A Call To Action: Cyberbullying In Schools

On June 16, 2000, Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education released “A Call to Action” letter to students, parents, teachers, activity advisors, coaches, school administrators, and local boards of education members, to address the issues of school climate and bullying. The letter placed increased responsibility on school communities to create a safe learning environment. Since 2002, boards of education have been required to establish policies prohibiting bullying. Since then, the law has been amended several times in an effort to protect students from bullying. The amendments further describe other incidences of bullying as physical acts or gestures with intent to cause physical or emotional harm, damage to property, or creating a hostile …show more content…
11-232), amended Conn. Gen. Stat. 10-222d to add clarification of the term “bullying” by explaining cyberbullying as “the active bulling through the use of Internet, interactive and digital technologies, cellular mobile telephone or other mobile electronic devices or any electronic indications characterizes bullying in written or electronic communication is cyberbullying.” Public Act No. 11-232. The law now includes language requiring the principal or school designee to notify the appropriate law enforcement agency if there is belief an act of bullying constitutes criminal conduct (Dolphin, 2012). Administrators must be knowledgeable of the law, understand definitions of bullying; including cyber bullying, in order to make a determination that student conduct constitutes bullying. If bullying behavior represents one of the crimes mentioned above, administrators should use good judgment and discretion in reporting instances to local police officials. Once law enforcement concludes the conduct represents bullying, administrators should follow steps to implement interventions required by the bulling law and the districts safe school climate plan (Dolphin, …show more content…
R. 1966). As cyber-bullying continues to gain momentum with its anonymous attacks on victims, there will be continued pressure on the federal government to enact laws to protect victims. In a recent article titled, Is Cyber Bullying a Crime? Hopefully Soon, fifteen states have set laws making cyber-bullying a crime and currently there is a bill being considered in law making cyber-bullying a federal crime. As the number of cases of children who commit suicide after being attacked by cyber-bullying continues to rise, state and federal laws will need to respond to protect teens who are victimized by teasing, humiliating comments, embarrassment and prejudice often leading to depression and