NJ BULLYING.org

2012
12/31/12: NEW! Updated news items (several months' worth) on 'News' page (click list at left).

12/31/12: NEW! Updated bullying-related studies from the academic literature, from June 2011 through the present (a year and half worth of studies)! Click on 'Research' in list at left.

11/12/12: New: On the 'News' page (link at left) are several months of items mainly from the Times, with comments ...

10/9/12: The annual Department of Education report on bullying in NJ - a comment!

So here we are again - another year and another inadequate assessment of bullying in NJ, courtesy of the state's Department of Education (DOE). On the positive side, the report this year reflects, to a great extent, the influence of the now one-year-old Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights. The strength of that law, and its success in its core mission - increasing attention by school administrators and staff (and public and media) to the critical issue of bullying in schools - has undoubtedly resulted in increasing reports of bullying. This is indeed reflected in this year's state report. Another positive which should be recognized is the state's new breakdown of bullying information, most importantly by categorizing the characteristics targeted for bullying (eg, gender) and the nature of the bullying (e.g., verbal, etc.), albeit in very general terms. However, the main problem which continues unchanged is the inadequate assessment process and method. The report remains reliant on a single means of data collection, an electronic self-reporting system, infamous for the under-reporting by schools of violence. (E.g., in past years we have noted as many as half of all school districts reporting 0-2 incidents of all violence in the reporting year.) DOE continues to avoid collaborating with the many interested non-profit organizations, and school communities to create a more meaningful (multi-modal) assessment process, as well as a process which specifically assesses school climate. It is therefore still difficult to take the annual report as seriously as the many media headlines indicate we should. To their credit, the media (e.g., NJ's newspapers) are including in their coverage more critiques of the assessment. We are somewhat hopeful that the new NJ Task Force on bullying will address the assessment issue, and make specific recommendations for DOE to enact. Meanwhile, we urge DOE to consult with experts and organizations outside of DOE to develop a better assessment process.

-Stuart Green

For an additional authoritative word on the annual report, here is a statement from Dr. Michael Greene, an expert on violence and its assessment, a primary research consultant to the Coalition, released today:

New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights (ABR) has substantially increased the identification, reporting, and investigation of alleged acts of bullying in New Jersey's schools.  More importantly, the reports generated as a result of ABR have revealed the bullying types and motivational bases for the bullying, a necessary first step for schools to target corrective action.  While the reports generated for the 2011-12 school year represent a giant step forward, there is much room for improvement.  Fifteen school districts reported zero instances of bullying (excluding districts that did not report any type of violence or vandalism, presumably because they did not participate in the data collection system) and another 13 districts reported only one bullying incident.  Included in the zero tallies were Morristown (4,067 students) and Bloomfield (6,059 students).  Moreover, the 13,101 students who were found to have perpetrated acts of bullying represent less than 1 percent of the New Jersey student body.  To provide some perspective:  in a representative survey of New Jersey High School students in 2010, 20 percent reported that they had been bullied in the prior year.  National statistics for 6th to 10th graders reveal that more than one-third of students bullied others during at least once during the past couple of months.  The New Jersey Department of Education needs to focus on those schools and school districts that clearly under-report and stay vigilant to ensure that reporting requirements and enforced throughout the system. 

10/4/12: New item on legal page - summary of cases back to Jan 2012

(from http://legalclips.nsba.org)

The National School Boards Association provides a tremendous on-line service, Legal Clips (address just above), which posts summaries of school-related legal cases from across the nation. The summaries are expert commentaries, very well written (and therefore very clear), with links to other information (original articles from media, etc.), references to other cases, etc. The site is searchable (e.g., 'bullying' or 'New Jersey') and a tremendous resource, for which we're grateful. Here's a document which contains the bullying-related summaries, nationally, from today back through January 2012 (with further back available on the site). Reading through the (admittedly long) document provides a very good view of what's going on legally in regard to bullying in school. - SG

from National School Boards Association 10-3-12

9/4/12: New Study - Bullying of Children with Autism

A newly published (by Sterzing et al in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine), an analysis of data from a national sample of kids in middle school and high school, finds an incredibly high percentage of children with autistic disorders who are bullied. That 46% of the approximately 900 kids with autism were bullied would come as no surprise to parents of children with special needs (of all kinds) and to the organizations which advocate for them, such as (in NJ) Statewide Parents Advocacy Network (SPAN) and NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome (NJCTS), among others. But having the evidence to support personal experience is very important. So here it is (part of a long line of such evidence, but this is the latest and best so far). There are several especially critical points to note. First, the 46% is as compared to the approximately 10% of all children who are bullied. Second, these are children who are obviously especially vulnerable and for whom it should be obvious that the typical misguided advice that children being bullied should 'defend themselves' is especially wrenching, as well as useless. Third, it should also be evident that even before this particular study was published, any reasonable and responsible educator and school should have been expected to be aware of the suffering of this population and to be taking steps to prevent that suffering by preventing and addressing bullying. The only possible 'out' one could find in this study is - being extremely optimistic - to note that the data is from 2001. The optimism would consist of believing that in the years since then, educators and schools have been very 'on the case', doing their utmost to support and protect children with autism and other special needs in their schools. Is such optimism warranted? What's your experience?

bullying and autism Times 9-4-12

8/8/12 New Advisory Document!

