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I am currently pursuing a degree in educational leadership. After graduating, I hope to get a job on a secondary campus as an assistant principal. Eventually becoming a principal at a secondary campus.

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National School Board Association (NSBA): Bullying

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National School Board Association (NSBA): Bullying

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While exploring the National School Board Association (NSBA) website for legal and ethical issues facing education, school safety was one of the issues. Within school safety, NSBA explored the issue of bullying within schools. The attached article gives and overview of each state and their response to bullying within schools.

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Anti-Bullying Statutes by State | National School Boards Association

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NSBA represents state school boards associations and their more than 90,000 local school board members. We believe education is a civil right, and public education is America's most vital institution.

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Tiffany Huebner is one of the assistant principals at Central High School. I meet with her to discuss legal and ethical issues currently facing school administration.

While serving as assistant principal, Tiffany deals with at risk students the majority of time. Most of her dealings center around three major issues: attendance, school safety, and student rights.  Since the students are at risk, attendance issues eat up most of her time (T. Huebner, personal communication, March 16, 2019).

Attendance has become a bigger issue after House Bill 2398 was passed.  HB 2398 took away the school's ability to file on students and guardians for nonattendance. Schools are now struggling with ways to hold students accountable for attendance purposes (T. Huebner, personal communication, March 16, 2019).

School safety and students' rights go hand-in-hand. School safety is the top priority for every school. Students and parents need to feel and know they are safe when they are at school.  Every year the administrative staff attends updated courses over Texas Administrative Code Chapter 37. The most overreaching of them is chapter 37: school safety and law and order (T. Huebner, personal communication, March 16, 2019).

After our meeting, I began to notice two major themes of attendance and school safety.  Attendance has been addressed, and the school has a good plan in place.  I decided to focus on school safety since it was a training the administrative team attends yearly.  While looking at school safety, a major issue kept coming up: bullying.  I decided to focus my efforts on bullying and understanding what schools are  allowed to do and are expected to do (T. Huebner, personal communication, March 16, 2019).

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Stopbullying.gov is a website that lists all of the Texas Education Code anti-bullying laws and policies currently in place. The website also gives definitions of different types of bullying and what and/or who is protected under the laws and policies.

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US Department of Health and Human Services

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Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA)

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Find out what laws and policies cover bullying and cyberbullying in Texas. Visit StopBullying.gov for more information.

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Bullying is at the forefront of minds of many politicians, educators, parents, and students. Bullying has become a hot button issue for schools over the past few years, and schools are struggling with how to address bullying effectively to provide a positive school environment.

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Texas School Safety Center: Internet Resource

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Texas School Safety Center: Internet Resource

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The Texas School Safety Center is a research center located on the Texas State University campus that helps distribute information on school safety and security, training, and technical assistance for K-12 schools (Texas State, Texas School Safety Center, n.d.)

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Texas Schools, Bullying, and the Law | Texas School Safety Center

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Texas HB 1942 was passed mandating schools to make their campuses safer for all students specifically regarding the issues of bullying and cyberbullying. The Texas School Safety Center has a created short video that explains Texas HB 1942 in terms that administrators, teachers, and parents can easily understand.

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Texas State, Texas School Safety Center. (n.d). About. Retrieved from https://txssc.txstate.edu/about/

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National Education Association (NEA): Bullying

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National Education Association (NEA): Bullying

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The National Education Association had an entire section devoted to bullying in schools.  Most of the section dealt with identifying and addressing bullying within schools.  Almost every state has passed some type of legislation related to bullying, but the degree varies from state to state.  Educators are encouraged to research their own state laws and school board policies.

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Understand What Bullying Is

Bullying is systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt and/or psychological distress on another. Bullying can be physical, verbal or social. Bullying is not just child's play, but a frightening experience many students face every day. It can be as direct as teasing, hitting, threatening, destruction of property or forcing someone to do something against their will, or as indirect as in rumors, exclusion, or manipulation. Bullying involves a real or perceived power imbalance between the one who bullies and their target.

Understand What Bullying Is Not

It is important not to misuse the term bullying for every behavior problem. Identifying what a behavior really is (and labeling the behavior not the student) helps us to select the most appropriate intervention strategies. Can you distinguish bullying from normal conflict? There are three basic ways to know the difference. The student doing the bullying:

Picks on their target day after day (repetition).

Wins because their target is smaller, younger or less socially able to cope (power imbalance).

Enjoys seeing their target afraid and upset (intent to harm).

What About Bullying I Can't See

Today's students are faced with bullying that the caring adults in their lives can't always see at school (at least not in the traditional sense).

CYBERBULLYING

Cyberbullying is the term applied to bullying over the Internet, via email, text messaging, and similar technological modes of communication. Cyberbullying includes sending or posting harmful material or engaging in other forms of social aggression. This form of bullying is more intense as it can occur around the clock, and the text or images can be widely disseminated, well beyond the school grounds.

SEXTING

Sexting is the term combining the words sex and texting. It applies to the act of creating, sending, posting and disseminating sexually suggestive text messages, pictures or videos of oneself or others. Sexting generally is done via cell phones, but teens also use computers, web cams, digital cameras and other electronic devices to get to the Internet.

