Bullying (General Education) « Education – General

Articles and Resources
About Bullying in School

(Also see Special Education page: Bullying of Children with Disabilities)

The Safe School Improvement Act (SSIA)

The Safe School Improvement Act (Human Rights Campaign)
The Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to require school districts in states that receive ESEA funds to adopt codes of conduct specifically prohibiting bullying and harassment, including on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and religion. SSIA would also require that states report data on bullying and harassment to the Department of Education. The Department of Education would then be required to provide Congress with a report on the state reported data every two years.

S.506 – Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2011 – 112th Congress (2011-2012)

H.R.2653 – Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2019 – 116th Congress (2019-2020)
 

• The Bully Project  – (2011 Film) (Wikepedia)
  Bully is a 2011–12 American documentary drama film. The film follows the lives of five students who face bullying on a daily basis in U.S. schools. The film was released in United States theaters on March 30, 2012. On the official website, the filmmakers are promoting Bully as an important advocacy tool against bullying and in facilitating an anti-bullying movement.
   

Articles About Bullying in School

• 5 Ways to Help Your Child Prevent Bullying this School Year (U.S. Dept. of Education – 8/30/12)
  As children head back to the classroom, now is a great time for parents and guardians to talk with your kids about bullying. Here are five tips to help your child prevent bullying and to help them deal with bullying.
• A First Step In Addressing "Bullying" – Simple Justice – 10/27/10
  Laws will be coming. You can bank on it. The United States Department of Education has put school districts on notice that they are to craft anti-bullying policies or lose cashola, and they will, much like the zero-tolerance drug laws that give rise to strip searches of young girls over demon-acetaminophen. Action begets over-reaction. It's how we roll. Aside from the problem that the word "bullying" has yet to be adequately defined, which of course hasn't stopped anyone from screaming for its criminalization, and that most advocates deem it a function of hurt feelings rather than particular conduct, its elevation to epidemic proportions is precisely the sort of hyperbole that gives rise to the next wave of insane laws and outrageously inappropriate knee-jerk outcomes.
  Patti's Comment: Way too many adults out there have bad self images so it is hard for them to teach their children on how to cope with the “words”… those that can are teased even more for being arrogant.
• Department of Education Issues Guidance Targeting Harassment and Bullying (Randy Chapman Ability Law Blog – 10/27/10)
  Yesterday, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to state departments of education and local school districts to clarify the relationship between bullying and discriminatory harassment under the civil rights laws enforced by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Those laws prohibit bullying based on traits such as-race, color, national origin, sex, and disability.
• HHS & Education Department Launch New ‘Stop Bullying' Website (Fed Scoop – 4/2/12)
  The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education have launched a redesigned Stop Bullying website (StopBullying.gov) to encourage children, parents, teachers and communities to take action to stop and prevent bullying. The website has a map with information on state laws and policies and videos for young people, along with practical strategies for schools and communities to make sure that environments are safe. It also includes suggestions on how parents can discuss bullying with their children and information on the dangers of cyberbullying and ways to prevent it.  
• How to Prevent Bullying in the Classroom
  The statistics for bullying are still shockingly high, despite a decrease in recent years. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a study indicated that in 2017, 20% of students aged 12-18 reported being bullied. The same study also found that 15% of students in high school reported being bullied electronically. This form of bullying, sometimes called cyberbullying, is a relatively new form of bullying that often happens outside of school hours or online where teachers don’t have access to view it, thus making it harder to witness or detect.
• Life Saving Tips for Parents of a Bullied or Excluded Child (Strugglingteens.com)
  Whether your child is being overtly abused by his or her classmates, or simply made to feel invisible every day, talked about instead of with, the student who may not get bullied per se but who no one at school ever goes out of their way to include in anything either, as a parent, you CAN help. Here are some tips to get started — and always remember, bullying isn't only overt acts of cruelty; it's also the deliberate omission of kindness, the invitations denied, the warmth withheld, the acceptance just out of reach.
• Nine Ways to Eliminate Bullying (Great Schools.org)
  What you can do to eliminate it.

Resources About Bullying

• Dealing With Bullies (Kids Health.org)
  Bullying is a big problem that affects lots of kids. Three-quarters of all kids say they have been bullied or teased. Being bullied can make kids feel really bad. The stress of dealing with bullies can make kids feel sick.
• Free Cyberbullying Toolkit for Educators (Common Sense Media)
  Every day, you see how cyberbullying hurts students, disrupts classrooms, and impacts your school's culture. So how should you handle it? What are the right things to do and say? What can you do today that will help your students avoid this pitfall of our digital world?
• Kids Against Bullying
  Website for kids and teens
• National Center for Learning Disabilities
  Have you had a chance to watch the trailer for BULLY yet? It's the new documentary by Emmy-award winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch that takes a candid look behind the scenes at schools across the United States to find out what kids experience every day.  Sign up today and be the first to receive our Special Needs Anti-Bullying Toolkit when it is released next month.
• Special Needs Anti-Bullying Toolkit
  A specially designed tool kit for parents, teachers and students dealing with bullying and children with special needs.
• Stop Bullying.gov
  Information and resources about all kinds of bullying, including cyberbullying and prevention.
• Voices Against Cruelty, Hatred and Intolerance (VACHI)
  An organization dedicated to educating students, teachers and parents about the consequences of hate-motivated behavior (such as bullying, name calling and harassment) with the hope that with education will come the elimination of this type of behavior on school campuses across the country.