RAMSEY, N.J. — A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle a lawsuit by a middle school student who was paralyzed when a known bully punched him in the abdomen.
The settlement between the Ramsey school district and the family of Sawyer Rosenstein, who had complained to the district about being bullied, was worked out over the past two months but not made public until last week.
Earlier this week, I was contacted by Taurence Armstrong, a Production Assistant for the Anderson Cooper Show.
Here are excerpts of his email to me:
Our show realizes that bullying is a major problem and needs national attention — and we really want to shine a light on the issue.
We are looking for bullies, victims, and their parents, who may be willing to share their stories with us. We want to arm the victims both on set and in our audiences with the tools needed to become, as you said, survivors. We want to help the bullies understand the issue to the best of our abilities, with trained experts. We want parents to understand the harmful ramifications of bullying, and why they must act now.
We want as many stories as we can get. Our producers also want two-sided stories, ones where we can talk to a bully and a victim, with integrity and all necessary precautions.
We plan on empowering our audience on this issue, and with your help, I hope we can. We plan on taping the show next week, so we need stories as soon as possible. Please don't hesitate to reach out to your network.
Please update me as soon as you can. Again, a pleasure talking to you!
Best,
Taurence ArmstrongIf you, or someone you know can help Taurence, please email him at Taurence.Armstron@andersoncooper.com
DOUBLE YOUR SOFT BOUND BOOK ORDERS
FOR ALL DECEMBER 2010 ORDERS
For the month of December, all (yes ALL) soft bound book
orders will be doubled - order one book, get an extra book, order a
case, get an extra case. It won't say that you got a double order on
your order receipt, but you WILL receive a double order in the mail.
Go to www.BullyPolice.com for more information
Washington (CNN) -- Bullying and harassment in schools often includes violations of federally protected civil rights, the federal government warned Tuesday in new guidelines for educators on how to address the problem.
If school administrators fail to properly deal with harassment based on gender, race or other issues, they risk being cited for contributing to a pattern of civil rights violations that could, in extreme cases, lead to a cut in federal funding, according to top officials who spoke to reporters on a conference call about the new guidelines.
"In extreme cases, schools could be stripped of their federal education monies if they don't comply with all of our civil rights laws," said Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights. Also on the call were Arne Duncan, secretary of education, and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes.
The issue of harassment gained prominence this year after a spate of suicides by students who were being bullied. President Obama has called for greater awareness of the problem, saying the nation must "dispel the myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up."The guidelines were part of a letter that began "Dear Colleague" sent Tuesday to thousands of schools, colleges, universities and school districts around the country that included examples of bullying and harassment cases that constituted violations of federal civil rights laws.
In addition, the government said the White House will host a conference next year on preventing bullying and harassment, building on efforts by Duncan's department and other agencies.
In August, the Obama administration hosted the first National Bullying Summit and launched a national campaign against bullying.
Ali said the government proposed $410 million in fiscal year 2011 spending for "successful, safe and healthy students," a 12 percent increase over 2010.
In a statement Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union welcomed the new government guidelines for making clear that most religious, gender and sexual harassment comes under federal civil rights prohibitions, but it called for expanding the federal law to eliminate any doubt.
"Though the guidance goes far under current law, it does not replace having a federal statute that explicitly protects" lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, said Laura Murphy, the director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office.
Murphy called for Congress to pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act, a bill pending in the House and Senate that the ACLU said would guarantee that homosexual and transgender students are explicitly protected from harassment and discrimination under federal law.
The issue of harassment gained prominence this year after a spate of suicides by students who were being bullied. President Obama has called for greater awareness of the problem, saying the nation must "dispel the myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up."
The guidelines were part of a letter that began "Dear Colleague" sent Tuesday to thousands of schools, colleges, universities and school districts around the country that included examples of bullying and harassment cases that constituted violations of federal civil rights laws.
Story found at http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/26/schools.bullying.discrimination/index.html
A couple of weeks before a 9-year-old boy from The Colony killed himself, his mother sent a letter to the principal at Stewart's Creek Elementary School.
The boy was being bullied by other students, she wrote. He felt scared and threatened. And his teachers didn't seem to care.
He feels he has "no allies in his court," Debbie Lance wrote about her son, Montana, on Jan. 4. On Jan. 21, the boy walked into the nurse's restroom at the school, slipped a belt around his neck, and hanged himself.To read more go to:
This is a great article:
...The Mohawk Central School District in Upstate New York agreed last week to do more to protect students from harassment as part of a settlement with a 15-year-old gay teenager who said he was bullied so relentlessly he had to change schools. The district also will pay his family $50,000 and cover the cost of counseling services.
In a landmark cyber-bullying case, a California state appeals court ruled last month that free speech doesn't protect legitimate-sounding threats online. The ruling supported a lawsuit by the father of a 15-year-old whose classmates at a Westlake prep school posted death threats and anti-gay rants on the boy's website.
What's the solution? Many experts say there's no substitute for a clear, vigorously enforced school policy on bullying, supplanted by periodic training of the entire staff, from guidance counselors to teachers and lunchroom workers.
Last month, the Massachusetts House and Senate passed different versions of anti-school bullying legislation that the regional office of the Anti-Defamation League says could emerge as the nation's strongest. It would not criminalize bullying, but could mandate an anti-bullying curriculum in schools; training of teachers and staff; and reporting of potentially criminal bullying to law enforcement.
To read the whole article from the beginning go to:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-04-bullying_N.htmWednesday, March 31st 2010, 2:19 PM
Bully Police, a national watchdog group, has given the Empire State its lowest possible grade for not passing a law to protect schoolkids from bullies.
It’s not that the state has buried its head in the sand. Legislators have been working on a bullying law for a full decade now. But it has yet to pass.
Why?...
Houston's Blackshear Elementary School is tackling the difficult subjects of bullying and suicide with its student body after an 8-year-old boy repeatedly harassed by classmates allegedly jumped from a 2 ½-story campus balcony on Wednesday.
After being told to leave his classroom by a substitute teacher when two other boys pulled down his pants in front of the class, the second-grader leaped from the school's balcony in view of two other teachers and five students, community activist Quanell X said. Though some bushes broke his fall, preventing serious injury, the boy told school staff he was “tired” because the same students had bullied him for months and his teacher would not stop it, Quanell X said. The HISD Crisis Intervention Team was summoned to help the boy, who has dyslexia...