Here is the Coalition's newest document from our Expert Advisory Group, along with an accompanying press release about the group. The document is about bullying and LGBT issues, including bullying of gay, lesbian and transgender students, or those perceived as gay, or those not meeting stereotypical gender role expectations. These students are among those most targeted for peer (and sometimes adult) mistreatment. The document's primary author is Paula Rodriguez-Rust, PhD, an Advisory Group member. The document is the third issued by the Group: the other two documents are an overview of bullying issues, and about bullying of students with special needs ('disabilities'), whose primary author is Millicent Kellner, PhD. The documents are initially edited by Coalition director Stuart Green, with further review, input and editing by the other Advisory Group members. The Group's coordinator is Prof. Maurice Elias of Rutgers.

Advisory Group Document 3

Press release - Advisory Group

Here also are the other Advisory Group documents, and an explanatory note copied from an earlier posting on this site:

Advisory on Bullying - from the Coalition's new Expert Advisory Group

See the attached documents: an advisory for school leaders and staff, and a second document providing more detail about the Group. The document is now being widely distributed through NJ education and community organizations, and shortly via media. While guidance is coming to schools from many sources, including DOE, we felt it important to create a series of documents which provide evidence-based, bedrock guidance for schools. The Advisory Group consists of college and university experts on school climate, bullying and related issues, along with various other (Coalition) experts. The first document is an overall guide to the issue, all in a neat two pages, easy to reproduce. Subsequent documents will address multiple aspects of the problem (and its solutions) in even more detail, released over the coming weeks and months. The Group is led (Coordinated) by Dr. Maurice Elias, of Rutgers University, a widely known and highly acclaimed NJ (and national) expert on in issues of school climate, and bullying.

Advisory Group Document 1

Cover Note for Advisory Document 1

Advisory Group Document 2

7/16/12 NEW ITEMS!

1. A Comment on Penn State (and similar) ...

Is there a relationship between the child sexual abuse outrage at Penn State and childhood bullying in school? See the attached (below) by Coalition Director Stuart Green, published in the Times in July. The Times editorial, to which this was a response, is also attached below.

letter re penn state - times 7-13-12

Penn State editorial Times 7-12

2. Bullying and the Law: A Conference on August 8th

We've organized the 2nd annual conference on bullying and the law, for NJ Institute for Continuing Legal Education, of the NJ State Bar Association, being held at NJ Law Center in New Brunswick, on August 8th. The all-day (9am-3pm) conference for lawyers includes expert presenters on a wide range of bullying-related legal issues. A highlight is a talk by Jeffrey Youngman, Esq., who recently won a $4.2M settlement from Ramsey School District. For more information, contact ICLE at www.njicle.com.

3. An All-Day Workshop for Social Workers on August 9th

SG is doing a full-day presentation on bullying for NASW-NJ (for social workers). For information, contact NASW-NJ at www.naswnj.org.

IMPORTANT - SEE BELOW (6/16/12, ITEM #2) FOR A NOTE ABOUT THE NEW STATE TASK FORCE!

6/20/12: Involving the community

We regularly get calls from community organizations (e.g., faith communities, civic organizations, etc.) who want to arrange a talk about bullying for their constituents/members. Those of us who are advocates have provided many such talks. But now that the ABBR (the new NJ law) has mandated the establishment of new roles - the designated anti-bullying coordinator in the school district, and the designated anti-bullying specialist in the school, there is a new and important option. The staff in those roles should be the ones providing (or arranging for members of their mandated school safety - climate, really - teams to provide) such talks. Lack of school/community relations, not only in regard to bullying, is a common gap in the functioning of schools. In most communities in NJ, there is no ongoing meeting or communication between school staff (e.g., the district superintendent and staff, schools and their staff) and such community entities are the interfaith clergy council, or the town recreation department, or the local business organizations. Such relations - ongoing - are an important source of support for anti-bullying efforts in schools. At the least, this is because parents can be reached and engaged through their involvement with these community organizations. At the most, town organizations can provide many forms of concrete help and other support to school-wide school climate and anti-bullying initiatives and strategies. In fact, it should be a routine 'part of the job' for the safety teams, specialists and coordinators to reach out to community organizations and be engaged with them. This would include providing updates and talks about bullying and related issues. Now that there are designated staff at the district and school levels, such community organizations should routinely be receiving outreach from the school or district. In fact, either because it is only the first year of the law's implementation, or - less optimistically - because districts and schools are still not motivated enough to form such relationships, those calls do not often occur, we believe. And instead we - Coalition - get the calls. I have begun advising organizations which call to give their districts and schools the 'gift' of reaching out to them for help engaging and raising awareness about bullying. If schools and districts take on this responsibility more actively, good things will happen. At the least, there should be town-wide bullying awareness days (and related ongoing activities) taking place in every town in NJ, reflecting a collaboration between the school district, the interfaith clergy council and other town-specific civic organizations.

