Although many of us already know that this is now a New York State law, it has come to my attention that many do not actually know what the law entails. Speak Up Albany is here to do just that, and this post may serve as a quick reference guide for you. Other states who do not yet have a law, they need to follow suit.
Summary: This law was signed into law by the Governor on September 8, 2010. It will address bullying motivated by weight, gender, sexual identity and expression, race, religion, national origin, and disability. It requires bullying to be reported to the New York State Department of Education, and will force policies to be developed to prevent and handle biased violence/hate. It requires training for school staff, including administrators and classroom curricula material. This law does not address cyberbullying, and it only covers public school students.
The law states it will afford public school students an environment free of discrimination and harassment (including bullying, taunting or intimidation). Their definition of Harassment means the creation of a hostile environment by conduct or verbal threats, intimidation or abuse that has or would have the effect of unreasonably and substantially interfering with a student's educational performance, opportunities or benefits, mental or emotional or physical well-being, conduct, verbal threats, intimidation or abuse that reasonably causes or would be expected to cause a student to fear for his or her physical safety. That no student shall be subjected to harassment by employees or students, nor discriminated against; and that any such policies created include instructional and counseling methods and requiring at least one staff member at each school to be thoroughly trained to handle human relations in the areas of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion and its practices, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex. The Commissioner's responsibilities may include development of model policies and to the extent possible, direct services, to school districts related to preventing discrimination and harassment and to fostering an environment in each school where all children can learn free of manifestations of bias. An age-appropriate version of the policy shall be included in the code of conduct. That any incidents of harassment or discrimination be reported to the NYS Department of Education at least on an annual basis. This law also provides for the protection of people who report discrimination or harassment to school officials, the commissioner, or to law enforcement authorities, or initiates, testifies, participates or assists in any formal or informal proceedings shall have immunity from any civil liability that may arise from the making of such report and no school district or employee shall take, request or cause a retaliatory action against such person. That Section 801-a of the education law, was amended to read as follows: S 801-a. Instruction in civility, citizenship and character education. The regents shall ensure that the course of instruction in grades kindergarten through twelve includes a component on civility, citizenship and character education. Such component shall instruct students on the principles of honesty, tolerance, personal responsibility, respect for others, observance of laws and rules, courtesy, dignity and other traits which will enhance the quality of their experiences in, and contributions to, the community. Tolerance, respect for others, and dignity, shall include awareness and sensitivity to discrimination or harassment and civility in the relations of people of different races, weights, national origins, ethnic groups, religions and religious practices, mental or physical abilities, sexual orientations, genders and sexes. A minimum suspension period, for students who repeatedly are substantially disruptive of the educational process or substantially interfere with the teacher's authority over the classroom, provided that the suspending authority may reduce such period on a case by case basis to be consistent with any other state and federal law. The definition for "repeatedly are substantially disruptive" shall be determined in accordance with the regulations of the commissioner; a minimum suspension period for acts that would qualify the pupil to be defined as a violent pupil pursuant to paragraph a of subdivision two-a of section thirty-two hundred fourteen of this chapter, provided that the suspending authority may reduce such period on a case by case basis to be consistent with any other state and federal law. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.
Showing posts with label bullying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bullying. Show all posts
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Stop Bullying Now - (Give Me Your Feedback on this issue)
Click the Stop Bullying Now graphic on my home page to watch animated short stories to learn how KB, Josh, Milton and their friends deal with kids who bully at their school. After watching the Webisodes, use the discussion questions to talk through how you can Stop Bullying Now!
With the start of a new school year right around the corner, now is the time to inform yourselves and your children how to handle the potential problems of bullying. These webisodes may become very helpful for your young family during the upcoming school year.
You may have read in a previous post that I said "A special note to all other students who had to deal with bullying during their school year or years, it is your strength that will bring you through the coming years. You don't need to change for them. Never give up on yourself. You are a very important person, no matter what your obstacles may be, don't forget that. Accomplish your goals and dreams despite their actions." This was said because my son was being subjected to bullying at school and on the school bus last year, and I will do what I can to help him and other families deal with an unnecessary problem many schools overlook or downplay the seriousness of bullying.
