back with abandon. He blubbered like a baby, forever humiliated in front of the other kids.

Kids who are bullied now are so much more isolated. They don’t have other kids to turn to.

What’s worse is that bullying is a 24-hour activity now, thanks to the Internet and smartphones. Kids can be taunted online by other kids, even when they are locked in their homes.

A lot of kids aren’t handling the trend well.

“According to various studies, one in three kids is either bullied or a bully,” says Carleton Kendrick, a family therapist and author of “Take Out Your Nose Ring, Honey, We’re Going to Grandma’s.”

“On any given day 160,000 kids are so traumatized by fear and intimidation they’re afraid to go to school.”

It’s no wonder, then, that numerous government and private organizations are promoting anti-bullying campaigns and some 30 states have anti-bullying laws.

But then again, as the New Jersey law shows, aren’t we overdoing the anti-bullying some? Aren’t adults getting a wee bit too involved?

The unfortunate fact is there is pain in life and no amount of legislation or anti-bullying training will eradicate it.

Some kids are more popular than others. Some are bigger. Some are dumber. Some are bullies and others are bullied.

Regardless, all kids have to learn their own strengths and weaknesses and how to fend for themselves.

New Jersey’s encouraging reporting bullying episodes to the Crimestoppers hotline.

Consultants are counseling kids on the fine line between “telling and tattling.”

And educators are under pressure to respond to every bullying episode, real or perceived.

“The law requires districts to appoint a safety team at each school, made up of teachers, staff members and parents, to review complaints,” says The Times. “It orders principals to begin an investigation within one school day of a bullying episode, and superintendents to provide reports to state government twice a year detailing all episodes.”

Sheesh!

It’s a heck of a thing for a kid to be bullied, no doubt. But isn’t it a little nutty for overzealous adults to attempt to use government to eradicate all unpleasantness from kids’ lives?

What’s next, a law to ensure every kid gets a prom date?

Besides, aren’t New Jersey’s anti-bullying politicians rather ironic? Aren’t they carrying on like, well, bullies?

©2011 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, a freelance writer is also a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

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http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2011/09/09/opinion/doc4e6987d9b2548639832752.txt

Public release date: 30-Aug-2011

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Contact: Sarah Hutcheon
shutcheon@srcd.org
202-289-7905
Society for Research in Child Development

Second and third graders who are bullied react in a variety of waysfrom discussing the problem or striking back to seeking emotional support. A new study in the journal Child Development has found that the types of goals children set in their relationships help determine how they respond to being bulliedand whether they choose responses that are effective.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

“Bullying has become a significant focus of media attention and public health concern,” according to Karen D. Rudolph, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who led the study. “Although a primary focus of interventions is to eradicate bullying in the schools, it’s also important to help children cope with peer aggression in ways that resolve rather than exacerbate the situation.

“This research highlights the importance of educational efforts to shift children’s priorities away from focusing on being ‘popular’ or ‘cool’ and toward developing skills and relationships,” notes Rudolph. “Achieving this goal can promote constructive coping strategies, ultimately reducing bullying and lessening its long-term impact on children’s social and mental health.”

The researchers surveyed more than 370 children across the two grades as well as their teachers. Children and teachers filled out surveys on how children typically respond to classmates’ aggression. Children also reported on how often they were bullied (from mild attacks such as verbal insults and teasing to more severe bullying, including exclusion and physical assault).

In addition, the children reported on their social goals; those fell into three categories1) efforts to acquire social skills and develop high-quality relationships, like learning how to be a good friend; 2) efforts to gain positive social judgments and prestige, such as having “cool” friends; and 3) efforts to minimize negative social judgments, such as avoiding being viewed as a “loser.”

Children who worked to acquire social skills and develop solid relationships, the study found, were more likely to engage in thoughtful and constructive responses to bullying that were aimed at addressing or learning from the situation and managing their emotions. These children were less likely to become emotionally upset than their peers.

Children who sought to be cool tended to disengage from the situation by denying that it had happened or doing nothing, rather than trying to solve the problem at hand. These children were more likely to retaliate against the bullies.

And children whose goals were to avoid being seen as uncool or “losers” were more likely to ignore bullies and less likely to retaliate, perhaps in an effort to pacify the bullies and deflect attention from themselves. These children and those who sought to be cool were less effective in their responses to bullies than the children who managed their emotions and tried to learn from the situation.

“Our findings suggest that by working to develop social competence and relationships, children orient themselves toward efforts to solve problems with their peers, handle their emotions, and think positively when relationships go awry,” according to Rudolph.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and a University of Illinois Arnold O. Beckman Award.

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You’ve heard of bullies harrasing kids in the schoolyard, but how about the gay agenda bullying schools? That’s what’s happening in Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin School District.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and National Center for Lesbian Rights sent a letter to the school district last month threatening a federal lawsuit if the district does not repeal a policy that requires staff to remain neutral on “sexual orientation.”

The groups actually expect the district to mandate that students and staff attend training “to prevent bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” and inject “issues related to LGBT people” into the curriculum.

The question is, who is bullying who? The Alliance Defense Fund is getting in the middle.