6/16/12: Updated items:

1. Pro bono law project

As a reminder for site visitors: a year ago, Education Law Center of Newark, and staffer Elizabeth Athos, Esq. in particular, with Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, began a program we had first talked about a decade ago - a project to provide legal representation for families of children bullied in school who would otherwise not be able to afford a private attorney. We provided training for about 40 lawyers interested in childhood bullying who agreed in return for the free training to provide pro bono representation for families. At this point, there have been a number of such cases, with favorable settlements reached in each one resolved to this point. The strength of the new law is an important (critical) background factor, with the law - as law does - expressing society's strengthened attitude (negative) toward bullying in school. At this point, finance-limited families of children terribly mistreated can not yet obtain representation on a contingency basis (or it is certainly uncommon, if it occurs at all), so the only realistic chance of obtaining legal advocacy from a private attorney is through this project. (Government legal services can sometimes be obtained from the state's Divsion on Civil Rights, if the bullying is bias-based, and some assistance has been available from Legal Services of NJ - though such government and funded services have been severely cut back in the last several years.)

2. The new task force!

In reponse to the challenge shamefully posed to the new law (Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights) by two school districts essentially demanding to be paid to do things which ought to be basic and essential to what it means to be an educator and to have a school - that is, protecting and supporting vulnerable children in their schools, and strengthening school culture and creating a welcoming, engaging school climate - the Governor and Legislature revised the new law in two main ways. One change was to put $1M into the law's Bullying Prevention Fund, with the money designated for 'paying back' schools for expenses associated with the new law. (As an aside, one of the two districts which brought the 'unfunded mandate' complaint to the Council on Local Mandates, was complaining that obeying the new law cost them a huge $12,000, and - by implication - that it was too much to ask them to protect children adequately going forward unless the state provided that money. The other change was to create a new Task Force, with seven members, and a three-year mission to meet regularly and provide guidance for training and implementation of the law, and any recommended changes in the law, and to start by submitting a written report to the Governor and Legislature by 180 days from the first meeting, which is scheduled for July. Of note is that three of the members - I won't name them - are likely to be solid advocates for mistreated children and families, and we're very happy with their appointments. One of the other four is a strong advocate for the interests of schools and administrators - a perspective which is often problematic for truly helping the children and families most affected by violence and lack of support in schools. The remaining three are not well known to us. So it remains to be seen whether the Task Force can effectively maintain and carry forward the intent of what is presently the strongest anti-bullying law in the country (not that it's perfect). Good Task Force work will be very welcome. Let's see ... 

See the Governor's April 25th announcement (below) for additional background. His four appointments are Rutgers University’s Bullying Prevention Institute Director Bradford C. Lerman, Psy.D.; Bancroft President and CEO Toni Pergolin, CPA; East Hanover Township Public Schools Superintendent Joseph L. Ricca, Jr., Ed.D.; and New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association Executive Director Patricia Wright, Ed.M..The other three appointments (by the Legislature) include Luanne Peterpaul, Esq., a private attorney in Springfield and a leader of Garden State Equality; Phillip Meisner, Esq., former aide to Senator Loretta Weinberg and other helpful legislators; and former Montclair Councilwoman Jessica deKoninck, previously the Legislative Director for the New Jersey Department of Education, and now in-house counsel to the South Orange-Maplewood school district. In my view, the priority for anti-bullying work is the plight and pain of vulnerable, hurt, isolated and disengaged children. Understanding and prioritizing this results in the intensity of advocacy needed to make things better. Alternatively, one can be very understanding and supportive of the plight of the adults who run and staff schools and our institutional systems of education and care. Ideally both perspectives could co-exist. In my experience, they rarely do. I am concerned ...

The full text of the law and revision is in the link, below.

Revision 2012 to ABBR

Task Force Part of Bipartisan Legislation Signed in March Aimed at Strengthening Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights (4/24/12)
 

Trenton, NJ – Acting on his commitment to ensure schools provide safe learning environments for children, free from harassment, intimidation and bullying, Governor Chris Christie today named his four members to the state’s Anti-Bullying Task Force called for in the Anti-Bullying Law of Rights. Originally signed into law in January 2011, portions of the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights were found by the Council on Local Mandates to pose an unfunded mandate for school districts. Working in a bipartisan manner with the legislature, Governor Christie signed a legislative fix in March 2012 to address concerns cited by the Council. In addition to the creation of the Task Force, the measure also appropriates $1 million into the “Bullying Prevention Fund,” to financially support school districts as they implement the law.

The Governor’s four appointments are: Rutgers University’s Bullying Prevention Institute Director Bradford C. Lerman, Psy.D. (Westfield, Union); Bancroft President and CEO Toni Pergolin, CPA (Penn Valley, Pennsylvania); East Hanover Township Public Schools Superintendent Joseph L. Ricca, Jr., Ed.D. (Morristown, Morris); and New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association Executive Director Patricia Wright, Ed.M.(Spring Lake, Monmouth). These direct appointments do not require Senate confirmation and members will serve without compensation.

The Anti-Bullying Task Force is composed of seven members with experience or expertise in issues related to school bullying who will review and assist with the law’s implementation. The Governor appoints four members with the remaining three individuals appointed one each by the Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly, as well as one appointed jointly by the Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly. 

