White House conference tackles bullying

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention Thursday.

“If there is one goal of this conference, it is to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up,” Obama said in a speech at the conference.

The conference, put on in coordination with the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, includes discussions about the effects of bullying on young people, preventing bullying and harassment in schools and the community, and cyberbullying.

President Obama and the first lady met with students and parents from the Conference on Bullying Prevention in the Oval Office on Thursday, prior to delivering remarks in the East Room.

At midday, there will be a Facebook video chat about internet safety.

The Department of Education hosted the first-ever National Bullying Summit in August 2010, and a websit, StopBullying.gov has been created.

In the administration’s 2012 fiscal budget, Obama has designated $132 million to combat violence and the bullying of children, providing grants to state and local governments under the Education department’s “Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students” program.

Anti-bullying legislation, called the Safe Schools Improvement Act, was introduced this week by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey from Pennsylvania and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk from Illinois.

The bipartisan legislation would require schools and districts receiving designated federal funds to adopt codes of conduct specifically prohibiting bullying and harassment. The act would ensure that schools and districts implement effective prevention programs, and would require states to report data on bullying and harassment to the Department of Education.

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StopBullying.gov

Seven teens arrested in recorded beating of 13-year-old

Seven teenagers were in custody Tuesday in connection with the beating of a 13-year-old boy, attacked while he was walking home from school this month in a Philadelphia suburb, authorities said.

A video taken on the cell phone of one of the suspects shows the boy being kicked, dragged through the snow and stuffed into a tree, then hung from his jacket on a tall wrought-iron fence. On the video, the boy can be heard screaming as his attackers laugh.

“It was seven against one,” said Michael Chitwood, police superintendent for Upper Darby Township. “It was a wolf pack.”

“Bullying has always been amongst us, but these thugs videotape themselves and then go on social-network sites and become heroes,” he said. “These kids, these thugs, these criminals have a sense of empowerment. The mentality is idiotic, but it helps us solve crimes.”

Police confiscated the video before it was posted to any networking sites, he said.

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Signs your kid is being cyberbullied

Bullying is in our schools, and now it’s online. Why do kids do it? What can be done to put an end to it? Don’t miss an “AC360°” special report in collaboration with Cartoon Network: “Stop Bullying: Speak Up,” starting Monday night at 10 ET on CNN.

It’s possible that you won’t even know — studies show that only 5 percent of middle-schoolers tell their parents when they’re the victims of cyberbullying (a disturbing statistic, if we ever saw one).

Speak out on bullying in U.S. schools

Watch for these clues that something’s going on in your child’s online world, then get involved:

Parenting.com: Should schools punish cyberbullies?

1. Social withdrawal

Your tween stops playing games online or using the phone, and her comrades are mysteriously MIA.

“Most online attacks are launched by friends who know their passwords… and their secrets,” says cyber lawyer Parry Aftab, founder of Stopcyberbullying.org.

Parenting.com: 13 ways you can help your child stand up under social pressure

2. Fear of technology

Your child spends her evenings catching up on her reading (not that that’s a bad thing) instead of logging on, and appears nervous when text messages pop up.

Parenting.com: New AOL service tracks kids’ social media usage

3. Bad behavior

“Younger kids will misbehave when they’re tired, but when tweens act out, there’s a good chance it’s because someone is making their life miserable,” says Monica Vila of Theonlinemom.com.

Parenting.com: Social networking sites for kids

4. Ask around

Odds are your 12-year-old told her best pal about the cruel comments made about her weight in a chat room, then she told her mom. Check in with parents you trust.

Parenting.com: 4 fixes for tween school-anxiety

5. See for yourself

If all else fails, Internet parental controls and monitoring software — as well as regular, honest chats about your kid’s online life — can help you identify an elusive bully.

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Ellen DeGeneres Records Passionate Message For Teenage Bullying Victims

“One life lost in this senseless way is tragic. Four lives lost is a crisis. And these are just the stories we hear about. How many other teens have we lost? How many others are suffering in silence? Being a teenager and figuring out who you are is hard enough without someone attacking you.

My heart is breaking for their families, their friends and for a society that continues to let this happen. These kids needed us. We have an obligation to change this. There are messages everywhere that validate this kind of bullying and taunting and we have to make it stop. We can’t let intolerance and ignorance take another kid’s life.

I want anyone out there who feels different and alone to know that I know how you feel. There is help out there.” – Ellen DeGeneres

See Video Message from Ellen

National Center for Bullying Prevention

Rutgers University Student Commits Suicide After Sexual Encounter Posted Online

The news that an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University committed suicide after his roommate allegedly broadcast the young man’s sexual encounter over the Internet.

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With cyberbullying there is no safe place to study

It used to be that the bully in the schoolyard taunted victims face to face. Today, attacks of name calling or being the target of rumors can come via e-mails and text messages, sometimes anonymously, from a teenage cyberbully sitting at a computer or texting on a cell phone long after the school bell has rung and the halls have gone dark. Now, new research is painting a worrisome portrait of those attackers and their victims.

A study published in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry examined the social and psychological risk factors associated with cyberbullying. Researchers in Finland surveyed more than 2,200 teens in the seventh and ninth grades. The study found the majority of victims who were repeatedly attacked in cyberspace perceived a definite or severe amount of difficulty in their lives. They reported having headaches, ongoing physical pains and trouble sleeping. One in four felt unsafe.

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Father of suicide victim talks about cyberbullies

John Halligan has some advice for cyberchallenged parents with young children: Learn how to use Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Not knowing your way around the Internet, Halligan warns, could have life-and-death consequences.
He knows.
On Oct. 7, 2003, Halligan’s 14-year-old son, Ryan, committed suicide in their Vermont home.

As technology becomes more sophisticated, bullying is moving from the schoolyard to cyberspace.
“Anybody can bully anybody today,” he said. “They hide behind a screen name and go at it.”
Studies show that youngsters are bullied on the Internet at a rate of two or three times the traditional physical form inflicted by the schoolyard bully.

Full Article via Reading Eagle

Two cyberbullying bills duke it out in House committee

The House Judiciary Committee listened to testimonies this week that argued the differences between two proposed laws aimed at cyberbullying. The two bills take decidedly different approaches, and many of the experts at the hearing favored one that focused on education.

Cyberbullying is a delicate subject that is better met with education than with laws to criminalize it, testimony before the House Judiciary Committee suggested yesterday. Most experts testifying at the hearing agreed that criminalization would be difficult—both from an enforcement standpoint and also Constitutionally—while education would offer a better approach to some of the nuances of cyberbullying.

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Mom Wants Cyberbullies Punished

What would you do if your sixth grade daughter was the target of a vicious internet video?

Beth Smith is living that nightmare. Her daughter’s classmates, aged 11 and 12-years-old, made the clip called the “Top Six Ways to Kill Piper,” taking cyber- bullying to a disturbing new level.

What are school officials and police doing about it? Kiran Chetry spoke with Piper Smith and her mom Beth and asked how they first found out this video was online.

Read full story here – Mom Wants Cyberbullies Punished

Top Six Ways to Kill Piper