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Number of Pages: 3 (Double Spaced)

Writing Style: APA

Number of sources: 8

Annotated bibliography  Create an “argumentative essay” using the eight sources provided.  **Please add in-text citations" (1) Teacher bullying bullies. (2005, Mar 17). North Bay Nugget. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/352233831?accountid=87314 Teacher bullying bullies WINNIPEG (CP) -- An elementary school's attempt to stomp out bullying by giving young aggressors a taste of their own medicine has triggered a debate about just how far schools should go in tackling a national problem linked to several suicides.  The principal of the Langruth Elementary School in southern Manitoba and the superintendent of the Pine Creek School Division stand behind a teacher who subjected three boys to the taunts and jeers of older students as punishment for picking on a classmate.  The boys, and one other student, were also forced to wear hockey helmets for much of the school day that had phrases such as "Loser," "I tease people" and "I'm stupid because I'm a bully" written in black marker.  Jackie Sutherland, whose 10-year-old son Dillan was one of the boys punished, said it began when a student complained the boys were mocking and swarming him because he spilled water on their friend's notebook.  She said the discipline was extreme because her son is not a frequent troublemaker.  "This was just an isolated case," Sutherland said in a telephone interview from her home about 180 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. "They're boys. Once in awhile they'll tease and do typical boy things. There are bullies that do this every single day and more or less they get a slap on the wrist."  But those familiar with the tragic consequences of bullying had little sympathy for the families involved in the Feb. 10 encounter, which was only made public this week.  Residents of Roblin, Man., who knew 16-year-old Gary Hansen say they'll never know for sure if bullying drove him to hang himself earlier this month.  But many believe constant ridicule and harassment drove the teen over the edge.  Jennifer Laviolette, whose family is close to the Hansens, wrote a letter to the editor of her local newspaper and started a petition to raise community awareness about the dangers of bullying.  Laviolette, whose 17-year-old brother has been home-schooled because of bullying that began in Grade 3, commended the Langruth school for its "bravery."  "Those parents obviously have never had their children come home and cry for being bullied and not want to go to school, so naturally they're outraged," said Laviolette, 25, who works as the town's librarian.  "But they must stop and think, 'OK this is how my kid felt because of this. Now what if my kid had been going through this on a continuous basis?'"  (2) Hansen, D. (2008, Aug 04). Schools address high-tech bullying; educators debate when, how to get involved. Spokesman Review. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/395072466?accountid=87314 Schools address high-tech bullying; Educators debate when, how to get involved Gossip G had eighth-graders talking at Cheney Middle School last year, what with her barbs about certain classmates' hygiene and her speculation about their sexual experiences.  "It became like a soap opera for other students," said Principal Mike Stark. "They were getting online every night to read the latest," while simultaneously fearing they'd become the subject of one of her anonymous postings on the Bebo social-networking site.  Speculation grew about the author, with suspects losing friends and becoming the subjects of yet more gossip. The real perpetrator was never discovered.  "There were kids who wanted to transfer to another school to get away from it," Stark said.  Lasting a couple of months, the Gossip G postings were the most disruptive incident of electronic bullying that Stark faced last school year, but far from the only one. The most innocuous were insults in e-mails or text-messages to specific students; the worst carried threats of beatings.  Nearly all originated during off-school hours, leaving Stark to ponder how deeply to get involved. In which cases should he discipline students, rather than simply notifying parents? Which warranted notification of police? Which should he simply let pass?  It's a dilemma the Washington Legislature says schools cannot avoid.  Since 2002 the state has required public schools to adopt anti-bullying policies. Now, as a result of legislation signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in May, those policies must be amended to make clear that electronic bullying is included.  The policy scheduled for a vote this month by the Spokane school board is typical. "Any intentional written message or image, including those that are electronically transmitted" is cause for discipline if it "has the effect of substantially interfering with a student's education" or disrupts school, the policy states.  Mead School District adopted similar language in June. Central Valley adopted its policy during a recent school board meeting. All other districts either have made the change or must do so soon.  Other states, including Idaho, have enacted similar laws in recent years. The attention is fueled in part by a few high-profile cases in which parents believe cyber-bullying caused their teens to commit suicide.  And while such tragic consequences are rare, authorities say, electronic bullying has become commonplace as students' use of technology has increased.  "Practically every student in school has a cell phone that they text on and probably half - maybe more - have a MySpace page," said Spokane County sheriff's Deputy David Morris.  Morris estimates that incidents of electronic bullying have tripled during his three years as a resource officer in the Deer Park School District. Some threats he investigated last year led the school to take disciplinary actions and resulted in police reports; Morris warned the offending students that charges could be filed if there were any more threats.  One case, involving "some very severe, pretty scary threats" against specific students, resulted in the arrest of three former students on charges of cyber-stalking. Morris wouldn't provide more details because the accused girls are minors and the case has yet to be resolved.  