What you can Do:
In order to reduce bullying, it is important to change the social climate of the school and the social norms with regards to bullying as Stop Bullying Now stated. I say you do not have to handle bullying in silence. Speak out about it. Talk about bullying at your PTA meeting and with the principal. Don't stop there, tell teachers, other administrators, counselors, protect yourself and your child by your notifying the school nurses, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and other parents. Do not rely on the principal to do this for you, they want to keep it hushed up. Notify the school bus company and driver, and have a meeting with them about the situation. Have the bus tapes pulled so that the school can view the bullying. Keep on top of the school, and do not accept the answer they didn't view the tape, they had problems viewing it, or they didn't receive it. You only have a limited amount of hours (each district may be different) to view the tapes. These other answers are used only to run down your time to prove there is a problem, and then when the time expires, there is no video to support your claim, hence they do not have to do anything about it. Don't back down. Unfortunately you have to do their job for them in certain situations to protect your child. If a punishment is to occur when a bullying incident is found, follow up on it; and Never accept the answer from any school personnel or administrator, "that boys will be boys", or "it's a phase they go through" or "I think he or she likes your child and that's why they are doing this", this will tell you loud and clear that it is now your mission to rectify the problem, for if they said that to you, they are allowing it to happen and it will only continue to happen. Also do not accept the answer "we didn't have these problems last year, so therefore we did not have any assemblies on it". Bullying is an ongoing problem, and as Stop Bullying Now states, "there should be no 'end date' for bullying prevention activities. Bullying prevention should be continued over time and woven into the fabric of the school environment. Anti-bullying messages also can be incorporated throughout the school curriculum.
Fight for your childs' rights. Don't always trust and believe what the school is telling you, they have a special knack for using very descriptive language for an incident that was not even close to what they told you, because they have to protect themselves at all costs. Listen to your child and truly listen to what is and is not said to you by the school. Your child has a better insight than those trying not to get sued and they will always try to blame the parent to take the light off of them and what they did not do to prevent it.
As a parent, I wanted the bullying to end, but I also wanted the bully to learn about themselves and why they are bullying in order for them to evolve as a person, punishment by the school alone is only half of it as far as I'm concerned. My wife recommended that peer mediation be done with a twist, that the principal or administrator who handles these issues, be present to facilitate the mediation, to help and assist with the verbal back and forth, and for apologies to happen, showing both are human beings with feelings and they are equal because of it. Recommend peer mediation with adult intervention at school, also recommend bullying prevention assemblies at school. Don't let the school tell you they can't do that, or they don't see this as a big scale problem, they can do it if they truly want to prevent bullying they should be doing more in preventing it. Zero children should be bullied and my child had enough self-esteem and it still happened.
School rules should be enforced to protect the victim not the bully. We also suggested more adult supervision on the playground and actually have them watching, watching the hallways and stairwells, and the lines. Children should feel safe in school not fear going to it.
Information obtained from Stop Bullying Now
With the start of a new school year right around the corner, now is the time to inform yourselves and your children how to handle the potential problems of bullying. These webisodes may become very helpful for your young family during the upcoming school year.
You may have read in a previous post that I said "A special note to all other students who had to deal with bullying during their school year or years, it is your strength that will bring you through the coming years. You don't need to change for them. Never give up on yourself. You are a very important person, no matter what your obstacles may be, don't forget that. Accomplish your goals and dreams despite their actions." This was said because my son was being subjected to bullying at school and on the school bus last year, and I will do what I can to help him and other families deal with an unnecessary problem many schools overlook or downplay the seriousness of bullying.
What you can Do:
In order to reduce bullying, it is important to change the social climate of the school and the social norms with regards to bullying as Stop Bullying Now stated. I say you do not have to handle bullying in silence. Speak out about it. Talk about bullying at your PTA meeting and with the principal. Don't stop there, tell teachers, other administrators, counselors, protect yourself and your child by your notifying the school nurses, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and other parents. Do not rely on the principal to do this for you, they want to keep it hushed up. Notify the school bus company and driver, and have a meeting with them about the situation. Have the bus tapes pulled so that the school can view the bullying. Keep on top of the school, and do not accept the answer they didn't view the tape, they had problems viewing it, or they didn't receive it. You only have a limited amount of hours (each district may be different) to view the tapes. These other answers are used only to run down your time to prove there is a problem, and then when the time expires, there is no video to support your claim, hence they do not have to do anything about it. Don't back down. Unfortunately you have to do their job for them in certain situations to protect your child. If a punishment is to occur when a bullying incident is found, follow up on it; and Never accept the answer from any school personnel or administrator, "that boys will be boys", or "it's a phase they go through" or "I think he or she likes your child and that's why they are doing this", this will tell you loud and clear that it is now your mission to rectify the problem, for if they said that to you, they are allowing it to happen and it will only continue to happen. Also do not accept the answer "we didn't have these problems last year, so therefore we did not have any assemblies on it". Bullying is an ongoing problem, and as Stop Bullying Now states, "there should be no 'end date' for bullying prevention activities. Bullying prevention should be continued over time and woven into the fabric of the school environment. Anti-bullying messages also can be incorporated throughout the school curriculum.
