Help or hindrance?
It seems there are a lot of ideas going around about combating bullying, and it’s not just on the playground anymore. Adults even deal with it at work at times. It’s hard to say just what transpired in the life of a bully that makes them feel they have the license to treat another person badly.
We know that in some cases the bully was a victim of bullying, so they became the bully to empower themself. There are also some instances that are a result of a more deeply seeded problem—maybe even abuse by an adult at home or in another setting. This article isn’t about whom to blame, but rather to open discussion for a solution.
Sometimes bullying is just the actions of a bigger kid “flexing his muscle” because they can. Don’t be misled by that statement either. It’s not always a bigger kid doing the bullying. Bigger kids get bullied by smaller kids all the time—and it’s because they are bigger. There are a myriad of scenarios and reasons this happens. Hopefully, we all realize that it needs to be curbed.
Something we are seeing more of is states adopting anti-bullying laws. Does your state have one? Are these laws helping to alleviate bullying in schools, or are they another route for an ambulance-chasing attorney to follow? We have to ask this question because our society seems to be at the ready with lawsuits for nearly everything these days.
This is a very pertinent topic for Playground Professionals since we all know that bullying can and does occur on the playground at times. It is recognized that anti-bullying laws are said to be put into place to stop bullying and to give incentives to schools to protect children from falling victim. It can have serious consequences, and long-term, life-altering effects.
A letter to the President of the United States is actually posted online regarding a petition to have anti-bullying laws in place. It calls for these laws to make it illegal for bullying to occur. An example of a bullying law is the state of Idaho’s “Jared’s Law,” in honor of Jared High, who committed suicide as a way of dealing with bullying. This resolution was passed unanimously in March of 2006 and modeled after the resolution on BullyPoliceUSA.
These laws are meant to protect students, and also in the case of Jared’s Law, there is an amendment to provide that superintendents and principals can temporarily suspend students who engage in harassment, intimidation, or bullying. Jared’s Law was also meant to provide additional powers and duties for boards of trustees and also that any student who does engage or conspires to harass, intimidate or bully may be guilty of an infraction.
It sounds like we’re all on the same team with this until you take into account that if the school is found negligent in protecting a student from bullying, it can be sued. Unfortunately in our society today it seems that people are just more than ready to sue over the slightest thing. That statement is not meant to minimize bullying, but the point with it is that there are people out there who abuse laws. That isn’t meant to state that a parent who loses their child doesn’t have the right to seek some kind of restitution, although we all know money doesn’t make up for a lost loved one. It’s hard to blame a grief-stricken parent for wanting something done, even if it’s to stop it from happening to another student. A law can just turn into a double-edged sword, which isn’t the intent of either party.
These laws are said to potentially bankrupt our school system, which is already in financial turmoil. If you check the figures even just on the Internet from past lawsuits involving bullying, you’ll find some staggering monetary amounts awarded to victims or their families.
A good case in point would be Anchorage, AK. The school district and its insurance company settled for $4.5 million to the family of a middle-grade student, who attempted suicide after being bullied at school. The insurance company ended up paying $3.5 million, and the district paid $1 million from its general fund. To read the article on it, both sides still feel their positions are correct. The district feels its staff did everything it could to make the child feel safe at school and it settled because the insurance company required it to do so, and the parents feel the district finally settled because it knew it was in the wrong.
There are many suits out there right now, and this really does beg the question of who really wins in these cases. What are the solutions? Parents want to make sure their children are protected, and they deserve protection. Nobody should have to enter any environment where they feel unsafe or threatened, let alone spend the better part of their days there.
There are anti-bullying groups out there with different program solutions that are trying to help so that the laws aren’t needed. Izzy Kalman has created a program and book called Bullies to Buddies offering more information on the effects of the bullying laws and also solutions for alleviating bullying. There are many other organizations out there dedicated to curbing it, which seems should have a positive effect. It may just go back to that saying, “It takes a village…”
