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Bullying is a serious issue in schools. In an article on Education Week (Klein, 2018) it discusses First Lady Melania Trump's new initiative called "Be Best." This promotes a positive well-being for students and hopefully will help cut down on all types of bullying.

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News in Brief

First lady Melania Trump unveiled her new "Be Best" initiative last week aimed at promoting emotional well-being, combating cyberbullying, and fighting the opioid crisis.

"As a mother and as first lady, it concerns me that in today's fast-paced and ever-connected world, children can be less prepared to express or manage their emotions and oftentimes turn to forms of destructive or addictive behavior such as bullying, drug addiction, or even suicide," she said during a White House Rose Garden press conference. "I feel strongly that as adults, we can and should 'be best' at educating our children about the importance of a healthy and balanced life."

The first lady has already laid the groundwork for part of the initiative, meeting in March with tech executives from Amazon, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Snap for a roundtable discussion on cyberbullying. She and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also recently sat down with teenagers to talk about their lives and problems at school.

During the campaign, when Mrs. Trump first indicated that she was interested in making bullying prevention a central tenet of her tenure as first lady, some critics quickly suggested she start by talking to her own husband about his Twitter feed, which he often uses to mock his opponents. Others said that she should learn more about the relationship between cyberbullying and in-person bullying and look into state efforts to combat bullying, which have often lacked enforcement action.

President Donald Trump's fiscal 2019 budget proposed scrapping the Student Support and Enhanced Academic grant program at the U.S. Department of Education, which can help schools bolster social-emotional learning, combat bullying, and deal with the opioid crisis. But Congress, which just gave a $700 million boost to the program, seems poised to ignore the administration's request to zero it out.

The Obama administration made a big play to crack down on bullying, in part by funding research to explore possible solutions, and by aggressively investigating civil rights complaints in schools. Schools that don't address bullying on the basis of religion, race, or gender can be found in violation of civil rights laws.

Other recent first ladies also have focused on children's issues: Laura Bush promoted children's literacy, and Michelle Obama championed healthy eating and exercise, especially for young people.

Published in Print: May 16, 2018, as On the Bully Pulpit to Stop Bullying

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First lady Melania Trump unveiled her new "Be Best" initiative last week aimed at promoting emotional well-being, combating cyberbullying, and fighting the opioid crisis.

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Hoover, J. H., & Oliver, R. L. (2008). The bullying prevention handbook: A guide for principals, teachers, and counselors(2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

J. B. (2018, May 31). Sexual assault exams offered at University of Michigan health center. Retrieved June 4, 2018, from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/05/31/sexual-assault-exams-offered-university-michigan-health-center

Klein, A. (2018, May 15). On the Bully Pulpit to Stop Bullying. Retrieved June 4, 2018, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/16/on-the-bully-pulpit-to-stop-bullying.html

StopBullying.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2018, from https://www.stopbullying.gov/

Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results From the 2011 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey[PDF]. (2013, August). U.S Department of Education.

TxSSC. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2018, from https://txssc.txstate.edu/videos/bullying-and-the-law/

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Bullying is such an important topic to discuss. It is something that is happening everyday, all around us. Students and adults need to be aware of signs of bullying, ways to help prevent it, and a way to help the people being bullied.

Bullying prevention and research is increasing, along with the affects it has on students and adults. Between 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 U.S. students say they have been bullied at school. (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics, School Crime Supplement - PDF , 2011.) From gathering information online, a lot of students don't report any type of bullying because they are afraid of what happen to them.

Sadly, there are no federal laws against bullying, but certain states do have their own laws and/or policies. Texas has no policies against bullying, but there is a law known as "David's Law." The newly enacted law relates to harassment, bullying and cyber bullying of a public school student, a charter school student or a minor and encouraging certain mental health programs for public school students; increasing a criminal penalty, and providing a civil remedy. (TxSSC, n.d.)

As a classroom teacher and a future counselor, it is my duty to recognize signs of bullying happening in the school. I want to make sure I have the correct training, and I plan to provide a safe, informative environment for the school so hopefully bullying can be cut down.

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When I starting searching the internet on this particular topic, I came across the website stopbullying.gov. This is very informative because it discusses what bullying is and signs, how to prevent it, who all is involved, and the effects. It also offers training, describes what schools and kids can do, and provides state laws and policies.

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Stop Bullying on the Spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.

Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.

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StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on bullying, cyberbullying, prevention and response.

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While searching the Angelo State University Library, I came upon a book titled "

The Bullying Prevention Handbook: A Guide for Principals, Teachers, and Counselors." This book discusses how to identify bullying, steps to help both the bully and the victim, and how to help your school cut down on bullying.

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The Bullying Prevention Handbook: A Guide for Principals, Teachers, and Counselors

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The Bullying Prevention Handbook addresses bully-victim problems at school, and can be used as a comprehensive tool for understanding, preventing, and reducing bullying. It focuses primarily on middle and high school, but offers valuable advice and resources for elementary-school educators as wel...