Nationwide, two-thirds of teens and one-sixth of grade-school children have had "mean, threatening or embarrassing things said about them online," according to a survey commissioned by Fight Crime; Invest in Kids, a national nonprofit organization of law enforcement, prosecutors and others. And 10 percent of surveyed teens said they've been threatened online.  Such surveys confirm that most cases are never reported to adults. Stark said kids in his school have told him they're afraid of losing their cell phones or access to the Internet if their parents knew they were being harassed.  Cheney School Board member Marcie Estrellado said most parents are unsuspecting because they generally lag behind their children when it comes to technological knowledge.  "My own son had a MySpace (page) and I didn't even know it," said Estrellado, who worked with Stark and other Cheney officials on a program educating parents about the electronic world.  "It's not a MySpace-bashing kind of movement... you need technology to get along in the world," said Estrellado. "It's just getting to know more about it."  Estrellado said students' online experiences outside school have a big effect on their ability to pay attention in class - everything from the disruption caused by Gossip G to the hurt experienced by kids who don't make classmates' MySpace friends lists.  But just how deeply educators should get involved remains an open question.  In a mass e-mail asking 300 random readers whether they've had experiences with cyber-bullying, The Spokesman-Review heard from some who said districts are overstepping their authority.  "The schools have no business in disciplining students for events that did not occur on school grounds or otherwise under the schools' direct control," wrote one, Neil Fitzgerald.  "Who is supposed to do this enforcement?" asked Robert Crabb, who's been an educator for 34 years. "How many hours do you want to waste doing it?"  Stephanie Lister, a U.S. attorney who helps teach adults and kids about online dangers, said schools already have set boundaries with traditional bullying. They get involved, for instance, if a student's academic performance drops because of bullying in his neighborhood. The same standard should apply when the harassment is electronic, she said.  One expert commenting for a First Amendment Center analysis said that existing case law has left unanswered the question of educators' authority in cases of "truly harmful off-campus online speech" by one student against another. But that expert, Nancy Willard, of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, noted that a 1969 case has been broadly interpreted to give schools authority to get involved in any off-school activities that could cause "a substantial disruption of school activities."  And even if electronic harassment hasn't disrupted school, "that doesn't mean that the school district would not still notify parents or, in some cases, law-enforcement agencies," said Mike Ainsworth, executive director of student support services for Spokane Public Schools.  Other districts do the same.  When Estrellado was contacted last year by another parent concerned about a Cheney student's MySpace Web site, the pair debated whether to contact the boy's parents. Although it included content that was violent and sexual in nature, there were no threats.  Estrellado asked a school official what to do, only to learn that a school counselor had already called the parents.  (3) Cambria, N. (2010, Apr 09). School bullying on U.S. agenda. McClatchy - Tribune Business News. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/458297215?accountid=87314 School bullying on U.S. agenda Apr. 9--ST. LOUIS -- The U.S. Department of Education thrust itself into a raging debate on school bullies Thursday, citing high-profile student suicides and lagging school performance as justification for a pilot program that would rate schools on their bullying climate.  Speaking at an educator convention in St. Louis, a top department administrator said the voluntary $30 million pilot program would alert parents, children and staff if schools are failing to guard against harassment and taunting.  "Kids can't learn if they don't feel safe. Period," said Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, in a keynote address at the School Social Work Association of America's annual conference.  Jennings said the funding would enable states to create their own bullying rating systems. The program would be the first measurable anti-bullying program endorsed -- both philosophically and financially -- by the federal government. And, he said, it would be first in which parents as well as students and staff would be involved in contributing survey information about their schools to develop the ratings.  The pilot program would include five to seven states, most likely from a pool of about 30 that already have some form of statewide school assessment regarding bullying. It would eventually be expanded to include all states willing to develop their own standards for all of their public schools.  For generations, bullying in schools was considered just a part of growing up. But prominent national cases in which bullying -- particularly online and through texting -- may have contributed to suicides has led leaders to scrutinize the schools' role in controlling such behavior, and its overall impact on children and school performance.  Jennings referenced a Massachusetts 11-year-old who hanged himself last year after unchecked school bullying. He also cited the January suicide of another Massachusetts teen, Phoebe Prince, who also was allegedly subjected to systematic bullying that lasted on Facebook even after her death.  In that case, a Massachusetts prosecutor has brought charges against six teens believed to be involved in the bullying and publicly chastised school administrators.  In an interview, Jennings also pointed to bullying at the Belleville School District, where a video of a student beating on one of the Metro East district's school buses garnered national press attention last year.  Jennings said he believes a climate survey could have prevented the Belleville incident.  "If they had meaningful data, they could have seen this," he said. "If they had had a survey of the kids in Belleville last year, they would have known that they had a problem on their buses."  Jennings told the 500 in attendance that such surveys can help administrators see the warning signs of bullying.  He said bullying and harassment are the unseen but massive underside of an iceberg that has long been tearing to shreds performance and graduation rates of American students.  Jennings said a conservative estimate is that more than 30 percent of students 12 and older are bullied each year at school, with the brunt of them experiencing it in middle school.  Verbal threats, hate language, bullying and social rejection are twice as likely to spur a child to skip school, or avoid school-based activities than fear of theft or a physical assault, he said. These statistics don't fully take into account the onslaught of technology available to kids, in which bullying occurs via texting and on social networking sites outside of school.  Jennings said that when people evaluate whether schools are safe, they too often fixate on overt violence, such as shootings, thefts and assaults. These incidents are rare in schools relative to the damaging and pervasive culture of bullying, he said.  The United States lags far behind other wealthy nations in its bullying prevention programs, ranking 15th out of 24. Jennings said it's no coincidence America's schools are falling severely behind other developed nations in graduation and college attendance rates given so many children are dealing with basic emotional safety at school when they should be learning.  Anti-bullying programs do have their detractors. They say most programs are ineffective, and interventions may actually exacerbate bullying in a school. But Jennings said those detractors are looking at programs that have been implemented in a piecemeal fashion and don't effectively track results. He said measurable accountability in school districts that includes parental involvement will drastically improve results.  The Department of Education expects to launch the competitive pilot program within a few months. State participation would be voluntary, and the program would reward school districts for identifying problems with more funding to turn things around.  Lynne Lang, who provides school outreach through BJC HealthCare in St. Louis, said the program sounds like a godsend. Lang is working with various public and private school districts to develop effective anti-bullying programs.  "No one is exempt," she said of bullying. "Children aren't the problem. They're just a reflection of the adult problem. Until we create an environment to give kids hope, it's going to continue."  Lang's clients include the Belleville district, where she is helping the administrators complete a student survey on bullying. She said bullying is increasing in all schools -- public and private, rich and poor -- and that studies suggest the recession is contributing to further emotional aggression.  Lang said the St. Louis region is making strides in putting anti-bullying on its agenda and recognizes it as a major mental health issue that can lead to depression, suicide and poor school performance. She expects that the upcoming St. Louis County Children's Service Fund, a new, sales-tax-based grant source for children's mental health programs, will help tackle bullying.  Other school social workers applauded the program as well, noting that anti-bullying measures need to be a priority.  "So many kids are being bullied under the radar. They're getting it on texts. They're getting it on Facebook," said Rochelle Leiber-Miller, president of the School Social Work Association of America. "The middle school kids really don't know their boundaries."  (4) Green, E. L. (2010, Apr 28). BULLYING DEBATE RISES ACROSS CITY, NATION. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/193914713?accountid=87314 BULLYING DEBATE RISES ACROSS CITY, NATION: CASES IN BALTIMORE AND MASS. POINT TO ISSUE OF SUICIDE Three students have been suspended for bullying at Gilmor Elementary after the mother of a third-grade student said her daughter attempted to kill herself because she was repeatedly verbally and physically attacked.  Administrators denied claims of rampant bullying at the West Baltimore school but said they take such allegations seriously.  Still, some teachers and union officials say there is a culture of student violence at Gilmor that remains unaddressed.  The allegations are surfacing amid a national discussion on the responsibility of teachers, students and parents to address harassment in the classroom. This month, six Massachusetts high school students were arraigned in the death of their classmate, who committed suicide after being bullied.  On Tuesday, Baltimore school system officials denied any suicide attempt took place at Gilmor.  But parent Geneva Biggus says that on April 20, her daughter, Shaniya Boyd, 8, who has cerebral palsy, tried to jump out of a window at the school. She said Shaniya told her "she just wanted to get away" after she was teased, knocked off of the crutches she uses to walk, and kicked repeatedly in the forehead by a boy.  The school system has received 105 bullying complaints in the district this year, up from 79 at the same time last year. Jonathan Brice, executive director of student support for city schools, attributed the uptick in complaints to staff training sessions and increased awareness.  Brice said the teacher at Gilmor gave a different account of what happened with Shaniya. He said she was not at a window, but was taken to the nurse's office after making a comment that she wanted to commit suicide.  But he did acknowledge that one of the three students suspended since the incident allegedly attacked Shaniya. School officials would not disclose the circumstances for the other suspensions other than to say they were for bullying.  Brice also said that he was not aware of a pattern of violent behavior or bullies at the school. Central office officials are usually alerted to behavior taking place at schools that would warrant a suspension of more than five days or multiple suspensions, he said.  "At no time was the central office flagged that a certain student at Gilmor was experiencing that kind of behavior," he said.  Brice said the school system is working with Gilmor's principal, Ledonnis Hernandez, to determine whether the student who allegedly attacked Shaniya is a candidate for alternative schools or other support programs.  At least one Gilmor teacher said she walked away from the school in part because the bullying was rampant.  Tammy Matthews, who taught fifth grade at the school for two years, said she left Feb. 19 after the students' behavior made the school unbearable.  "One day I just walked out," said Matthews, who now teaches in North Carolina. "I just couldn't sit and watch it anymore; I had to get out of there."  Matthews said she spoke up at meetings with the school's leaders about attacks on both students and teachers. In a letter she wrote to schools CEO Andr?s Alonso that was obtained by The Baltimore Sun, she said her teaching position was downgraded in retaliation for reporting bullying. School officials would not discuss Matthews' concerns, saying it was a personnel matter. But Edie House-Foster, city schools spokeswoman, said the letter "was not ignored."  Marietta English, president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, met with teachers at Gilmor on Tuesday to address complaints of student abuse against teachers at the school.  English said Tuesday morning that she was intervening because she was informed that "no one's doing anything about it."  She did not return phone calls seeking comment after the meeting Tuesday.  Matthews said the bullying significantly affected the students' performance, because teachers were afraid to take extra measures, such as teaching in small groups.  "I'm not surprised one kid wants to jump out the window; another actually might," she said.  Baltimore officials are wise to take the recent national bullying cases seriously, said Dr. Anne Townsend, executive director of the Maryland-based Mariposa Child Success Programs, which hosts several anti-bullying trainings and resources for schools and parents.  The death of Phoebe Prince, a high school freshman who hanged herself in a stairwell of her family's home in South Hadley, Mass., "really shook me," Townsend said.  Authorities say Prince was relentlessly bullied in the months before she took her life. "One of the myths that we try to dispel is that kids are resilient," Townsend said.  She said that while the state has several safeguards in place to try to guide school systems in combating bullying, systemic challenges don't catch up to the real issues. Townsend said schools often lack tools in identifying and reporting bullying.  "I don't believe they're just ignoring the problem; they truly don't know what to do with it," Townsend said.  In July 2005, the state implemented the Safe Schools Reporting Act, a law that required a form be used for complaints of intimidation and bullying. In 2008, the Maryland State Board of Education adopted a model policy prohibiting bullying, harassment or intimidation in schools. It also requires proper reporting of bullying and prohibits retaliation.  In the latest policy report, of the 118,834 suspensions/expulsions in Maryland's 24 public school systems during the 2007-2008 school year, 1,257 were for bullying.  This is enough for Maryland schools to take notice, Townsend said.  "We're seeing it more and more, and it's happening earlier and earlier," she said.  Tuesday, a week after she reportedly tried to commit suicide, Shaniya started her first day at a new school, Langston Hughes Elementary. Her mother removed her from Gilmor last week.  "This morning was so overwhelming that it brought tears to my eyes," said Biggus. "I just didn't know how much of a burden would be lifted off my heart."  Through tears, Biggus described how her daughter got up early for school Tuesday.  "Usually, I have to go and stand over her bed to get her up," Biggus said of Shaniya's apparent change in attitude toward school.  "She was sitting downstairs waiting for me to get dressed. I didn't know what a burden it was for her - I just couldn't believe it," she said.  Statistics on bullying Baltimore City 105 bullying complaints this year, up from 79 a year ago  Maryland 1,257 suspensions/expulsions for bullying during the 2007-2008 school year  Nation 32.2 percent of students ages 12 to 18 reported being bullied in school in 2007  (5) Smith, V. (2011, Nov 08). KANAWHA STUDENT CONDUCT/ANTI-BULLYING: The Charleston Gazette. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/902635485?accountid=87314 KANAWHA STUDENT CONDUCT/ANTI-BULLYING:: Adding LGBTs to policy sparks debate MORGANTOWN A proposed anti-bullying policy for West Virginia schools acknowledges for the first time that sexual orientation and gender identity are common reasons for harassment. Had it been in place when he was in middle school, one young gay man said, it might have spared him the worst years of his life. When I heard about this, I started crying because its been a long road, said Michael White, a 21-year-old junior at Fairmont State University who was bullied for being gay as a teen in St. Albans. This is very, very necessary, and I really think it will be a massive step toward equality. The Department of Education is taking public comments until 4 p.m. Tuesday about the 75-page student conduct and disciplinary policy. The assistant state superintendent will lay out the policy for the board Tuesday in Charleston. A vote is set for Dec. 14. If approved, the changes that acknowledge the targeting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students would go into effect July 1, 2012. The civil rights group Fairness West Virginia lauds the enumeration of reasons why children are bullied as a landmark achievement that effectively provides political and legal cover to teachers, counselors and others who might hesitate to intervene for an LGBT student. Teachers may feel they’re putting their reputation or job at stake by protecting a student, said executive director Bradley Milam, but now, they can simply point to the policy. It also tells those students and their families that they have the right to protection, he said. However, The Family Policy Council, which has long opposed protections for people based on sexual orientation