K-12 Schools Fight Bullies

In Massachusetts, almost ninety-nine percent of their schools districts have filed bullying-prevention policies with the state. Schools were supposed to comply with writing out a plan to stop bullying and prevents it and what consequences the school will make to those who break the rule. A student Phoebe Prince, who committed suicide because of being bullied in school, brought on this anti-bullying law. They say the most effective anti-bullying plans are those that involve the entire school. Instead of just one set of groups enforcing and watching out for bullying, the teachers, cafeteria staff, librarians school bus drivers and other children need to prevent the bullying and report it if they see something. This is the only way that the program will be effective, is if everybody in the school is watching it closely.

One factor that is different in these anti-bullying laws is it is extending outside of the physical schools. Back in the day the only way to bully was to physically torment a person or play pranks constantly on them. Now that we have technology introduced into our kids lives they can be bullied by many different factors. They have a lot more opportunities to be bullied and it’s harder to hide from bullies. A student can be bullied by constant harassment over the telephone or by text messaging, they can be bullied by chat with AOL, MSN, YAHOO, or any of the other popular instant messaging services, they can be bullied through social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace or twitter, or the old fashioned way of physical torment. Either way all of these torments are awful, weather they are physical or mental. Students need the protection from our schools so that they can live a peaceful life and relaxed educational experience.

With the adding of cyber bullying into the schools anti-bullying laws, the school has the right to protect their students outside of school as well. Some people argue that this is a schools abuse of power. Regardless if that is an abuse of power on the schools part, if it is protecting your children don’t you think anything that would be of any help to a struggling scared student be a good thing? Some people might argue that the police are out there to get you or thy have too much power but in the long run, who do you call if you are in an emergency situation and need assistance? You can 911, the police. People are so quick to put down those that have an authority over them because people want to not be controlled, people want to be free and not have to follow rules, but to live in the United States, we have to have rules to maintain a safe and organized existence. Without rules or law enforcement or even as small as schools and their anti-bullying policies our society or educational system will fall apart and we all could be subject to despair. When thinking of these anti-bullying policies people need to realize these aren’t some anti-happiness or anti-soda campaigns that take away constitutional rights, but they are law that can only benefit the students and protect them from harm.

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit Massachusetts School Ratings and Public Schools