4/18/12: 4.2 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT IN RAMSEY, NJ BULLYING CASE!

It's probably the "4.2 million dollar" figure that catches the eye, and that's ok. The amount is actually very meaningful. It's large enough to signal by itself that bullying cases can now not only be won by advocates for the bullied child, but that the level of school district risk is very high. Sometimes only lawsuits can produce the level of change needed beyond what social movements alone can do. This settlement is notable for reasons beyond the amount. For one thing, the fact that we're hearing about the case at all is notable. What it means (I believe - but I'm not a lawyer) is that a confidentiality agreement was not part of the settlement. There have been a number of other settlements in NJ over the years, but every one of them was covered by a confidentiality agreement. That meant the public wasn't allowed to hear about the outcome of the cases and the victim's voices were essentially - wrongly - silenced. So here's the other remarkable and laudable element of this case - that the child who was hurt - Sawyer Rosenstein - chose to speak up and share his story. It's a remarkable, inspiring story, the progress he's made - and meaning he continues to make - out of tragedy. He almost died as a result of the bullying incident - and in fact he is paralyzed (the incident occurred when he was 12 - he is now 18). He has had the strength and family support to move forward, in notable ways - as a college student, a journalist, and now as someone helping draw attention to the problem of bullying in school. Attached below is an article about the case from msnbc.com. I chose this article (by Miranda Leitsinger) from all the other coverage because it does the best job of conveying Sawyer's own perspective. The lawyer on the case, Jeffrey Youngman, deserves appreciation for his work, in addition to the monetary compensation. This is a helpful achievement. What is frustrating about the case, and the response to it, is that the Ramsey School District is taking such pains to take no responsibility for the bullying or the outcome. According to the school district, the insurance company insisted on settling, implying that Ramsey - in its virtuous view of itself - would have fought on and did nothing wrong. In fact, statements by Ramsey officials proclaim the school district's sense of pride in its anti-bullying work. While it's true that this harm occurred six years ago, and things are presumably (and hopefully) somewhat better in Ramsey, it's an outrage for them to take that stance at this point in regard to this case. They could at least acknowledge that there were problems back then. And no district of which we're aware is functioning perfectly in regard to this issue, though Ramsey apparently feels it is. Read the article ...

Ramsey case 4-19-12

4-17-12: More on "Bully" - a caution!

While the movie "Bully" is undeniably powerful and is helping to increase awareness of the problem, we've previously expressed concern about the plans to show the movie in schools or - an even wider impulse - to ensure that all children (including of younger ages) see it. There are two risks: that the movie ends up functioning as a "one-shot" approach to bullying, in which kids are hyped about the issue without having good measures in place to address the problem, and the risk of copycat suicides. Attached below is a very helpful, solid set of points about the movie, along similar lines, with resources, written by Beth Reis, an anti-bullying advocate from Seattle's very good and longstanding Safe Schools Coalition.

Bully the movie - a caution

3/30/12: "Bully" (the film)

You have probably seen the vast media coverage of the pending release to theaters (and schools) of the documentary "Bully", by all reports a compelling and motivating telling of the stories of several targeted youth. The documentary was assigned an 'R' rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, a rating which most believe would keep it from ever been shown to students in schools, a widely projected use of the film. So there have been very active attempts to get the MPAA to reverse (lower) its rating (e.g., to PG), some of those attempts led by students (one in particular, in California). One issue the wide coverage doesn't address is whether the film is good for students to see. Our (Coalition) position on schools' use of various media (e.g., theater productions, or what we call 'auditorium programs') to address bullying is to question whether it is always appropriate to do so. We've generally felt that unless the school adults (e.g., staff, admin) have first done strong work to strengthen school culture and prepare to support targeted students, bringing in outside media or presenters to dramatically highlight the issue of bullying can be problematic. If the issue of bullying is highlighted, but in fact the school is not prepared to adequately address the issue, we've felt that students who are vulnerable or hurt may actually be harmed to some degree by the combination or the focus on them and their own heightened expectations and the school's inadequate response. We anticipate that the documentary will be widely deployed. Let's see what happens and whether it helps ... Meanwhile, here's a good article about the situation from the LA Times.

the "Bully" documentary

Now that the film "Bully" has opened, to very, very wide publicity, with some (e.g., AO Scott in the Times) saying that its release is a significant step in the growth of anti-bullying work as a "social movement", the initial feedback (e.g., reviews, viewer response) has been so far extremely positive. The headline on today's NY Times review (by Scott) is especially pleasing, from an advocate's point of view: The emphasis on adults (called "clueless" in the headline) who run and staff schools, as well as other authority figures, is exactly right. In fact, we (adults) are all responsible for what we allow to happen to kids, and I distinctly don't mean parents. The primary responsibility actually belongs to us when we are in our 'work' or 'community' roles, and our responsibility extends to all the kids who aren't 'ours' (as well as our own, at home). Anyway, here's the Scott/Times review.

Times review of Bully 3-30-12

3/12 (new items on 'News' page - see link at left)

3/10/12: A concern about suicide.

