Anti-Bullying Programs Pushed Aside by Federal Budget Woes

By |

On March 10, President Obama turned up the spotlight on school bullying. For a couple of years, a handful of high-profile tragedies — often having to do with the rising problem of students picking on other students via social media — had brought unprecedented attention to the issue. Now, the White House was holding its first ever “Conference on Bullying Prevention.” And the president and the First Lady welcomed an audience of parents, educators, advocates and government officials by expressing how seriously they took the issue -- both as leaders and as parents. “We’ve got to make sure our young people know that if they’re in trouble, there are caring adults who can help and young adults that can help,that even if they’re having a tough time, they’re going to get through it, and there’s a whole world full of possibility waiting for them,” Obama said. “We also have to make sure we’re doing everything we can so that no child is in that position in the first place.”

Here’s the irony: At the same time that educators, parents and politicians decry bullying and other school violence, the Obama administration has presided over the elimination of all funding for the chief federal program designed to prevent school violence — a program that had been the backbone for anti-school-violence efforts across the country.

Anti-bullying crusader to leave Obama administration

By |

Anti-bullying groups were shocked this week to learn that their top ally in the Obama Administration is leaving his appointed position at the U.S. Department of Education to lead the nonprofit organization Be the Change. In a time of declining budgets, Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education Kevin Jennings was perceived as a forceful supporter of programs that sought to improve the conditions for learning, as well as a force in elevating bullying to a national issues. He heads the department’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and helped organize the first ever White House Conference on Bullying. So advocates were surprised Thursday when Be the Change announced that Jennings would join the group as president and CEO. Be the Change describes itself as “a nonprofit that creates national issue based campaigns by organizing coalitions of non-profits, social entrepreneurs, policymakers, private sector and civic leaders, academics, and citizens.”

In a farewell e-mail to nonprofit leaders and others obtained by JJIE.org, Jennings wrote: "It is with great excitement that I tell you that I have accepted the position of CEO of Be the Change, a nonprofit that creates national issue based campaigns such as ServiceNation and OpportunityNation.

Two Teens Charged With Hate Crimes in McDonald’s Transgender Beating

By |

A Maryland grand jury has handed down hate-crime charges in the beating of a transgender woman at a McDonald’s outside Baltimore. The April 24 incident has gotten national attention, in part because an employee shot a video of the incident and posted it online. From the Associated Press: 

Teonna Brown, 18, was indicted Monday on assault and hate crime charges in the attack on Chrissy Lee Polis at the restaurant last month. She is also charged with assaulting a customer and a McDonald’s employee who tried to intervene. A 14-year-old girl is facing the same charges in juvenile court.

Did Georgia Lawmakers Create State’s New Charter School Mess

By |

Parents and supporters of 16 charter schools responded this morning to a Georgia Supreme Court ruling with a rally on the steps of the state Capitol. They could do little, however, to change the likelihood that yesterday’s court decision will end up shuttering all 16 schools — half of which already are open, half that were scheduled to open this fall. “What I want you to do is keep coming back to the Capitol day after day until you find 120 people in the house and 38 senators that will say ‘yes’” to a constitutional amendment that would negate the ruling, state Sen. Chip Rogers told this morning’s crowd, which was estimated at around 300. Even if a constitutional amendment did pass, it couldn’t become law before 2012. So unless the high court reverses itself, the schools will have to close.

A triple tragedy brings the story of heroin’s suburban rampage home

By |

It may not be news that heroin abuse has crept into America’s suburbs. TV stations, newspapers and academics have reported the trend over the last few years in metro areas as far-flung Denver, Milwaukee and New York City. But a story this weekend underscores with a dramatic twist how widespread the problem has become: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on three young men who attended the same affluent middle school -- ages 20, 21 and 22 -- each of whom died this winter within a month of each other from apparent heroin overdoses. Heroin has long trailed marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in popularity locally and nationally. But a 2010 Atlanta drug market analysis published by the U.S. Department of Justice found the highly addictive opiate is becoming more prevalent in suburban areas where it used to be rare.

Florida Bully Law Falls Short

By |

A Florida law praised nationally as a landmark step against bullying is falling far short in its most basic of goals: To get schools to report bullying incidents. The Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act does a lot more than simply encourage schools to report bullying. It also requires local school districts to adopt policies against both in-person bullying and cyber-bullying, or else to risk the loss of state funding. But data from the Florida Department of Education shows that schools recorded barely 6,000 incidents of bullying last year — far fewer than experts say are likely to have occurred among the state’s 2.6 million students. That’s a tiny fraction of the number of incidents likely to have occurred.

When does a Human Rights Commission oppose cyber-bullying education?

By |

Is the rush by politicians to get tough on cyber-bullying becoming an overly crowded bandwagon? That could be the case in New York City, where the city’s Human Rights Commission came out yesterday against a City Council member’s proposal to mandate education on cyber-bullying. "To be effective in reaching the targets of our educational programs, the commission must be able to adapt quickly," a Human Rights Commission official was quoted as telling a City Council hearing. "That flexibility would be hampered by this proposed legislation." It’s not that the commission opposes efforts to educate kids about the problem, its chairwoman said in a statement.

Start Strong Innovations — A Photo Gallery

By |
[nggallery id=7]

Eleven Start Strong community projects have been up and running now for nearly two years. At a May 3-4 meeting in Atlanta, members got to share with each other the most innovative and effective programs they’ve come up with to help middle school students learn about healthy relationships and how to avoid potentially violent ones. We wrote about that meeting and the Start Strong national initiative on May 6.  

But here’s a look at six innovative programs, all developed at the local level, that we found particularly interesting.  

Keep It Strong song and dance

“Middle school teens love interaction, as well as entertainment, but they also value learning from older teens,” writes Jacqueline Davis of Start Strong Atlanta.

Tormentors Sentenced in Cyber-bullying Case

By |

The legal fall out from one of the nation’s most sensational cyber-bulling incidents drew closer to a close Thursday when three of Phoebe Prince’s tormentors were placed on probation, while the statutory rape charge against another was dropped. Fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince, who had recently moved from Ireland to South Hadley, Mass., was tormented by six other youths — including two of whom she’d dated — before she hanged herself last year. Yesterday, three of the girls involved in the case were placed on probation for misdemeanor charges of harassment or violating civil rights. “If they satisfy their probation, the charges will be dismissed and they will not have criminal records,” the New York Times reports. The statutory rape charge against a sixth former student, who had sex with Phoebe when he was 18, was dropped.

Start Strong Shares Ideas to Stop Dating Violence Before it Starts

By |

Sometimes the solution to a very big problem is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. That’s the theory behind Start Strong, a national program designed to defeat teen-dating violence by helping middle-school kids learn how to avoid unhealthy relationships. “I didn’t even know I was in an abusive relationship,” says Nija Nelson, who says her former boyfriend yelled at her and called her names. “Most teens don’t recognize the other kinds of abuse besides physical abuse. Start Strong helped me realize that the relationship I was in was unhealthy.”

Now, Nija is an Atlanta high school senior and a Start Strong “Youth Leader” who talks to middle school kids about teen-dating violence.