or gender identity, calls the policy dangerous and expansive. President Jeremy Dys contends bullying should be defined by a person’s actions, not the status of his victim. The West Virginia Family Foundation, meanwhile, says it’s a well thought-out, well-crafted design, done for no other reason than to promote the homosexual agenda. They’re trying to force a lifestyle that a majority of the people of West Virginia do not want their kids exposed to, President Kevin McCoy said Monday. It undermines their values and their religious teaching. If it passes, McCoy said, hell demand lawmakers repeal it. We’re going to hold them accountable, he vowed. If they’re willing to work with us, were going to seek to have it repealed. If they’re not going to work with us, were going to seek to have them voted out of office. The draft policy enumerates 12 possible reasons a child could be bullied. They include race, color, religion, gender, ancestry, national origin, socioeconomic status, academic status, physical appearance, and mental, physical or developmental disability. The controversy comes with two other phrases: gender identity or expression, and sexual orientation. Amelia Davis Courts, assistant state superintendent of schools, said the department is obligated under newly passed legislation to develop a comprehensive policy and begin collecting data on the reasons children are bullied. Obviously, we had to come up with a pretty comprehensive list that schools could use, she said, and the research we did found that sexual orientation is usually in the top three reasons. Under the proposal, bullying for the specified reasons or any other characteristic would be a Level 3 disciplinary offense. Punishments range from as little as before- or after-school detention or a one-day removal from the classroom to weekend detention or suspension for up to 10 days. The policy also extends beyond school property to the virtual world, holding students accountable for vulgar or offensive speech online if it disrupts the learning atmosphere at school. This includes blogs and social media postings created for the purpose of inviting others to indulge in disruptive and hateful conduct towards a student or staff member, the policy says. Melanie Purkey, executive director of West Virginias Office of Healthy Schools, said the last policies on bullying were drafted about a decade ago and don’t adequately reflect todays reality. If text messages or Facebook postings affect a child’s ability to feel safe or to learn, she said, we need to do something about it. McCoy, though, said he’s deeply troubled by the policy’s potential to invade a private home and contends it raises a problem with the constitutionally protected right to free speech. Neither Purkey nor Davis would say how many comments the state has received about the policy or how those comments break down, but Davis called the policy a huge step in the right direction to address the state board’s goal of really supporting positive student behavior in school. White, who said he used to find death threats in his mailbox and urine in his shoes after gym class, could not agree more. He tried to talk to teachers and administrators about his harassment, but they never had any backbone, he said. They would always push it aside. He lived near his middle school, he said, so he was an easy target when a football player who thought White had been looking at him told other students White was gay. He said he lost friends and became depressed, briefly contemplating suicide. Things only improved when he got to high school, joined the show choir and found more liberal, open-minded people who accepted him. I understand where teachers are coming from, White said. They don’t want to stick their neck out. It could cause them a lot of backlash because there is nothing in the policy but now there will be. Even if the policy passes, Whites not confident teachers and administrators will jump to defend LGBT students. But, he said, this will eliminate their cop-out. (6) Russell, J. (2010, Dec 26). Schools lag on bullying strategy. Boston Globe. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/821133236?accountid=87314 Schools lag on bullying strategy: Child protection plans due Friday Forty percent of Massachusetts school districts have not filed bullying-prevention plans with the state, despite a Dec. 31 deadline for administrators to comply with a new law that seeks to improve protection for students in the classroom and beyond.  The law, approved by the Legislature and signed by Governor Deval Patrick last spring, was passed amid urgent calls for action following the suicide of bullied student Phoebe Prince on Jan. 14. It requires schools to adopt clear procedures for reporting and investigating cases of bullying, as well as methods for preventing retaliation against those who report problems.  The new measure has sparked widespread debate about complex aspects of a longtime social problem, including how to define bullying, whose responsibility it is to stamp it out, and how schools can control conflict on the Internet.  As of late last week, 238 out of 394 public school districts had submitted their plans, a spokesman for the state Department of Education said, after a last-minute push that brought in new documents hourly.  After the year-end deadline passes, the state will notify districts that failed to submit plans, said the spokesman, JC Considine. The law does not specify penalties for failing to file a plan by the deadline.  Considine said it is too soon to raise concerns about compliance.  "It's a very fluid process - they are pouring in," he said Thursday. "It's hard to make a call on the success rate at this point."  But a leading advocate of the new law disagreed. Robert Trestan, civil rights counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, said he was troubled by the numbers, given the publicity surrounding the new law and the fact that school districts have had since May to comply. "To change the culture, everyone needs to be on board," he said. "Parents are in a position to hold schools accountable, and if your district doesn't have a policy, you need to step up and ask why not."  