Bullying and Sexual Harassment

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Sexual harrassment at school is unwanted and unwelcomed behavior of a sexual nature that interferes with a student's rights to receive an equal educational opportunity. Bullying and sexual harassment are different, yet linked, behaviors. Bullying in children can develop into sexual harassment in older students. Bullying and sexual harassment share several predictors, such as low empathy and a need for dominance in a relationship.

Bullying and Assault

ASSAULT

Assault is defined as a violent verbal or physical attack. Assault is a form of extreme bullying that has legal implications. Targets of assault may seek legal action.

Where Bullying Behaviors Take Place

Bullying occurs during the school day and after school hours. It happens in the school building, in classrooms, hallways, bathrooms, and in the cafeteria; on the playground or other outdoor common areas on school grounds; and on the bus or at the bus stop. It is important to note that bullying occurs most often in areas where there is little or no adult supervision.

Bullying and District and School Policies

A clear definition of bullying is an essential component of bullying policies. You should be able to locate your school and/or district policy on bullying. Assess the policy for inclusion and accuracy of a bullying definition. If your school or district doesn't have a policy or if the definition is unclear, this is a good place to get started with your prevention program and advocacy efforts.

Bullying and State Laws

Almost all states currently have a law addressing bullying in schools. Review the law for inclusion of a bullying definition. Does the law effectively communicate an educator's legal responsibilities regarding bullying? Does the law require training of all school staff?

Commonly Targeted Populations

Usually, the students targeted by hurtful comments or actions are different from their peers in some way. According to the NEA survey, educators reported that bullying based on a student's weight (23%), gender (20%), perceived sexual orientation (18%), and disability (12%) were of concern in their school. Homophobia plays a large role in the bullying of students who are perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), gender non-conforming, or those questioning their sexual identity. According to a 2011 National School Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 8 out of 10 middle and high school LGBT students experience harassment at school because of their sexual orientation. Students are also commonly targets of bullying based on their religious beliefs. Research has shown a trend in the bullying of Muslim- American students. Recent studies indicate the group most targeted for bullying is special education students. When special education students are targets of bullying, some are likely to then bully fellow special education students.

Know the Consequences

Bullying will lead to a number of negative consequences academically and emotionally. In addition to poor attendance and decreased academic performance, bullying causes feelings of helplessness, anger and frustration. The consequences experienced are not limited just to the person who is bullied. Bullying causes mental, physical and emotional damage to all involved, including bystanders.

And, research has shown the effects last well into adulthood. When you think of these consequences remember this one fact: Bullying is preventable and, thereby, the consequences are too.

WHAT IS BULLYING?
"I have witnessed physical and verbal bullying in the cafeteria, especially when adult presence is low," says Donna. "This usually happens during breakfast when we have a limited staff on duty. Name calling and pushing and shoving are typical things that we deal with."
Donna West, a food service professional at Brownwood Elementary School in Scottsboro, Alabama, says even the young children in her K-4 school need to be reminded that bullying can hurt.

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Bullying is systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt and/or psychological distress on another. Bullying can be physical, verbal or social. Bullying is not just child's play, but a frightening experience many students face every day. It can be as direct as teasing, hitting, threatening, destruction of property or forcing someone to do something against their will, or as indirect as in rumors, exclusion, or manipulation.

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Understanding Bullying and Cyberbullying: Applying Laws and Best Practices

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Understanding Bullying and Cyberbullying: Applying Laws and Best Practices

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While conducting a search within the Angelo State Library database on bullying and school law, the article Understanding Bullying and Cyberbullying: Applying Laws and Best Practices came up.  Within the article, it discusses how bullying has been addressed in the past, how legislators are currently addressing the issue in Texas, and how schools should be addressing the issue

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"Understanding Bullying and Cyberbullying: Applying Laws and Best Practices" | EP Magazine

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Read EP Magazine's post, "Understanding Bullying and Cyberbullying: Applying Laws and Best Practices".

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During the 85th Texas legislative session, the legislature passed SB179 or David's Law.  David's law updated the definition of bullying, which now includes cyberbullying and procedures on how to deal with bullying (Texas State, Texas School Safety Center, n.d.).  Bullying is referred to as any event where one person is made to feel inferior by one or more people according to the Texas anti-bullying laws and regulations (stopbullying.gov, 2017).  Bullying is not new to Texas schools, but it is an issue that has gained more attention in recent years.  Due to this increase in attention, politicians and schools are looking at new ways to address the issue.

Currently Texas has 16 education codes that address all aspects of bullying. These education codes regulate how Texas schools must deal with bullying from prevention, to training, to discipline, and even to parent involvement. One part the Texas eduction code left out was creating a list of specific groups that are protected by these codes. Instead, if a school receives federal money, it must follow federal policy on discrimination, which list specific groups (stopbullying.gov, 2017).

While many think bullying is easy to identify at first glance, it is not. For the act to be considered bullying, it must meet specific criteria. Also, many times if the event does not meet the definition of bullying, schools feel like they can not intervene. In fact, they are allowed to intervene through a multitude of options. It is the schools responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for all students. As a future administrator, it is my duty to build and foster this type of school environment (Texas State, Texas School Safety Center, n.d.).

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stopbullying.gov. (2017, June 20). Texas anit-bullying laws and policies. Retrieved from https://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/texas/index.html

Texas State, Texas School Safety Center. (n.d). Texas bullying laws. Retrieved from https://txssc.txstate.edu/videos/bullying-and-the-law/