The ADF on Monday sent a letter to the district explaining that these threats “have no basis in law” and that demands made by these groups rely primarily on “appeals to emotion.” So far as the ADF is concerned, “the district should not be swayed by these unfortunate tactics.”

“School districts should not be bullied into taking the side of homosexual activists,” says ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “Parents rightly believe that public schools are a place for education, not sexual indoctrination. The Anoka-Hennepin School District’s policy is entirely appropriate and legally sound.”

Specifically, the district’s policy states, “Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their
professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual
orientation including but not limited to student led discussions. If
and when staff address sexual orientation, it is important that staff
do so in a respectful manner that is age-appropriate, factual and
pertinent to the relevant curriculum.”

The ADF letter points out that the school district’s neutrality policy
does not prohibit the legitimate discussion of issues related to sexual
orientation and does not target students who identify as homosexual,
bisexual or transgendered for mistreatment.

“SPLC and NCLR’s letter plainly misinterprets the district’s policy, is inaccurate as to the law, and is heavy on hyperbole,” the ADF letter states, adding that the two groups appear to be “more concerned with pushing their agenda than with offering real solutions to the problems of bullying and suicide, which … are faced equally by all students, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

“Indeed, bullying is not unique to students who identify as homosexual, bisexual or transgendered,” the ADF letter continues. “Accordingly, anti-bullying policies should broadly prohibit bullying against all students, regardless of the reason for the bullying, while at the same time carefully protecting the free speech rights of all students as well.”

Study links bullying, poor health

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Critical new research has found that LGBT youth who experience high levels of school victimization in middle and high school report impaired health and mental health in young adulthood, including depression, suicide attempts that require medical care, sexually transmitted diseases and risk for HIV. This is the first known study to examine the relationship between school victimization during adolescence — specifically related to sexual orientation and gender identity — with multiple dimensions of young adult health and adjustment. The study demonstrates the importance of addressing and preventing anti-LGBT victimization at the structural or school level to reduce health disparities among LGBT young people. The study, based on data from the Family Acceptance Project’s young adult survey of 245 LGBT young adults ages 21 to 25, is published in the Journal of School Health and the Journal of the American School Health Association.

DOJ files to dismiss pay suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Mexico that seeks full separation pay for service members who were honorably discharged but had their separation pay cut in half because of “homosexuality.” In the past six years, 142 honorably discharged veterans had their separation pay cut in half because of the discriminatory policy. The total amount of separation pay withheld from those veterans is approximately $2.1 million. In its response, the DOJ states that the half-separation pay policy applies not only to those who engage in “Homosexual Conduct,” but also those discharged from the military for drug and alcohol abuse or being deemed a national security risk.

NBA stars fight anti-gay speech

NEW YORK, N.Y. — GLSEN, the Ad Council and the NBA have joined for a series of public service advertisements featuring Phoenix Suns stars Grant Hill and Jared Dudley designed to address the use of anti-gay language among teens. The campaign includes new television, radio, print and web ads. The TV spot debuted this month during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the most viewed NBA game in cable history. The PSA will air throughout the NBA Conference Finals on ABC, TNT, and ESPN. The spot is an extension of the award-winning Think Before You Speak campaign and GLSEN’s “Changing the Game” initiative. View the PSA online at youtube.com/watch?v=cqv77DU-YBU.

First out senator possible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to the web digest Gay Politics Report, Herb Kohl’s recent announcement that he will not seek another term as a U.S. senator from Wisconsin has raised the possibility that Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will run for the open seat, something sources close to Baldwin say is “very likely.” An out lesbian now serving her seventh term in the U.S. House, Baldwin would become the first openly LGBT senator in U.S. history. “This would be a remarkable milestone for LGBT Americans,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay Lesbian Victory Fund, adding that a Baldwin candidacy for the Senate would become a top priority for the organization.

http://goqnotes.com/11144/study-links-bullying-poor-health/

Friday May 20, 2011

BRATTLEBORO — Schools will have broader authority to crack down on cyberbullying with a new electronic harassment law the Legislature passed this year.

The cyberbullying provision was packed into a 41-section miscellaneous education bill that lawmakers passed in the final days of the session.

If Gov. Peter Shumlin signs the bill, which he is expected to do in the coming weeks, principals and administrators will be able to discipline students who use online methods to harass or bully another student.

The law identifies cyberbullying in statute for the first time, and it also allows school administrators to suspend or expel a student for an action that does not occur during the school day or on school property.

“Up until now schools could only really discipline students for behavior that happened on school property,” said Vermont Department of Education attorney Mark Oettinger. “This broadens the school’s options and responsibilities.”

Oettinger said that under the new law, if one student sends a threatening e-mail which prevents a second student from attending class, the first student could be disciplined.

He also said an unintended consequence of the new law broadens the school’s authority to expel of suspend a student for actions taken “not on school property.”

Though the law is new, and has not been tested yet, Oettinger said it appears as though a principal could discipline a student who

harasses or bullies another student while not on school grounds.

