Anti-Bullying Programs Pushed Aside by Federal Budget Woes

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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

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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.

Judge Tom Jacobs: Megan Meier Law to Be Tested on Middle School Students

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You may remember Megan’s story from the many news reports over the past four years. Megan Meier took her life in 2006 after being bullied online by Josh Evans, a fictitious 16-year-old. Josh befriended Megan on MySpace, flirted with her for a month and then dumped her stating, “The world would be a better place without you in it.” Thirteen-year-old Megan hanged herself in her bedroom. At the time of Megan’s death, Missouri did not have any anti-bullying or cyberbullying laws. Soon after her suicide, it was discovered that Josh didn’t exist.

Florida Bully Law Falls Short

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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.