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An Important Legal and Ethical Issue to Me: Bullying

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An Important Legal and Ethical Issue to Me: Bullying

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During exploring legal and ethical issues, one issue in particular that is most important to me is bullying.
Bullying happens everywhere, and as a classroom teaching I have seen it first hand at 6 years of age.

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Exploration Option 3: Inside Higher Education

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Exploration Option 3: Inside Higher Education

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We hear more and more about sexual assaults happening on college and university campuses. In a news article on Inside Higher Education (Bauer-Wolf, 2018) the author discusses how the University of Michigan now offers rape kits at their on school campus clinic. He discusses how this can make the patients feel more comfortable and safe, rather than sitting and waiting in an emergency room.

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WASHINGTON -- If students are raped at the University of Michigan, in most cases a nurse who specializes in sexual assaults can asses and treat them right at the campus health center, rather than sending them to the local hospital, a program that institution officials said makes survivors feel more comfortable and shows a commitment to these kinds of issues.

At the annual American College Health Association conference here Wednesday, representatives from Michigan walked through the benefits of offering sexual assault nurse examiners, or SANE, at the campus clinic. They are specially trained to conduct sensitive exams after a sexual assault, and to do it in a way that makes the survivor feel comfortable.

Instead of hiring new employees, or taking away clinicians from their normal duties, the institution shares the University of Michigan Hospital emergency room's 10 SANE nurses, who examine victims at the health center, not the emergency room.

Students later reported seeking out the health center because it felt more comfortable and less chaotic compared to the emergency room, said a University of Michigan physician, Susan Ernst. It was also more conveniently located, she said.

The exams are only offered at the health center until about 2 p.m., because the center closes at 5 p.m. and rape kits can be a lengthy process. After that hour, students are redirected to the emergency room again.

This practice started in late 2015, after student activists complained to the university administration that it needed to do more to combat campus sexual violence. Several years ago Michigan participated in an Association of American Universities survey that at the time was one of the biggest studies of campus sexual assault. The survey of 27 campuses, both public and private, revealed about 23 percent of female undergraduates had at some point been the victim of some unwanted sexual contact. A survey that Michigan conducted independently yielded similar statistics.

After the results were revealed to campus, students who were upset about these issues met with President Mark Schlissel, who in turn went to the health center staffers, who brought the SANE system to the health center.

The health center aggressively marketed the shift. It worked with some medical students, who "took over" Snapchat to advertise it, a live stream that was viewed thousands of times in just six minutes, Ernst said. Getting buy-in from students, and their lobbying, can help bring about campus change, she said.

Ernst said in an interview after her session that the number of students receiving those exams has gone up in the past several years, but the cause could not necessarily be traced to the change to offering them on campus. The number of exams, both at the emergency center and campus health clinic, tends to skyrocket in the fall around football season. In November 2017, there were 17 total recorded exams in both facilities.

"I think it just shows that we care about these issues, and it creates a certain culture," she said.

But Michigan seemingly lucked out in terms of bankrolling this deal. It borrows the nurses from the emergency center, and many of the other expenses are paid for either by the existing health-center fee that all students pay, by the state or through nonprofit donations (such as clothing for survivors).

Students also pay for nothing in this system -- the cost of the drug regimen that the Centers for Disease Control recommends following a sexual assault is covered by the university.

Other states and institutions lack those resources. One audience member pointed out, for instance, that in her home state of Rhode Island, almost no nurses are SANE-certified, so the universities would need to invest there.

Also complicating matters are the reporting requirements. While federal law doesn't require clinicians to tell other administrators about a sexual assault, a Michigan state law does require physicians to report to police officers in the case of sexual assaults. To that end, only nurses and nurse-practitioners interact with sexual assault victims at the university, Ernst said.

Each state will have its own reporting requirements, too.

"This has been helpful, though, in so many ways," Ernst said.

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Sexual assault exams offered at University of Michigan health center

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WASHINGTON -- If students are raped at the University of Michigan, in most cases a nurse who specializes in sexual assaults can asses and treat them right at the campus health center, rather than sending them to the local hospital, a program that institution officials said makes survivors feel more comfortable and shows a commitment to these kinds of issues.

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Exploration Option 1: Top 5 From the Mind of a Current School Counselor

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Exploration Option 1: Top 5 From the Mind of a Current School Counselor

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I talked with a Guidance Counselor for Ector ISD, Ms. Youell, about the legal and ethical issues that play an important part in her role.

1. Ms. Youell has been fortunate as her time as the counselor to not have any past or current legal issues that impact her job.

2. Because of nothing serious that has happened within the job, nothing has needed to be revised or changed due to legal or ethical issues.

3. Confidentiality is something that counselors needs to always remember even when we have the need to lean on someone for advice.

4. Without issues arising, there has been no worrying about legal and ethical implications.

5. There are training's available to stay up to date on legal issues in my field, but due to being busy with other duties, the training has not been a top priority.

(J. Youell, personal communication, June 4, 2018)

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Upon completion of my Master of Education in Counseling, I will be the Eldorado Elementary School Counselor. It will be my job to provide counseling services to the students and plan fun, engaging character education lessons.