“It seems to me that if a threat is made and it has an adverse effect on another student, it would fall within the purview of the law for a principal to take an action,” said Oettinger. “Previously, if a threat was made at home the school could not do anything. It seems as though the wording is broad enough to extend the disciplinary authority to other premises.”

Robert Appel, Executive Director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, admits that the new law might cause some “tension” in the blurry lines that cross between parenting, law enforcement and education.

But he points out that the law is not mandatory, and it only gives school administrators another tool when dealing with the ever widening problem of cyberbullying.

Appel said the Legislature will likely work on the issue more in the next session to clarify the role educators are expected to play when events happen off of school property.

“This bill is a good start. The Legislature wanted to do something,” Appel said. “These threats do happen and they do block a student’s right to access their education, which is a Constitutional right. I’m sure the debate will continue.”

“We do have concerns that this bill could increase the liability a school has in preventing cyberbullying,” said Vermont School Board Association Executive Director Stephen Dale.

Dale said the intent of the law was good and he said it was necessary for the Legislature to do something to give school administrators a tool to combat online harassment and bullying.

“It is a good thing to acknowledge that there can be behaviors that affect kids which take place outside the school building,” said Dale. “And these comments can be generated in ways that were unimaginable 25 years ago.”

But Dale said the law is vague, and if a school does, or does not, act on a report of cyberbullying, an expensive law suit could follow.

“We would like to see the language a little more clear,” he said. “We think its a good law, and it is good for schools to have these tools to deal with this issue, but we are opposed to legislation that increases the liability of schools if the behavior does not stop.”

Allen Gilbert, executive director of the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the new law puts schools squarely into the position of dealing with issues that are probably more appropriately addressed by parents.

Gilbert said the ACLU has argued strongly for the right of every child to access his or her education, but the new law might drag schools into a less clear debate over their role in activities outside of the school walls.

“Increasingly, schools have become regulators of last resort,” said Gilbert. “This places a heavy burden on school administrators as they are forced to navigate difficult, sensitive areas, areas where legal expertise is needed and the exercise of administrators’ extended authority is challenging.”

Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at 802-254-2311ext. 279 or at hwtisman@reformer.com.

http://www.reformer.com/ci_18101368?source=most_viewed

BOSTON —
Phoebe Prince was a recently arrived Irish immigrant, 15 and emotionally fragile, when high school bullying over two boys she dated apparently drove her to hang herself with a scarf in her Massachusetts home.

Tyler Clementi was an 18-year-old violinist with a bright future. He jumped off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River after his roommate at Rutgers University allegedly used a webcam to spy on his same-sex liaison.

They never met each other, but together their ordeals put a spotlight on the harm caused by bullying and helped strengthen laws to crack down on what had until then been treated as a rite of adolescence.

“This prosecution has also shattered the myths that bullying is just part of growing up, that it affects only a small number of kids, and that kids can work it out themselves,” said David Sullivan, a prosecutor in the Prince case. “The era of turning a blind eye to bullying and harassment is over.”

Last week, five teenagers charged in the Prince case admitted in court that they participated in her bullying. In plea deals with prosecutors, they received probation and were ordered to perform community service. If they successfully complete their probation, the charges will be dropped. A statutory rape charge against a sixth teenager was dropped.

And on Friday, a former Rutgers student agreed to cooperate with authorities prosecuting a schoolmate on a hate crime charge in Clementi’s case and entered a program that could drop the privacy-invasion charges against her.

Though key differences separate the cases — Prince was in high school, Clementi in college — they illuminate the problem of bullying in its many forms and put a tragic and sympathetic face on the issue.

“Both Phoebe and Tyler were targeted by high-status kids who were well-liked in the community,” said Barbara Coloroso, a prominent anti-bullying consultant.

“As adults, we wonder how these types of kids could possibly do what they did,” she said. “What we have to be tuned into is: Mean and cruel is mean and cruel, no matter who is doing it.”

Prince was threatened and harassed in the hallways and classrooms of South Hadley High School, about 100 miles west of Boston. She was called “Irish slut” and “Irish whore” and ridiculed on her tormentors’ Facebook pages.

After word got around that one of her classmates planned to fight her, Prince became too afraid to go to class, went to the school nurse several times and lost focus on her studies, prosecutors said.

She committed suicide Jan. 14, 2010, after a day that included being hounded with slurs and having a beverage container thrown at her as she walked home from school.

When former District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel announced charges against Prince’s tormentors, she described “relentless”

bullying designed to “humiliate her and to make it impossible for her to remain at school.”

“Their conduct far exceeded the limits of normal teenage relationship-related quarrels,” Scheibel said at the time.

News of the criminal charges quickly spread through the United States and to Ireland, where Prince grew up in County Clare, followed by months of intense media coverage.

Six teenagers, including the captain of the football team, were initially charged with counts ranging from criminal harassment, stalking and felony civil rights violations to statutory rape.

After Prince’s death, several news organizations reported that Prince’s mother, when she first enrolled her daughter at South Hadley High School, had told a guidance counselor that her daughter had been bullied previously in Ireland. In court last week, a lawyer for one of the defendants said Prince had attempted suicide earlier in the school year after one of the boys she dated broke off their relationship.