Under the law, districts were required to follow a collaborative process that allowed school staff, teachers, volunteers, parents, students, residents and law enforcement to weigh in. In most cases, local school committees approved plans before submitting them to the state Department of Education, where officials review them to ensure they meet the law's requirements.  The schools must have procedures for notifying the parents of bullying targets and for involving police when necessary. The policies must also outline a system for referring bullies and victims to separate counseling and for providing training for all school employees to prevent and respond to student harassment.  Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said he was not alarmed by the compliance numbers. He said he suspects most districts have drafted policies but have not submitted them to the state, either because they don't realize they must do so, or because they plan to do so this week, even though schools are closed for vacation.  In addition to the 238 public districts and charter schools that have submitted plans, 46 of 120 special-education schools and 14 of 30 educational collaboratives had filed plans, Considine said. Private and parochial schools must also have plans in place but are not required to submit them to the state.  Concerns abound about how the law will work, how much paperwork it will generate, and how much of a burden it will place on principals as they sort through complaints and decide what steps to take.  Jarrod Hochman, a school committee member in Peabody, said he planned to vote against his district's proposed antibullying policy because the comprehensive procedures required by the state go too far in imposing new roles and responsibilities on school leaders.  "Clearly, there are kids who need help, and I do believe some policy is needed, but this is just too much," he said. "It's jumping in with both feet without really understanding what's needed, instead of allowing a policy to grow as things progress."  The day-to-day enforcement of the law is likely to produce unanticipated dilemmas, said Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. For example, Scott said, administrators will have to decide what to do if a student is harassed for being gay and the school must notify his parents - without knowing whether they know about his sexual orientation.  "The details are sort of a quagmire," he said. "Making judgments about the level of severity, and who should be contacted, and whether to step it up to law enforcement . . . there are a lot of hard decisions, a lot of ways to step into the muck."  Some students in Boston voiced concerns with the 22-page policy approved by the city's school committee earlier this month, saying it focused too much on discipline and not enough on helping bullies understand and reform their behavior.  Dennis Tan, 17, a senior at Quincy Upper School and a member of the Boston Student Advisory Council, said he hopes to work with administrators to encourage them to consider alternative methods of coping with bullying, such as asking students to teach other students how to intervene.  "Instead of just automatically suspending or expelling [bullies], there should be a focus on undoing harm," Tan said.  "Someone should be teaching you why you shouldn't bully. We need kids to learn from their mistakes, or they're going to do it again."  State filing deadline aside, the most important question - whether the law will truly work as intended - remains to be answered, said Koocher, of the state school committee association. But already, he said, the heightened attention to the problem is making a difference.  "We're hearing that potential bullies are being more careful before they open their mouths," he said.  "The media has made a big deal of it, people are more conscious, and I think that's being felt all the way down to the child level."  (7) Palermo, S. (2012, Sep 17). Anti-bullying law shows a weakness. Concord Monitor. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1040711367?accountid=87314 Anti-bullying law shows a weakness: Debate continues over compliance Last March, a student at Concord's Beaver Meadow School went to Principal John Forrest to complain about being bullied on the playground at recess.  According to a form Forrest filed with the district offices, he called both students' parents that day, spoke with both students the next day, and determined the situation was mutual name-calling and exclusion, not bullying.  That's exactly the way some anti-bullying experts say the incident should have played out under New Hampshire's new law. Others, including the law's authors, disagree.  Educators and activists aren't the only ones confused. And children like Angela Smith's daughter are caught in the middle.  Smith realized something was wrong last December. Her daughter had missed several days of school and called from the nurse's office three times as often as she had in all of the previous year.  Smith sat down and asked her: Why does your tummy hurt? Why does your head hurt? Why don't you want to go school?  Turned out her daughter was being taunted by a classmate at Allenstown Elementary School. He threatened to hurt her and to stab her little sister. He had been saying those things for months.  A guidance counselor witnessed and reported one incident; her daughter told a teacher about another. But in both cases, no one called home about it, Smith said.  District officials did not return calls for comment, but Smith said they told her the incident was a disciplinary problem, not bullying, when she complained about not being notified.  "Whether they see it as bullying or not, I should have been contacted," she said. "A threat was made to my child and I didn't know about it."  While waiting for the district school board to hear her appeal, another incident happened, and she demanded the school separate the children into different classrooms for the remainder of last year. The school board ultimately found the incident was bullying, she said.  The 2011-12 school year was the first under the auspices of the law. Its definition of bullying is clear. New Hampshire schools are expected to investigate each report of possible bullying and measure it against two standards: first, whether the incident interfered with a child's right to an education, and second, whether it involved "an imbalance of power."  