A single paragraph in Kevin Cullen’s Globe column today effectively summarizes the case for passing the proposed anti-bullying legislation:
“What the community, and even more so the students, needs is a strong antibullying policy that explicitly explains what it is. And it has to include cyberbullying and all forms of hazing,” Coloroso said. “Secondly, there’s got to be a procedure in place to determine how they handle the bully, how they protect the target, and what they are going to do with any bystander who may have contributed to this mess and protect them if they are a witness. They don’t have that yet.”
Schools need an explicit anti-bullying policy.
They need a required procedure on what to do.
“They don’t have that yet.”
Please share widely!
Adults need to send a clear signal that bullying is not tolerated.
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p>It is the job of adults to protect children.
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p>The “bully pulpit” of both the Governor and Beacon Hill can save lives – if administrators gain the courage to actually lead. Some do it well.
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p>Some hide in their offices and deny problems, hoping that a problem – bullying – will just go away. To those who bully that looks like fear.
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p>Hint – denial is a strategy that never solves any problem.
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p>Bullying legislation is a demand for leadership from those chosen to lead.
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p>Public life is where statements of principle should be made.
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p>How many children need to die, or suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder before cover-ups and denial are publicly denounced as a way to deal with abuses such as bullying, and a strong policy defining and providing real leadership in protecting children from bullying, and getting treatment for mentally ill children who bully is supported publicly by our current elected leadership?
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p>Time to stop blaming the victims as “weak”, and deal with the real problem of mental illness underlying bullying.
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p>Healthy children do not bully and seek the pain of others.