The defendants’ lawyers and others criticized prosecutors for overcharging the teenagers, and some legal experts questioned whether they would be able to win a conviction.

Sullivan, the Northwestern District attorney, defended the plea deals and said Prince’s family supported them. He said the five teenagers had publicly admitted their guilt and been punished by the glare of the media spotlight.

“The most positive message to have come out of this tragedy,”

Sullivan said, “is that it has put an international spotlight on bullying and its devastating consequences.”

In Clementi’s case, his roommate and a female student are accused of using a webcam to spy on his dorm-room encounter with another man in September, and the roommate allegedly used Twitter to tell others about it. Clementi killed himself days later.

This time, the conversation began to address the particular persecution faced by young gays and lesbians.

President Barack Obama and celebrities including talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and sex columnist Dan Savage talked publicly about his death and created video testimonials telling young gays and lesbians that life gets better.

The effects of both teenagers’ cases are enshrined in law.

After Clementi’s death, the New Jersey Legislature passed a strong anti-bullying law, long in the works. In response to the Prince case, Massachusetts passed one of the nation’s toughest anti-bullying laws, requiring school employees to immediately report bullying.

A scholarship has been created and federal legislation introduced in honor of Clementi, who was in his first weeks at college.

Both of the accused in his case were bright students from affluent towns.

The roommate, Dharun Ravi, was indicted last month on 15 charges, including a bias intimidation count that accuses him of acting because Clementi was gay. That charge alone could send him to prison for up to 10 years.

The other student, Molly Wei, on Friday entered a pretrial intervention program, conditions of which include continuing to cooperate with authorities in their case against Ravi. Under the program, two invasion of privacy charges will eventually be dropped if Wei complies with a series of conditions.

After Wei’s hearing, Clementi’s father, Joe, read a statement summing up the spirit of the national soul-searching inspired by the two bullying cases.

“We wish that Miss Wei will become a person who will make better decisions,” and that she “will help people, and show kindness to those she comes in contact with.“

On a warm spring evening at the Seaside Dance studio in Westerly, troupe members used their nimble limbs to send a message: Bullying hurts.

Eleven- to 18-year-olds in black leotards pirouetted through Adam Lambert’s “Mad World,” tap-danced to “Mean Girls” by Sugarland and used modern dance moves to simulate a suicide in Pearl Jam’s grunge classic, “Jeremy.”

In their award-winning “Take a Stand” number, the girls called out statistics about bullying, and together they have a strong voice, for every last one has a story to tell about being treated cruelly by their contemporaries.

It does not matter that they are bright, beautiful young ladies. All have been stung, and they say bullying is escalating, mostly because kids have near-constant access to phones and computers.

“People say stuff over texting and Facebook that they wouldn’t say to your face,” said Katelyn McElkenny, 16. “In school the next day, they act like it never happened.”

The dancers said Formspring, a relatively new social networking site used by teenagers, ostensibly to learn more about each other by asking questions, has become a magnet for bullies who can bash others anonymously.

The dance studio is a refuge where they can put down their cellphones and count on support from each other and their instructors. For 11-year-old Jahnessa Shuler of Pawcatuck, Seaside was a lifeline during what she described as tortured elementary school years.

For another dancer, who asked that her name not be used, the worst bullying occurred in middle school, where classmates created a Facebook page that poked fun at her. Her father worked with the school and Facebook to remove the page and said he monitors his daughter’s online activity.

“In the old days, kids threw sticks and stones,” the father said in a phone interview. “Now they have new things to throw at each other.”

Taking bullying seriously

Throughout the region and the country, children and their parents are reporting problems with bullying on a daily basis. Kids say they are targeted because of their height, weight, race or sexual orientation. They are picked on because of their accents, clothing or hairstyles, or if they have an acne breakout. Some don’t know why they have become targets or why people they thought were their friends are bullying them.

Occasionally, families and communities are shocked by reports that a teenage suicide was the result of bullying. In Montville, classmates of a 10th-grader who committed suicide in January said bullying might have pushed him to kill himself. The teen’s family has not spoken publicly about the incident and declined to comment for this article. State police are investigating.

Bullying sometimes leads to criminal acts, as in the case of three teenagers in New London who allegedly tormented a 12-year-old boy with BB guns last month, laughing as he begged them to spare his life. The three boys, who videotaped the incident with a cellphone, were arrested. Their cases are pending in juvenile court.

One of the most common complaints from bullying victims and their families is that school officials did not respond when told of the problem. Under Connecticut law, every school must have a bullying policy and a prevention and intervention strategy and must report all verified incidents of bullying to the state Department of Education. The annual reports of bullying incidents are available upon request at schools.

The bullying law is aimed at having schools respond appropriately by helping the victims feel safe and supported and taking disciplinary action when bullying is confirmed. When police get involved, the “bully” is typically charged with breach of peace or harassment.

Curtailing bullying can be as simple as beefing up adult presence during recesses, lunches and in hallways, which New London Superintendent Nicholas Fischer said has been done in his district. At Norwich Free Academy, which has an extensive campus safety department, students are reminded they can report incidents to many adults, not just the main office. Groton enables students and parents to go online to report bullying incidents.

