In conjunction with President Obama and First Lady Michelle's Conference on Bullying Prevention, Facebook DC Live will host a live conversation from the White House about "how we can all work together to make the Internet safer and promote a culture of shared responsibility and of strong digital citizenship." It starts today at 12:00pm EST. Guests Include:
Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan: Joe, a former federal prosecutor and founding member of the Justice Department's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Units, oversees safety and security for Facebook's more than 500 million active users. Melody Barnes: Melody is the President’s Domestic Policy Advisor and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, which coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House. Stephanie Cutter: Stephanie is Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor at the White House.
President Obama and First Lady Michelle will convene an anti-bullying conference at The White House, tomorrow, Thursday, March 10. The White House says the Conference on Bullying Prevention will include top officials from the Department of Education and Health and Human Services as well as students, parents, teachers and others who are trying to address the issue from across the nation. The conference will also include breakout sessions on proven policies that prevent bullying. The White House has been eager to engage a wider and younger audience on the issue, reaching out to people through social media. The president announced the conference on his Facebook page and has encouraged people to participate in the conference via live chats.
Georgia is one of nine states with proposals to allow guns on college campuses. Some states are even considering lifting their gun bans at K-12 public schools. HB 55 would allow gun owners to carry their weapons at colleges in Georgia. It is currently before the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee. A spate of lawsuits filed by gun-rights groups have opened the door to new debate about campus guns in Utah and Colorado, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Kansas and Arizona, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
A room full of lawyers got a strong message from Dr. Phil McGraw, TV’s family therapist. There is “no safe place for kids anymore,” Dr. Phil told a panel on bullying at the American Bar Association’s Midyear Meeting. “Kids can’t go to their room to get away from [bullying],” he said in the videotaped address on Friday. “Bullies can still get to them through Facebook and the Internet.”
Dr. Phil said the victims of bullying need help. “We need all hands on deck,” he said. “This needs to be addressed and this needs to be addressed now.”
Other panelists echoed the call to action. Richard Katskee of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, called bullying a “systemic problem that requires a systemic response.”
“Punishing a bully is not enough,” he said. “They need therapy to help end the behavior.”
“This is a time when we can make progress and institutionalize change,” said Michael Lieberman, Washington Counsel for the Anti-Defamation league. Watch this anti-bullying PSA produced by the ABA that was featured at the conference:
The ABA’s Commission on Youth at Risk is seizing the momentum. They won support for a resolution to the House of Delegates that urges state and federal officials to take action in eliminating bullying. Dr. Phil called the resolution “top notch.” Key points of the resolution include:
Discourages inappropriate referral of youth to juvenile court
Labels expulsion and out-of-school suspension "inappropriate" punishments
Urges officials to prevent the causes of bullying
The resolution also calls for the identification of victims of bullying, a departure from current zero-tolerance policies in schools that do not distinguish between the bully and the victim. Clayton County Juvenile Court Judge Steven Teske advocates reversing these policies. “Zero tolerance policies are contrary to our fundamental right to self-defense,” Judge Teske writes in an op-ed on JJIE.org
In a panel discussion titled Bringing Youth Justice to Georgia, Judge Teske called for a reduction in school referrals to juvenile courts.
A teacher's job sure has changed. In Savannah, a pregnant teacher tried to break up a fight between two students. She was punched in the stomach several times and miscarried a few days later. The boy is a 13-year-old special needs student who has been removed to an alternative school while authorities decide if they should charge him. Following the fight, the school adjusted its policy on how teachers should intervene.
It is not uncommon to spot DeAndre Weaver strolling through Northwest Atlanta streets with his loyal pit bulls Champ and Gia at his side. However, unlike many other young men in his neighborhood, he does not scour the community in search of fellow dog owners willing to “fight” their pets for status or winnings from small wagers. He patrols the area — with a stack of fliers in hand—promoting the contrary. “It’s a very serious issue; I have a lot of associates who do fight dogs and some of them are young,” he says. “It’s very important to let them know that they can do other things besides fight their dog.”
Weaver, 24, is now an ambassador of sorts for The Humane Society of the United States’ (The HSUS) End Dogfighting campaign, an initiative now underway in Atlanta and two other U.S. cities, that aims to divert at-risk youth away from urban or “street” dogfighting.
Teach for America, a training program that recruits college grads and trains them to teach in challenging urban and rural schools, has won over some major donors. Eli Broad is pledging $25 million; matching donations are coming from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Robertson Foundation and Steve and Sue Mandel, according to the Los Angeles Times. While it’s a huge gift, it totals only 2% of Teach for America’s $200 million budget. According to Philanthropy News Digest, TFA hopes to attract other donors over time to help expand the endowment. TFA has more than 8,200 members working in 39 communities across the country. Typically, teacher rookies go through an intense training program, then go to work in urban public schools and charter schools for two years. A total of 195 TFA teachers are currently working in Atlanta Public Schools. According to their website, School superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall says, "I’m always impressed with them.
Kids experience a surprising amount of violence. More than 58 percent say violence has touched them in the past year and almost half of them turned to school officials, police or doctors for help. These numbers, from the University of New Hampshire, show that kids are reporting trouble to authorities more than ever before. Researchers surveyed more than 4,500 young people from ages 10 to 17 and asked them about their experiences with conventional crime, maltreatment, family abuse, sex abuse and other exposure to violence. The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that school authorities generally knew about violent incidents first.
An Atlanta third-grader has been suspended for bringing a gun to school. After being alerted by other students, a teacher at Sarah Smith Intermediate School discovered the weapon in the 9-year-old boy’s backpack. Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Keith Bromery told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the gun was not loaded and was believed to be a BB or air gun. School officials alerted Atlanta police. The boy is suspended pending the result of a tribunal.
Most people would call this a terrible idea that’s fraught with danger. But a Nebraska lawmaker has just filed a bill to give school districts the option of allowing teachers to carry concealed guns. State Sen. Mark Christensen says teachers with gun permits and proper training might deter a tragedy. As the Christian Science Monitor reports, this idea follows two school shootings in the last three weeks:
An Omaha high school senior killed an assistant principal and wounded a principal, before shooting himself. A Los Angeles student with a gun in her book bag accidentally wounded two other kids. The only school system in the country that has a concealed weapons policy is in rural Harrold, Texas. School Superintendent David Thweatt says police in his county are 30 minutes away, and his tiny school system cannot afford School Resource Officers. Their policy requires extensive training, and the use of certain types of bullets that cut down on ricochet and collateral damage. Forty-three states, including Georgia, prohibit guns in K-12 schools. And the idea of arming teachers is not popular with experts. School security consultant Ken Trump warns that concealed weapons would not make schools safer. Daniel Vice from the Brady Center says guns in the classroom would be extremely dangerous and the risk of accidents is too high.