What's murky is what schools should do about reports, when they should do it and how parents hold officials accountable if they feel their children aren't being protected.  Here's what the law says:  Every school district must have a policy outlining a procedure "for notification, within 48 hours of the incident report, to the parent or parents or guardian of a victim of bullying or cyberbullying and the parent or parents or guardian of the perpetrator of the bullying or cyberbullying."  The law also requires that "investigation of reports . . . be initiated within five school days of the reported incident" and "the principal or designee develop a response to remediate any substantiated incident of bullying or cyberbullying."  Parental notification  When should the investigation of bullying reports take place? Even those involved in creating the law and educating schools about it don't agree.  "As far as I'm concerned, it's quite clear," said Carol Croteau, a Kingston activist who started the site BullyFreeNH.org and worked with legislators on the law. "Parents felt they weren't being kept in the loop. That was a big driver in getting the new law."  After a child makes a report that he or she feels bullied, a school administrator is required to take the information and notify all the parents involved within 48 hours, she said.  Then the administrator should investigate to determine if the incident reported was actually bullying, determine an appropriate reaction and again contact all of the parents involved, she said.  School officials that aren't complying are not malicious, just uninformed, she said.  "It's just lack of training on administrators' part about the new law," she said.  The New Hampshire School Boards Association's staff attorney, Barrett Christina, agrees with her. He said a school is to notify parents within "the first 48 hours after it receives a complaint about an allegation bullying from a pupil."  Malcolm Smith, a family education and policy specialist at the University of New Hampshire who has been researching peer victimization for more than 30 years, was also involved in writing the state law. But he says schools have 48 hours to decide if an incident is bullying before notifying parents.  "They have to do an initial investigation to see if it really is what the reporting person thought it was," he said. "We had some schools where two kids are goofing in the hall and it gets reported as bullying. It's a mistake that some schools have made, notifying before they determine if it's bullying or not. It is a new law, and districts are just getting used to it."  Smith hoped to convene a meeting with members of the New Hampshire Bar Association to discuss the law but that meeting hasn't happened yet due to scheduling conflicts, he said.  When asked why there are such deep divides on the interpretation of the law and the timeline it calls for, Smith said the law has already accomplished good things by "elevating the discussion of bullying in every community in the state."  "It may be a confusing law, but about 15 states have emulated our law at this point," he said.  Another group, the New Hampshire School Administrators Association, does provide training and information for school leaders on the law's requirements. But Executive Director Mark Joyce said the group's training emphasizes determining whether an incident is bullying before notifying parents.  "There's always some concern or confrontation or teasing that happens in the everyday life of a school that may or may not be bullying," he said.  Schools' accountability  Data collected by the state Department of Education indicates at least some schools are documenting reports and then investigating, and the language of the reports indicates that's what the department expects from the law.  According to a report from last September, the first since schools were required to document and report bullying, there were 5,561 reports of suspected bullying, and "the number of investigated and actual (confirmed) bullying events" totaled 2,988.  Reporting of cyberbullying was similar, with 817 reports and 626 confirmed events, according to the state.  No state official is responsible for ensuring schools document reports of bullying before they are investigated.  That's part of the reason Croteau said she wouldn't want parents to feel complacent, even if the law on the books is perfect.  They are the best watchdogs of their children's rights, she said.  "If they do not continue to push back when they think their children aren't being served," she said, "the law will not be worth the paper it's printed on."  But the law is also unclear on how parents are supposed to pursue a bullying complaint that they feel was handled incorrectly.  An Epsom teen identified in state school board documents as "Student K" and his family sued SAU 53 last year after other students taunted him online and, his family alleged, the school didn't follow the new bullying law.  The family, who requested anonymity to protect their son, settled the case for an undisclosed amount in March.  "What was frustrating to me as a parent was having my child go through what was obviously bullying and . . . the school dismissed it, didn't investigate it, or they did a very, very narrow investigation, and pretty much tried to sweep it under the carpet," the student's father said.  After appealing the school's actions to the superintendent, they were referred to the school board, and eventually the state school board. Each step along the way, the family was told there was no jurisdiction for appealing inaction on the part of the school.  The case was settled before the state board ruled on it, but the board did find that it had jurisdiction to hear the case.  "You expect the school to protect your child and follow their district policies in those protections," the student's father said. "When that doesn't happen at the school level, and then at the superintendent's level and at the school board level, for the district's attorney to argue there is no recourse, no further accountability, nowhere else to go, it's incredibly disheartening as a parent."  