“If you’re going to combat bullying you have to have a well-known, well-structured mechanism for reporting, and the students on campus have to feel that it is going to be taken seriously,” said Jason Shirley, a social worker at Norwich Free Academy. “There’s never a situation here where someone is going to say, ‘Tough, just deal with it.’ ”

The Connecticut General Assembly is considering a bill that would add cyber bullying to the existing law.

“If you commit an act of bullying in person, there is always that fear of consequences, like from the school or police,” Shirley said. “When you’re operating online, there is a cognitive removal from the fact that this action you’re taking might have consequences.”

The bill has made it through the Education and Judiciary committees with support from both political parties. It is unclear if it will come to a vote during the remainder of the legislative session.

Changing schools helped

Jahnessa Shuler, the 11-year-old dancer from Pawcatuck, said kids bullied her beginning in kindergarten. Her mother, Tiffany Johnston, said Jahnessa always wore the latest fashions, smiled and tried to make friends, but there was a disconnect with Jahnessa’s peers that she didn’t understand.

In chorus rehearsal, a group of girls sat behind Jahnessa, tossed things at her head and kicked her chair. Girls called her “dirty”; she is of mixed race and her glowing brown skin is darker than theirs. They teased her about the texture of her hair and nicknamed her “bug eyes.”

“It just progressed and got worse,” Jahnessa said in an interview. “I wasn’t doing good in school. I was always playing by myself. When we were building something, I would go up to people and say, ‘Want to be my partner?’ They would say ‘no.’ “

In the summer before fifth grade, she’d had enough. At camp, she had no one to play with. “I would try to make friends and that wasn’t really successful. Once I got there I would start to cry because of all the people playing together, and I would just sit there,” she said.

Jahnessa missed a lot of school and her grades slipped. She spent a lot of time in the nurse’s office. She acted out at home. In the middle of the school year, she tried to kill herself.

“I was so depressed and there were so many things going on. I just tried to stop it myself. I didn’t want to go on,” she said.

Her mother said she was hospitalized and received counseling. Jahnessa said dance class helped a lot.

Today, Jahnessa is thriving. She attends the Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication, a charter school in New London that she and her mother said they felt from their first visit would be a place where the adults would do something about bullying. She bonded with a couple of girls and now, like other girls her age, she is on the phone all the time with friends. When she did have a problem, the school stepped in immediately. Jahnessa and another girl had a spat that began on Facebook that led to blows being exchanged in a bathroom. Her mother learned of the dispute while monitoring her daughter’s Facebook account.

“My mom called the school, and the school actually did something,” Jahnessa said. “We had to sit in the room with each other. A mediator said that in cyberspace things never go away. We both apologized to each other, and now we’re, like, friends.”

Solving problems

Bullying became part of the national discussion on teenage violence when two socially isolated boys committed the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999 but, here in southeastern Connecticut, it has been part of the conversation even longer.

Anne Wernau, a community educator for the Women’s Center of Southeastern Connecticut, started the “Violence is Preventable” program in 1992, when her youngest daughter was a sixth-grader in Waterford.

Today, the Women’s Center delivers the grant-funded program to schools in New London, Norwich, Bozrah, Groton and Griswold. The VIP program uses “Second Step” and “Steps to Respect” curricula from the Seattle-based Committee for Children. Lessons are tailored to elementary, middle and high school students.

At New London’s Winthrop School one afternoon, retired Norwich teacher Joyce Werden gave a lesson about contagious feelings to second-graders. She read Charlotte Zolotow’s “The Quarreling Book,” in which family members pass negative feelings to each other until their fun-loving dog turns the mood positive. She asked the class to draw a diagram with happy faces connected by arrows. She ended the lesson with friendly words from her puppet, Mr. Bushytail, and used a stick to tease soothing vibrations from a song bowl.

Winthrop School Principal Jaye Wilson said the 13-week program reinforces the school’s discipline plan and “pays in dividends” when the kids learn social skills and solve problems themselves. At this age, tattling, shoving and name-calling are a challenge.

“As educators, we don’t pay attention to getting-along skills until we hit middle school, and then the problem is really bad,” Werden said.

Don’t be a bystander

A few weeks later, Wernau and Kris Wraight from the Women’s Center conducted a lesson for sixth-graders at Groton’s West Side Middle School. They drew an imaginary line on the classroom floor and asked students to “cross the line” if they have experienced various types of bullying. All but two crossed when asked if they had been called bad names. All crossed when asked if they had ever seen someone teased. A few crossed when asked if they had been picked on because of religion, race or skin color. About two-thirds crossed when asked if they have ever stood by and watched someone being bullied and felt ashamed.

After class, 12-year-old Klay Ferguson said he has been bullied a lot by one student in particular, who calls him “fat” and “gay” and that the cruel words have left scars.

“I try to just ignore him, and the principal is trying to help me,” he said. “My mom says, ‘You’ll be OK.’ ”

His classmate, Michael Paige, said he has seen some of the bullying incidents and that he tends to be a bystander.

