In January of 2009, California Representative Linda Sanchez originally introduced the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) into the House of Representatives. CSEE has been following the progress of this act since the tragic death of Carl Walker Hoover. Hoover was eleven years old when he hung himself due to consecutive bullying and taunts of being gay.
If the bill is passed it will prohibit acts of violence and bullying against any student regardless of their background including race, color, religion and national origin. For the first time, this act will include discriminating against sexual orientation and gender identity. According to Human Rights Campaign three fifths of students reported feeling unsafe in their school environment based on their sexual orientation. An overwhelming 44% of LGBT reported experiencing physical harassment.
When the news of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince’s tragic suicide came out in January 2010, the entire country was deeply troubled by the circumstances of her death. At CSEE, we were equally concerned, and shared a number of key resources to help students and adults address this issue effectively their schools. In the months after her death, parents, community members, and school officials grappled with how to deal with this tragedy and prevent future harassment and bullying. Recently, six South Hadley teens were charged in relation to Phoebe’s death, and now many are questioning the appropriate way to handle this unthinkable situation - from the school’s involvement and reaction to the role of the alleged tormentors and Phoebe’s own mental health
American Journalist and Senior Editor of the online magazine Slate, Emily Bazelon recently wrote a controversial article where she walks her readers through all the major factors that took place in the Phoebe Prince story. In the article, Bazelon highlights the warning signs that should have been seen, and the “too little too late” actions that are now taking place. Bazelon mentions the emotional issues that Phoebe had and were repeatedly ignored by South Hadley school officials.
Continue reading to see Emily Bazelon’s recent interview on the Today show. After the article was released Bazelon received some negative feedback. Many fear that Pheobe’s unstable emotional state in the months before her death will be used in the defense case.
Recently Phoebe’s father, Jeremy Prince spoke to Slate and addressed the psychological disorder that Phoebe had been facing in the time leading up to her death. In the interview Jeremy mentions that Phoebe was seeing a therapist who reported she was at no risk for suicide. Continue reading to hear more of his story.
With all the evidence that Phoebe’s warning signs may have been ignored, Dr. Harold Koplewicz takes a deeper look into the link between bullying and a child’s psychiatric state. Koplewicz is a leading child and adolescent psychiatrists and has been doing research on cyberbullying and how it may effect a child’s well being. When a child can hide behind a computer screen, it can make it much easier for them to insult someone. ”Bullies usually have problems with impulse control and hyperactivity. Many of them have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)...Victims, on the other hand, are more likely than their peers to feel low self-worth and experience depression” says Koplewicz. Koplewicz released an article in Huffington Post which goes deeper into the psychiatric issues that may be associated with bullying.
If you grew up in the 80’s hopefully you are familiar with the classic movie hit “My Bodyguard”. This film gave students and parents an eye opening view into the world of the bully victim. Now, thirty years later we as a society are still struggling with the consequences of bullying. Recently, BullyBust was featured in a piece about bullying and how it isn’t just “going away” and it’s not just “kids being kids”
— Steve Krupa
The movie My Bodyguard was a pretty big hit when I was a teenager in the 1980’s, and I remember seeing it and cheering for Clifford (Chris Makepeace) in his battle with the incessant bullying dished out by Moody (Matt Dillon). It’s a pretty good movie. Sure, the kids get their revenge on the bullies, something I doubt many bullying victims actually seek, but it does a great job of capturing the eeriness of bullying. I remember wondering whether the bullies I grew up with rooted for Matt Dillon, who plays the bully with an absolutely perfect creepy heartlessness, and who, of course, gets his in the end.
I might be all grown-up but bullying continues, in both direct and virtual form; yes, today’s kids bully online too. Yesterday the New York Times launched the first article of an ongoing series called Poisoned Web, with an expose’ covering “cyber-bullying” – a newly coined term that covers all sorts of creative abuse that takes place through texting and on social networking platforms like Facebook.
Hosted by the National Collaboration for Youth, over 100 congressional and agency staff, members of the NCY and the community were in attendance. This briefing on Capitol Hill was driven to educate key decision-makers about the importance of school climate measurement and improvement as part of a comprehensive school improvement effort nationwide, and will underscore how these efforts will directly ensure that students are safe, supported, and healthy. The Obama Administration’s blueprint for reauthorizaton of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) includes an emphasis on using data to improve studenets’ safety, healthy and well-being. States and districts will need to utilize school climate surveys and assessment tools, like CSEE’s research-based Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) to inform and guide their decisions.
Dr. Jonathan Cohen, President of Center for Social and Emotional Education (CSEE) and Co-Chair of National School Climate Council. Dr. Cohen highlighted the importance of school climate in schools, the value of having a shared definition of school climate as well as the need for a research-based evaluation tool. To see more key points that Dr. Cohen touched on during his session please click here
Read about other speakers at this event:
Dr. Jonathan Cohen, President of the Center for Social and Emotional Education,was the featured keynote speaker for Student Services Symposium-2010, presented by the Pennsylvania Department of Education Pennsylvania Department of Educatoin hosted it’s fifth annual symposium to support their schools on Monday May 17th, 2010. The event focused on components integral to developing resilience to enable each student to grow into an inspired, productive, fulfilled life-long learner and to become a responsible citizen.