Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced regulations on Wednesday that are meant to combat bullying in city schools that is based on bias.
“Simply put, there is just no place for prejudice or hate or bullying in our schools,” said Mr. Bloomberg, who was joined by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein as he announced the rules.
The policy is intended to deter intimidation and harassment based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
Every principal will be required to designate a staff member to whom students can report bullying, and schools will be required to report complaints to the Department of Education within 24 hours.
The schools will have to investigate the complaints and contact the families of students accused of bias-based harassment.
A report of the complaints, broken down by school, will be made public on the Internet at the end of each school year...
Sunday, September 07, 2008
New School Rules on Bias Bullying
This from the New York Times:
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I feel that Mayor Bloomberg's plan to combat bullying is genius. Many times, students are taught to never be a "tattle tail" during their academic career. Because of this, many students are afraid to tell their teacher when they have been the victim of a bully. As we have seen in many recent news stories, bullying is becoming a major issues in America's schools and has even resulted in students taking their own lives because they felt like they had nobody they could talk to about their conflicts with bullies. Bloomberg announced that every principal would be required to designate a staff member to who students can report bullying. This may help students to feel like they have someone they can talk to about their conflicts at school, and may ultimately stop their problems with bullies and even save their life. The designated staff member is also to notify the Department of Education within 24 hours of the report of a bullying incident, investigate the complaint and contact the families of accused students. Many times, guardians of bullies have no idea that the students they care for are terrorizing other students at school, so this part of Bloomberg's plan will alert families of bullies to keep an eye on their students. Lastly, a report of the complaints will be made public on the internet at the end of each school year. This act will give the bully a taste of their own medicine and will hopefully make them think before they try to bully another student again. Bullying is a major issue and it's time that more school districts devise plans like Bloomberg's, to stop bullying and ultimately save the lives of students.
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