“I don’t think it’s that bad of a problem, but the few people who do it, they do it constantly,” he said.

During the lesson, both the adults and children acknowledged that everyone knows who the bullies are in their grade.

Around the state, grass-roots initiatives such as Norwich’s Bully-Busters group are urging young people to become “upstanders” rather than “bystanders” when they see bullying.

“In psychology, we call it diffusion of responsibility,” said Shirley, from NFA. “People who are not necessarily the agitators see it going on. The more people standing by, the more feeling there is that they are less responsible.”

k.florin@theday.com

http://www.theday.com/article/20110508/NWS01/305089917/-1/NWS

CLEVELAND — About 400 Cleveland high school students argued the fictional case of a bullied student in this year’s ‘Mock Trial’ competition at the Justice Center Friday.

It’s the 15th year for the competition, and this time students from 11 high schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District were taking part.

They argued a case involving a bullied student who brought a weapon to school for self-defense. The theme was developed by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lauren C. Moore.

She talked to the students about one of the most important issues in their lives and at their schools.

“It is bullying. It is insensitivity. It is incivility to each other and we’ve got to stop it,” the judge said.

At the mock trial, teams from the various schools debated whether a fictional student who had been bullied should be convicted of bringing a knife to school to defend himself, should the bully attack him again.

Several Cleveland Municipal Court judges judged the competition, as did Jan Mohat, the mother of a 17-year-old Mentor High School student who took his own life in 2007 after being constantly bullied.

“He was so abused that, on the day he killed himself,” Jan Mohat told the students, ”the bully went up to him and said, ‘Eric why don’t you go home and shoot yourself, it’s not like anyone would care.’ And he did. And his sister found him.”

The students listened in silence to Mohat’s description of the abuse her son endured day after day before he ended his own life.

“People that bully, they need to look inside themselves and see what they are doing is wrong,” said John Hay High School sophomore Autumn Jefferson. ”That’s just a terrible thing to do.”

Glenville High School tenth grader Desmond Barrett agreed. He admitted to having been bullied since the fifth grade.

Barrett, who acted as an assistant prosecutor on one of the student teams at the competition, told WKYC, “I’m not going to lie to you. You try to deal with it, you try to shove it off, but you can’t. It’s a problem and you can face it sometimes, but sometimes you can’t.”

Barrett thoughtfully reflected on the story of Eric Mohat.

“That’s very sad and I don’t know how anybody could do through anything like that,” he said softly. “And I don’t think anybody should ever be bullied at any time in their life. My heart goes out to his famiy.”

The students who took part in the mock trial also signed an Anti-Bullying Pledge that encourages them, among other things, to report bullying immediately any time they see it.

Winners of the trial competition for 2011 were members of team Alpha, from the Cleveland School of the Arts.

WKYC-TV

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http://www.wkyc.com/news/education/article/188776/35/Cleveland-Mock-trial-for-high-school-bullying-case

Updated 9:45 a.m. May 5 – Without additional debate, the Senate this morning voted 23-10 for final passage of House Bill 11-1254, the anti-bullying proposal.

The measure now returns to the House for consideration of Senate amendments.

The Senate also voted 33-0 to pass House Bill 11-1121, which bars people with certain felony convictions from non-licensed jobs at schools. (See this story for background on the bill.)

Nobody’s in favor of school bullying, but that didn’t mean the Senate acted quickly on  HB 11-1254, which would expand the legal definition of school bullying, require school districts to update bullying policies and create a donation-funded grant program for district anti-bullying programs.

Senators debated for nearly two hours spread over two days before giving the bill preliminary approval on a voice vote Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, the House Education Committee gave 13-0 approval to Senate Bill 11-052, the higher education performance-funding bill.

The bullying bill is backed by a variety of education and other advocacy groups, including One Colorado, which supports gay and lesbian rights. The original version of the bill proposed a lengthy set of requirements for school anti-bullying efforts, but the sponsors watered the bill down substantially in the face of district opposition, and the amended measure passed the Republican-controlled House 47-18.

Discrimination against and bullying of gay and lesbian students has been a subtle undercurrent to discussion on the bill. During debate Tuesday, Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, raised that issue directly, saying, “Some people have the misunderstanding that this is about gay and lesbian kids. This is about all kids. … I think this bill is a necessary bill.”

Spence repeated her support after discussion resumed on Wednesday.

Prime sponsor Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, referenced bullying against gays and lesbians, saying, “In my personal experience … kids can be pretty mean. Most every other kid in my junior high school had figured out I was gay before I did.”

Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, was the member most skeptical about the bill, saying gay and lesbian students “don’t need a school bullying policy, they have anti-discrimination laws on their side.”

Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, suggested that the problem is better handled at the local level, rather than having the state legislate bullying policies.

Two Republican amendments were added to the bill Wednesday. They expand the definition of bullying to include targeting kids for academic performance and for political views.

Everybody’s happy with SB 11-052 now

House Education gave unanimous approval to SB 11-052 after hearing an assortment of witnesses talk glowingly about how well the higher education community had come together to craft a compromise version of the bill.