       It is hard to dispute - and I wish it were not so - that in these past decades of increasing awareness about bullying, we have seen an increase in school shootings linked to bullying, and an increase in suicides in which bullying has been identified (including by some of those who died by suicide) as a factor. In fact, in the U.S., that increased awareness of bullying is primarily post-Columbine, which means only since 1999, or 13 years as of next month - April 20th. Fortunately, both school shootings and youth suicide remain uncommon events. But each one is still a huge event, not only for the families, but for all of us. The field of bullying prevention is, in fact, notoriously tragedy-driven. If it were not for the close-in-time suicides of three youth about 40 years ago, Dan Olweus - the founder of the field - would not have had the necessary support to do his groundbreaking work. And in the U.S., it is arguably only because of Columbine that we have had an adequate focus on this problem. Each new tragedy - including the suicides - spurs a new wave of focus and effort to address the problem.

        It has been pointed out by multiple writers - it is widely believed - that it was the 2009 suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi that led to the 2010-2011 enactment and signing of NJ's new anti-bullying law. That law was passed with the widest bipartisan legislative support of almost any bill in NJ history (only one 'no' vote), passed by a Democratic party majority legislature and signed into law by a Republican Governor. In the two years since Tyler Clementi's death, we have seen - all over the U.S. - a number of new suicides (as well as a few more school shootings). We must consider these deaths, not only in relation to efforts to address bullying, but fully. A full consideration would lead us to think about the context for these acts, and the responses to them, and confront fully the issue of whether the attention being part to those acts - both the quality and the intensity of that attention - is leading to so-called 'copycat' homicides and suicides.

         To start, we know that the phenomenon of suicides spurred by attention paid to suicides is real. When celebrity suicides occur, for example, there is often an increased rate of suicides which follow. When suicides attract positive attention, the effect is increased. When one can identify with the suicidal act and person, the effect is increased. Especially when suicide seems to accomplish a desired outcome, such as a Tibetan monk suicide making a well-noticed protest statement against Chinese occupation of Tibet, or the suicide which seemed to be a starting point for the 'Arab Spring' protests, other suicides follow. Suicides which attract major positive (however tragic) attention to bullying would seem poised to engage the same dynamic. When a huge celebrity such as Lady Gaga focuses the world's attention on the death by suicide of a teenage fan, honors the youth and cites the death, among other factors, as a spur to powerful (and helpful) ensuing acts, and when the suicide of a Rutgers University student is commonly cited as a spur to the development of a great new anti-bullying law, one risks capturing the attention of others who may think of emulating the suicidal act.

           In reality, suicide is typically multi-determined. That is, most suicide is an outcome of multiple factors, commonly including a history of depression, and multiple stressors. Having said this, there is also no doubt that bullying as one of those stressful factors can be a spur to suicide. See the linked article, below, for the very latest (March 2012) study to show a strong link between bullying and suicide. From a social norms theory perspective, one could argue that it is critical, when apparently bullying-related youth suicides occur, that the information conveyed to the public, and especially to other students, should clearly convey the facts mentioned above, prominent among them being that suicide is uncommon and that suicide is multi-determined.

            So ... this is a complex issue to raise. And it is not clear that even if we are right to have concern about a link between shootings and suicides and the attention we in the anti-bullying movement pay to such tragedies, what, if anything we can and should change in our approach. The ideal, of course, would be to address bullying so thoroughly and effectively that we remove bullying as a stressor capable of contributing to youth homicide or suicide, or at least that we identify the stressor of bullying so early in a target's experience that the bullying is ended and the youth supported long before suicidal thoughts arise. In the meanwhile, it could be argued that responding to a tragic bullying-related death by helping those still living, in the name of those who have died, is a way of giving meaning to the death. It is mainly for the families of youth who have died to decide whether this is so, of course, but some indeed have already said so.

            I write this mainly to make the issue visible. It is worth thinking about.

bullying and suicide study 3-12

-SG

3/7/12: A month's worth of items (catching up ... ).

1. GREAT NEWS!! (We need more details, but a great development ... )

As the attached article describes, there was an announcement yesterday that Governor Christie and Legislators (bi-partisan, we're told), have decided to provide initial funding (a million dollars, as a start) for the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, and reaffirmed their commitment to the law. This is a wonderful development (and a fine response to the recent Council on Local Mandates ruling). Not surprisingly, the press conference featured Governor Christie standing next to Steven Goldstein, Director of Garden State Equality, who has played a critical role in every aspect of the law's development (and now preservation and extension). GSE is NJ's largest civil rights organization, and has had numerous legislative successes in NJ. Bullying in schools is a severe threat to the quality of life, and life itself, of young members of the lgbt community, and it is a very welcome sight to see such public acknowledgement of Steven's work and influence on this issue. The announcement indicated that a Task Force will be formed to address the further implementation of the law, including any changes that may be desirable. Our hope is that any such changes will only strengthen the law. Here's an article about the agreement.