Fight for your childs' rights. Don't always trust and believe what the school is telling you, they have a special knack for using very descriptive language for an incident that was not even close to what they told you, because they have to protect themselves at all costs. Listen to your child and truly listen to what is and is not said to you by the school. Your child has a better insight than those trying not to get sued and they will always try to blame the parent to take the light off of them and what they did not do to prevent it.
As a parent, I wanted the bullying to end, but I also wanted the bully to learn about themselves and why they are bullying in order for them to evolve as a person, punishment by the school alone is only half of it as far as I'm concerned. My wife recommended that peer mediation be done with a twist, that the principal or administrator who handles these issues, be present to facilitate the mediation, to help and assist with the verbal back and forth, and for apologies to happen, showing both are human beings with feelings and they are equal because of it. Recommend peer mediation with adult intervention at school, also recommend bullying prevention assemblies at school. Don't let the school tell you they can't do that, or they don't see this as a big scale problem, they can do it if they truly want to prevent bullying they should be doing more in preventing it. Zero children should be bullied and my child had enough self-esteem and it still happened.
School rules should be enforced to protect the victim not the bully. We also suggested more adult supervision on the playground and actually have them watching, watching the hallways and stairwells, and the lines. Children should feel safe in school not fear going to it.
- Intervene consistently and appropriately when you see bullying. Observed or suspected bullying should never be ignored by adults. All school staff should learn effective strategies to intervene on-the-spot to stop bullying. Staff members also should be designated to hold sensitive follow-up meetings with students who are bullied and (separately) with students who bully. Staff members should involve parents whenever possible.
- Devote some class time to bullying prevention. Students can benefit if teachers set aside a regular period of time (e.g., 20-30 minutes each week or every other week) to discuss bullying and improving peer relations. These meetings can help teachers to keep their fingers on the pulse of students' concerns, allow time for discussions about bullying and the harms that it can cause, and provide tools for students to address bullying problems.
I feel that New York needs to follow Texas by passing a law allowing students who are bullied to be able to transfer to another school or school district. I would also want the law to require school districts to address the problem in their discipline plan using specific language that prohibits bullying in the code of conduct. What is the school and district going to do to prevent it from happening. Specific language also needs to be put in the code of conduct for when individual responsibilities not performed by any and all school personnel, administrators and teachers is considered unacceptable and/or their behavior is considered unacceptable and specific language set in place for appropriate disciplinary actions to happen against them. We would like the District’s code to be revised so that maybe concern with the welfare of the individual and the school community as a whole was truly recognized; and to make a reality promoting a close working relationship between parents, the school and the school district staff; for the school to be able to truly distinguish between minor and serious offenses as well as between first time and repeat offenders of students; to provide timely action on an issue and timely disciplinary responses for staff, administrators, teachers and students, that are fair and appropriate to all of their misbehaviors; to truly have consistency and fairness to both student and parents by school personnel; and to truly have the schools comply with the provisions of Federal, State and Local law; and also to implement new provisions for the Safe Schools Against Violence Act, not just incident reporting.
Click this link to read more information on bullying and what you can do http://www.eyesonbullying.org/pdfs/toolkit.pdf
Saturday, June 12, 2010
End of the School Year
Now that the end of the school year is drawing near, I would like to take this time to congratulate all the students for their hard work and efforts in making the grade from Pre-K to College graduates here in Albany. A special note of congratulations to all the students who won judging at their schools to move on to the Joseph Henry Science Fair; that is quite an accomplishment indeed; I know because my daughter was one of them. Special note of congratulations to all the spellers who spelled in the District Spelling Bee, the Regional Spelling Bee and the National Spelling Bee, another great accomplishment. My son won for his District and placed 19th out of 112 in the Regionals. A special note to all other students who had to deal with bullying during their school year or years, it is your strength that will bring you through the coming years. You don't need to change for them. Never give up on yourself. You are a very important person, no matter what your obstacles may be, don't forget that. Accomplish your goals and dreams despite their actions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