Expand and clarify  Donna Schlachman, a Democratic state representative from Exeter who sponsored the anti-bullying legislation, has said she will work on expanding its protections to college students if re-elected.  After talking with the Monitor about the confusion students and families face about reporting requirements and appeal processes, she said she will work to clarify other parts of it as well.  "I was going to give it another year before addressing that, but I'm thinking now maybe it's not too early," she said.  Angela Smith's daughter began third grade at Allenstown Elementary School this fall, and Smith is optimistic a new year means a new start.  "My hope is that things will go well. So far so good," she said.  But that doesn't mean Smith is sitting back.  "I was the type of mom to let the school do their job, but I don't think they did it. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen again, and I'm just going to be more involved this year," she said. Her daughter "doesn't need to have another year like that."  Student K's father said if he could talk with other parents facing the daunting task of challenging school officials, he would have a simple message.  "You do what you can to protect your child," he said. "You'd hate not to take it as far as you could, and if something ever happened, how would you look back and not say I did everything I could to make sure my child was protected?"  (8) Ordway, R. (2006, Feb 10). Kids take bullying to cyberspace. Bangor Daily News. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/414244131?accountid=87314 Kids take bullying to cyberspace Renee Ordway's column in the Friday, Feb. 10, paper incorrectly identified a civil rights lawyer from the Attorney General's Office. The name of the lawyer is Tom Harnett.  A few months ago I wrote a column about an immensely popular Web site that is luring millions of teens and adolescents into cyberspace.  The response from parents throughout this community was huge. They flocked to their computers to see if their teen was among those who had posted titillating photos of themselves on the site along with personal information such as phone numbers, addresses and hobbies.  The concern, then and now, is of the dangerous position these kids are putting themselves in by opening up their lives to an untold number of sexual predators who may be trolling through the vast Web for potential victims.  But a situation last month at Messalonskee High School in Oakland showcased another horrifying and dreadful side of this and other Internet chat sites - the pervasive problem of bullying.  A 16-year-old special-education student at the school didn't fall victim to a lurking pedophile. He was victimized, in a very devastating way, by his own classmates.  Unkind classmates armed with a cell phone took digital photos of the boy in some humiliating situations and then posted those pictures and a host of derogatory and embarrassing remarks on an Internet site.  Yes, mean-spirited kids, armed with the latest gadgets, have launched bullying into cyberspace.  At Brewer High School cyber-bullying has sparked a heated discussion about the rights of free speech.  Some of the Brewer kids who hang out on Myspace.com - there are more than 200 of them - are up in arms because their principal has taken up a spot of his own on the site. The messages they send him make it clear that they don't think he has any business in their domain.  The language they choose to make their point is colorful at best.  Principal Brad Fox doesn't contact the kids. He just awaits the messages and looks around at their "profiles."  What he's found and shared with Brewer Superintendent Dan Lee has shocked both men.  "They are so angry that he is on there, but what they don't realize is this is a public site. Anyone can be on there, yet they treat it like it's their own and that they are not sharing their information with the rest of the world when they post items," Lee said.  Lee has found that certain students have been targeted and hateful remarks posted about them on various profile sites. He fears for those kids.  Being bullied has devastating effects on kids. We've known that for years. A rash of school shootings in Colorado and elsewhere across the country sparked new debates on bullying. It breeds sadness, depression and hopelessness among the bullying victims, but it also breeds deep-seated anger and resentment. That's equally concerning.  Some Brewer kids have taken such exception to the principal's concern over the Myspace Web site that they are wearing T-shirts with "free speech" written on the front.  They insist they can say whatever they want on the Internet about anyone they choose.  Lee is preparing to introduce them to Bill Harnett.  Harnett is a lawyer specializing in civil rights law at the Attorney General's Office.  He's going to give Brewer High School kids a lesson on hate crimes and hate speech and the very real penalties involved.  Harnett has had plenty of complaints about threats and harassment occurring on Myspace and he's exploring the various ways that the state's legal system can start taking action.  Lee is approaching this problem the right way. Free speech protects a lot. I'm very thankful for it every time I file a story for this newspaper.  But it doesn't put anyone above the law, including laws that protect others from harassment, criminal threatening or hate crimes.  Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the whole Myspace debate is the vast number of parents who continue to tune it out.  Many parents perhaps don't feel they have the computer savvy to check out what their own kids are doing on the Internet. My advice: Learn.  Kids on Myspace talk freely about their sex lives and drug and alcohol use. They use filthy language to describe themselves and sometimes their parents and teachers.  The Internet is a complicated place, but parents must find a way to get in the door and look around.  If you don't know how to use a computer, then find someone who does and ask for their help.  There is plenty of software available that will monitor all of your child's activities on the Internet, including chat-room conversations.  It could be your kid being bullied, or equally devastating perhaps, doing the bullying.  Parents should be taking action before the Attorney General's Office does.