Metro State President Steve Jordan (file photo)

Metro State President Steve Jordan, who repeated the old joke about Colorado’s higher ed system being “a loose confederation … held together by envy of each other,” said it’s noteworthy “when you get to a position where you have no one actively opposing the bill.”

College leaders were opposed to the initial version of the bill, which would have phased performance funding in fairly quickly and didn’t contain a “trigger” of minimum state financial support before performance funding would kick in. Extensive negotiations between college executives, the Department of Higher Education and bill sponsors led to a compromise.

The bill is potentially one of the most important education policy measures of the 2011 session, but it has a long implementation timeline and is contingent on significant improvements in the state’s budget situation.

Its main provisions would:

• Set a Sept. 1, 2012, deadline for the state’s colleges and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to develop a new higher ed master plan.
• Require the commission to negotiate individualized performance contracts with institutions.
• Set a Dec. 1, 2013, deadline for the commission to develop the details of a performance-funding program.
• Delay the start of performance funding until the 2016-17 school year. And performance funding wouldn’t kick in unless state support of higher education was at least $706 million. The money available for performance funding would be 25 percent of the state appropriations above $650 million.

Another higher education measure, House Bill 11-1301, won 63-2 final House approval Wednesday. It would give colleges greater administrative flexibility in use of student fees, creation of non-profit auxiliaries, some hiring, purchasing, construction and other areas.

For the record

• House Ed also voted 11-0 to pass Senate Bill 11-265, changing the name of Mesa State College to Colorado Mesa University. Members voted 12-0 for Senate Bill 11-111, creating a study of ways to reduce remediation.
• Gov. John Hickenlooper signed House Bill 11-1201, which streamlines some teacher licensing procedures.
• Hickenlooper nominated Patricia Chlouber of Leadville, Wayne Eckerling of Denver and Steven Schneider of Colorado Springs to the Charter School Institute board.

Use the Education Bill Tracker for links to bill texts and status information

Print

http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2011/05/04/18521-bullying-bill-raises-questions

WAUPUN — Police are investigating a bullying incident last week that drove a Waupun teen to attempt to set himself on fire in a school bathroom.

According to interim Superintendent Don Childs, a male middle school student entered Waupun Area Jr./Sr. High School on April 25 with a water bottle filled with gasoline. The teen allegedly doused himself with gasoline in a school bathroom around 11 a.m., with the intention of setting himself on fire, he said.

Childs said the teen came to the school office smelling of gasoline and told school officials what he had done.

“It was a premeditated act on his part. He told staff he didn’t want to kill himself, but had wanted to hurt himself. Fortunately, he was unsuccessful in trying to ignite himself,” Childs said.

The teen, who is currently hospitalized, told staff he was a victim of bullying by classmates. While the school has anti-bullying programs in place, Childs said the bullying incidents may have happened outside of school.

“It’s not to say that he wasn’t being bullied inside school. But sometimes what happens outside of the school day is very often out of our control,” Childs said. “We do, however, have the names of students who were singling him out and picking on him.”

Childs said that school Police Liaison Officer Patti Toll is investigating the incident.

“As soon as they land on who these individuals are, you can be sure that anything that can be attributed to them is going to be dealt with in a disciplinarian fashion with the parents being involved,” he said.

Waupun Deputy Police Chief Mindy Hendricks said the investigation is ongoing and no charges or referrals have been made.

“Depending on what we find out, there could be disciplinary measures taken at school or a referral for charges could be forwarded to Juvenile Services,” Hendricks said.

In addition to drug and alcohol abuse education, Hendricks said anti-bullying messages are stressed by Toll to the student population.

“(Toll) has taken a strong stance against bullying in schools and tries to make students aware of the effects it can have on the victim,” Hendricks said. “A bully may say something to one kid and the words roll right off their back. But to another kid — with issues going on in his life — may not be able to handle that. Oftentimes the bullies don’t know the difference between the two.”

Childs said access to online media sites like Facebook and texting has elevated bullying to a whole new level — especially at the middle school where social hierarchy is of great importance to students. He is unsure whether cyber-bullying was involved in the April 25 incident.

“While bullying is nothing new, unfortunately it’s taken on an even uglier turn than we’ve seen before simply because of the 24/7 nature of access to the internet,” Childs said. “And another part of the problem is that the role modeling of adults around these (bullies) is less than stellar.

“We see a lot of adult behavior that’s built on incivility rather than trying to solve our differences,” he said. “And as long as that’s the case, I’m afraid the kind of bullying that occurs is going to continue to be pretty damaging.”

http://www.fdlreporter.com/article/20110503/FON0101/105030331/Bullying-prompts-Waupun-teen-douse-himself-gasoline

LAWRENCEVILLE — At Five Forks Middle School, students are encouraged to be like Belle from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”

Following a visit at the beginning of the school year from inspirational speaker Mark Brown, Five Forks hung up posters with that message throughout the school. The posters are designed to remind students of Brown’s anti-bullying message: Emulate Belle and reach out to the Beasts of the world with love, so the handsome prince (or princess) inside can be freed.