announcement on the law 3-7-12

2. DOE recommends an anti-bullying program:

Last month, Assistant Commission Cerf of DOE sent out a letter to all schools (public and charter) suggesting the schools consider using an anti-bullying program called "Roots", the work of a Princeton University psychology professor, Betsy Paluck, who has expertise in approaches to public health issues using a social norms approach. Simply (perhaps too simply) put, such approaches attempt to influence behavior by providing messages to specific groups (eg students) about what behaviors are normative (e.g., commonly occurring) for people in the group (and what are not). Social norms interventions for bullying have included, for example, conveying to students messages (eg thru posters, etc.) indicating that most students do not bully peers. Social norms advocates believe, for example, that the widespread and increasing attention paid to bullying inevitably conveys to students that bullying is common (more common than it actually is, such advocates believe) and that such beliefs lead to more bullying occurring. This is not to say that Dr Paluck specifically has any of those beliefs - I'm just trying to explain the general approach. Dr Paluck indeed has a project which addresses bullying, called "Roots", and this is the program Commissioner Cerf is encouraging schools to explore/bring in. It's not clear how Dr Paluck would be able to respond to multiple requests, if many came - for example in terms of funding, staffing, supporting, etc. But it's still striking that DOE seemed to be outright endorsing a particular approach - among the many available - which, while reasonable, would not yet be considered by most to have established efficacy for addressing bullying. The other issue has to do with how DOE makes use of available resources. That is, there are a number of key experts on bullying who would be willing to help DOE ramp up its efforts to strengthen schools to address bullying, whether involving specific pre-designed approaches embedded in research programs (as "Roots" is), or providing technical support and guidance to organize and focus bullying-relevant and school climate-relevant aspects of schoool functioning. Such experts were taken by surprise seeing the Cerf letter. Nonetheless, we appreciate the intent of any DOE efforts to help schools address bullying, and Dr Paluck is certainly an expert who could contribute much. Anyway, here is the letter and some material about Paluck's work.

Roots and the DOE letter

Paluck work

3. "Bully" the documentary:

You have probably seen the vast media coverage of the pending release to theaters (and schools) of the documentary "Bully", by all reports a compelling and motivating telling of the stories of several targeted youth. The documentary was assigned an 'R' rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, a rating which most believe would keep it from ever been shown to students in schools, a widely projected use of the film. So there have been very active attempts to get the MPAA to reverse (lower) its rating (e.g., to PG), some of those attempts led by students (one in particular, in California). One issue the wide coverage doesn't address is whether the film is good for students to see. Our (Coalition) position on schools' use of various media (e.g., theater productions, or what we call 'auditorium programs') to address bullying is to question whether it is always appropriate to do so. We've generally felt that unless the school adults (e.g., staff, admin) have first done strong work to strengthen school culture and prepare to support targeted students, bringing in outside media or presenters to dramatically highlight the issue of bullying can be problematic. If the issue of bullying is highlighted, but in fact the school is not prepared to adequately address the issue, we've felt that students who are vulnerable or hurt may actually be harmed to some degree by the combination or the focus on them and their own heightened expectations and the school's inadequate response. While of course the enactment of the new law in NJ has increased the likelihood of an adequate school response, no law can ensure that is the case. So, looking ahead, we anticipate that the 'R' rating will be changed and that the documentary will be widely deployed. Let's see what happens and whether it helps ... Meanwhile, here's a good article about the situation from the LA Times.

the "Bully" documentary

4. Minnesota settlement in bullying case:

The story of what happened in Anoka-Hennepin school district (near Minneapolis, Minnesota) is both strange and sad. Giving in to misguided (and biased) pressures, the district took stances which seemed to justify inadequate support of lgbt youth. Six families sued, and an expensive (for the district) settlement ($270,000) was reached. It took a federal investigation (Departments of Education, and Justice) but the district agreed to strengthen its approach to bullying, with a specific focus on lgbt students, and to hire a f/t staffer to work on bullying prevention. Here's an article about the settlement, from the NY Times.

Minnesota settlement - Times

5. A great! new book: "The Bully Society"

I'm midway through reading a brand new book I wish I'd written but I'm thrilled Jessie Klein, the author, did: "The Bully Society." The author, a sociologist and social worker from Adelphi University, with K-12 in-school experience, convincingly argues (with data, interviews and analysis) the case we've repeatedly made here - that childhood bullying is both a marker and cause of a host of societal problems. She presents an interesting review of school shootings, suggesting that the problem is rapidly increasing. The author clearly 'gets it' and consequently the book is strong on all issues: She points out the relation between homophobia and inadequate addressing of bullying by school staff, talks about hazing and its relation to the culture of all sports, describes the wide range of ways in which bullying exists and the subtleties of its expression, and never loses her focus on the responsibility adults have - and especially those who direct and staff schools and other youth settings - have for children's violence. She's especially strong on gender issues, the impact of bullying and its antecedent conditions on gender identity and the role bullying plays in the lives of both boys and girls. Klein's sociologist perspectives allows her to make sense of a complex phenomenon, and integrate a wide range of theories and views, while her clear writing lights up every point for the reader. She is definitely an advocate, but the passion is anchored by the quality of her reporting - the details of her interviews and research. This is a great book! We should promote wide readership of it - it's directly helpful to the cause. In addition to the praise I render here, here (linked below) is a good interview with the author, from Salon, that also makes clear why the book is so good:

Salon interview with Klein

6. NJDOE training materials:

This is a very belated posting, but it seems evident that parents and professionals would benefit from access to the attached Powerpoint (100+ pages!) which DOE used in its anti-bullying coordinator trainings conducted back in September. The materials are reasonably comprehensive, starting with a breakdown of what's required (from DOE pov) b/o the new law, but including attention to the critical underlying issue of strengthening school climate. The material has some oddities and inadequacies in places, and conveys a very legalistic feel, but on the whole is a helpful, exceedingly detailed overview (as DOE documents tend to be). For a parent who feels unclear about what is 'officially' expected of schools, this document will answer some questions. One point parents may find striking is to compare the elements officially required to what their school actually has in place. One concrete but important example of a common discrepancy is the law's and DOE's clarity about schools being required to post on their websites (on the home page, no less) the anti-bullying policy (which posting should also - by any reasonable standard - include the contact information for the school's anti-bullying specialist and the anti-bullying coordinator at the district level). Any scan of several school and district web pages will easily identify schools (and districts) in which that information is not visible. (And there are other 'discrepancies' of course.) But nonetheless, this is potentially helpful, and therefore posted here.

DOE training material

7. Engaging parents:

Attached is a very good, short article from Edutopia focused on how to engage (or involve) parents more in school life. This is a very important issue for anti-bullying advocates. Typically, parents are 'under-involved' in school life. That is, after about 3rd grade, it becomes increasingly hard to find parents physically present and involved in most schools, and school activities. School staff and administration commonly explain this relative absence of parents by 'blaming the victim'. That is, they tend to attribute the absence of parents to parental lack of time or lack of motivation or disinterest. A more accurate, 'systems' (or social environment) explanation would be that schools do not make a sufficient effort to engage parents, including conveying to parents that they are critical to school functioning (and not only by being good parents with their children at home, but in being present at school and involved in daytime school activities) and making them feel welcome. The exemplar of such parental disengagement in schools is the sparse involvement of parents in most 'pta's (parent-teacher associations or parent-teacher councils). That is, in most schools, the regularly held 'pta' or 'ptc' meetings may have 20 or 30 parents present, even in a school with 400 or more kids (the annual 'budget meeting' may have more, but rarely more than twice that number of parents). Again, when asked about this, in our experience, most administrators or staff 'blame' the parents (e.g., lack of motivation or time). But the more accurate explanation would be that there is typically no staff member of the school who has it as a critical element of their job to nuture and expand parent involvement, using a variety of means (including consulting with marketing experts in the community or at local colleges, rearranging and rescheduling ptc gatherings to make them more convenient, creating live streaming options for school activities and meetings, etc. etc. etc. As a most current example, the school 'safety' (or climate) teams which the new anti-bullying requires are rarely adequately 'staffed' with parents (even though the law explicitly requires at least one parent be involved, and sets no limit on how many could be involved). Anyway, this short article (linked below) has some good tips for increasing parent engagement.

parent engagement - Edutopia

8. Compilation of letters on bullying, in NY Times (by Stuart Green)

Here's a Word document compiling the letters. Sometimes short is best, and these letters provide brief commentary to some of the bullying-related events noted in the Times over the past several years. (I'll also post letters to the Times or other publications by other Coalition members. If you're a Coalition associate and have published such letters, please assist me in identifying them, to reprint them here.) Meanwhile ...

Letters NY Times - SG thru 8-11

1/30/12: Great response to a bad decision!

There's been a wonderful response to the recent decision challenging the anti-bullying law as an unfunded mandate by the Council on Local Mandates. Schools have been calling to say that the law has been a success in focusing more attention on bullying, helped student behavior improve and school climate get stronger, and - as we've all moved past the initial adjustment period - that concerns about over-reporting and time management have diminished. Most notable and welcome has been Governor Christie's response (see attached), reaffirming his commitment to the law. Advocates and legislators have already gone to work to address the Council's concerns. Meanwhile, we should all be clear that the law remains in effect!
Gov Christie

1/27/12: Challenge to the new law is upheld! (a bad decision)

An appeal of the new anti-bullying law by several school districts to the Council on Local Mandates succeeded today. See the article from the Record, linked below, and also visit the Council website to review the entire record of the decision (and background documents). In essence, the Council agreed with the school districts that the new law imposes inevitable financial costs on schools/districts without the legislature having provided any funding. Our (Coalition) view is that adequately (excellently!) addressing bullying is fundamental to what it means to be an educator and have a school. This is because bullying - as an aspect of school climate - threatens and diminishes every aspect of student functioning, in all students (not only those directly targeted), including academic performance. Further, we believe it is unconscionable and immoral that adults would create, staff and run a school without ensuring that the children are adequately supported, included and protected, especially those most at risk. If a school spends money on anything, it should be funding and supporting attention to violence prevention and the care of those at risk or already hurt first and foremost. But the Council (and, dreadfully, some school districts and administrators) don't agree. And now a state Council does something essentially bureaucratic, however reasoned, by issuing a ruling which will allow some (many?) schools in NJ to irresponsibly and shamefully avoid taking adequate care of the children they serve. Here are the links:

Record article 1-27-12

And here is the Council website: http://www.state.nj.us/localmandates/pending/Allamuchy.html

Advisory on Bullying - from the Coalition's new Expert Advisory Group

See the attached documents: an advisory for school leaders and staff, and a second document providing more detail about the Group. The document is now being widely distributed through NJ education and community organizations, and shortly via media. While guidance is coming to schools from many sources, including DOE, we felt it important to create a series of documents which provide evidence-based, bedrock guidance for schools. The Advisory Group consists of college and university experts on school climate, bullying and related issues, along with various other (Coalition) experts. The first document is an overall guide to the issue, all in a neat two pages, easy to reproduce. Subsequent documents will address multiple aspects of the problem (and its solutions) in even more detail, released over the coming weeks and months. The Group is led (Coordinated) by Dr. Maurice Elias, of Rutgers University, a widely known and highly acclaimed NJ (and national) expert on in issues of school climate, and bullying.

Advisory Group Document 1

Cover Note for Advisory Document 1

Advisory Group Document 2

New! Rutgers Teleseminar on Bullying of Children with Disabilities

Hosted by Maurice Elias, and featuring Millicent Kellner and Stuart Green.

Teleseminar

Items posted 1-12

1. The importance of GLSEN (the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network).

Several recent postings provide another good opportunity for emphasizing the importance of the work of GLSEN to the anti-bullying movement (and therefore to children). First, there is the upcoming (next week!) annual No Name-Calling Week (recently expanded, as you'll read, into a year-round activity). Second, the notice about No Name-Calling Week, attached below, also describes GLSEN's upcoming (March) annual legislative conference in Washington, DC. This activity, fully funded, provides for lots of students and anti-bullying activists to gather in DC, hone their organizational skills and then helpfully pressure legislators to help children by supporting anti-bullying legislation and activities. Third, GLSEN has issued another of its very helpful, influential and well-done surveys emphasizing the harm done to children by anti-gay attitudes and bullying. The notices and survey report are attached, below.

No Name-Calling Week and DC Conf

GLSEN study 1-12

2. Just brought to our attention by an advisor to the Coalition, is an important court decision from July 2011. Here's a comment by Jerry Tanenbaum, Esq.:

The Court applies the Tinker “First Amendment in schools”’ analysis to a student-on-student harassment case as I had hoped would be the case – holding that where the off campus speech specifically targets a class mate in a way that involves other classmates, a school district has authority to punish such speech notwithstanding the First Amendment.

The facts are legally helpful for those advocating for victims of bullying, because as compared to what we often see in our practices, the bullying was relatively tame and had as little to do with school as possible – the bullying was entirely web-based, it occurred entirely off campus, did not involve any school equipment, and lasted only about 24 hours.  The victim went to school the next day to complain and then went home for one day because she was embarrassed.    

The 4th Cir. held that these facts were sufficient to eliminate First Amendment protection from the bullying speech because it was foreseeable that the web page would substantially interfere with the school’s mission to educate the targeted child.

Here is a link to the full description of the case.

W Va cyberB case 7-11

Items posted 12-11

A new program started by Education Law Center (ELC), with Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, with the involvement of the Coalition: Pro Bono Law Project (for bullying cases). This project was envisioned by the Coalition ten years ago but the time has never been right until now, and ELC deserves all credit for getting it done! The project involves providing free training on bullying for lawyers who agree to devote pro bono (charity) time to families who need legal representation in dealing with schools in which their children have been hurt (bullied - repeatedly assaulted and terrorized over months or years, with schools having failed to prevent or adequately respond). This might involve a lawsuit, in the end. The hope is that when parents, most of whom lack the resources to engage an attorney for help, can access legal help more easily, the involvement of lawyers will produce more and better school attention to the problems of the bullied child. Ideally, no lawyers would ever have to be involved because schools would be on top of these issues in a timely and adequate way. That, after all, is the core intent of the new law, and all advocacy efforts. Meanwhile, dozens of lawyers attended the training conducted Nov 29th, hosted by Rutgers Institute for Professional Education. See the attached notice for the training. One case is already underway, more likely to follow. A related project (to begin shortly) involves providing training for expert witnesses who agree to provide service on a pro bono basis.

Pro Bono law project

A federal Department of Education report was just issued this month, in which the nation's anti-bullying laws are analyzed. NJ's is essentially affirmed as the strongest in the U.S., in several aspects. The report is well done and worth reading.

Fed DOE law analysis

NJ Department of Education has finally issued its guidance to schools for interpretation and implementation of approaches to bullying and enacting of requirements of the new law. It's late but well done, full of useful points and discussion. It's an impressive piece of work by DOE. The big missing piece is discussion (and actual availability) of an adequate structure for ongoing technical assistance and support. But DOE still deserves credit for this very detailed (80 pages!) and good in many aspects (e.g., urging - in effect - that schools establish structures for more support of LGBT students, for one thing) report. It's appreciated, even now.

NJ DOE report

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