The posters are just one example of the proactive measures the school staff takes to prevent bullying. Although school counselors said bullying is not a big problem at Five Forks, it’s an issue they take seriously.

“We never ever just slough it off,” said Rob Anderson, the school’s sixth-grade counselor. “We take every bullying and harassment case very seriously.”

According to the 2009 Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 44 percent of middle schools nationwide reported bullying problems, compared to just more than 20 percent of both elementary and high schools.

Nationwide, one-third of teens reported being bullied while at school, according to the 2009 indicators.

In Gwinnett County, 14.6 percent of middle-schoolers and 7.4 percent of high-schoolers said they had been bullied or threatened by other youth within 30 days, according to the 2008 Youth Health Survey, the most recent conducted by the Gwinnett Coaliton for Health and Human Services.

About 20 percent of teens nationwide had been made fun of by a bully, 18 percent had rumors or gossip spread about them, 11 percent were physically bullied (such as being shoved, tripped or spit on), 6 percent were threatened, 5 percent were excluded from activities they wanted to participate in, 4 percent were coerced into doing something they did not want to do and 4 percent had their personal belongings destroyed by bullies.

About two of every three bully victims surveyed said they were bullied once or twice during the school year, one in five were bullied once or twice a month and one in 10 were bullied daily or several times a week. Only about a third of bully victims reported the bullying to someone at school.

That’s something the Five Forks counselors work hard to prevent at their school. Anderson and his colleagues Helen Kruskamp and Kelly Flower said they want students to feel comfortable coming to them to discuss issues.

“We don’t always see the bullying happen, so we have to rely on others to tell us,” said Kruskamp, the eighth-grade counselor.

When problems do happen, the counselors said they want to know so they can intervene. One way the counselors address conflicts that arise between students is mediation.

“Mediation keeps minor things from escalating into major things,” Anderson said. “We try to stomp out the fire before it gets too hot. … The reported retaliation is almost zero once we intervene.”

But counselors don’t just wait for problems to happen, either. Anderson, Flower and Kruskamp take proactive steps to keep bullying and harassment from ever happening.

In advisement sessions, the counselors work with small groups of students, teaching them about topics such as peer pressure and friendship. Classroom teachers also deliver such lessons during advisement.

Flower said they also work to educate parents about bullying and how to spot it. She said the school encourages parents to be advocates for their children.

The prevention of bullying isn’t just limited to Five Forks or even other middle schools.

At the beginning of the year, Gwinnett County Public Schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks and the school board discussed bullying as an issue of national concern. Wilbanks said that across the nation, about 160,000 students a day stay home from school because of bullying. He also said there were reported to be 14 student suicides in the United States attributed to bullying last year.

“Our people are looking at it,” Wilbanks told the school board. “We have been trying to review all our actions.

“My concern is that no one has the right to bully. That’s the posture we take. There are a lot of subtle ways it can be done.”

Sue Adair, the director of education for Goddard Systems, said it’s important to teach young children about bullying and prevent bullying by building their confidence and self-esteem.

“It’s not uncommon for young children to engage in unfriendly exchanges,” she said. “Children have to learn to get along with one another. We give them the right tools and traits and get them to understand about kindness and respect for one another — that’s our goal. That’s the best way to prevent bullying.”

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/localnews/headlines/How__to_stop_the_bully_119130409.html

In preparation for the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, the president and first lady released a video urging Americans to participate in helping to end bullying in schools and communities nationwide.

The video can be viewed on the StopBullying.gov Facebook page.

President Obama explained,

“For a long time bullying was treated as an unavoidable part of growing up, but more and more, we’re seeing how harmful it can be for our kids — especially when it follows them from their school to their phone to their computer screen.”

Now, Obama stressed “putting a stop to bullying is a responsibility we all share.”

The conference kicks off Thursday, March 10, at 10:30 a.m. EST. and will be streamed live online at WhiteHouse.gov/live and on Facebook.

The public can submit questions to be answered by a panel of bullying experts, including Catherine Bradshaw of Johns Hopkins University, George Sugai from the University of Connecticut, Susan Swearer-Napolitano from the University of Nebraska, as well as the Cyberbullying Research Center’s Justin Patchin.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/09/obamas-bullying-facebook_n_833539.html

COON RAPIDS, Minn. – Parents and students packed an emotional
Anoka-Hennepin School Board meeting to urge the district to impose
tougher rules against bullying.

Dozens of people gathered Monday night in Coon Rapids to impel
the board to better train teachers on issues affecting gay, lesbian
and transgender students.

One of the speakers addressing the board was Tammy Aaberg. Her
15-year-old son, Justin, committed suicide last summer. Aaberg says
her son was bullied because he was gay. She says she’s made it her
mission to tell his story. Aaberg left the meeting in tears.

Many in the crowded room held signs urging tolerance. KSTP-TV
says the school board issued a statement saying the district is
committed to keeping all students safe and will continue to provide
training.

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/state-and-regional/mn/article_ebe21d06-4401-11e0-9c1c-001cc4c002e0.html