Schools' Failure To Properly Deal With Harassment Could Lead To Cut In Funding

CNN (10/27, Cohen) reports that schools that "fail to properly deal with harassment" among students that is "based on gender, race or other issues, they risk being cited for contributing to a pattern of civil rights violations that could, in extreme cases, lead to a cut in federal funding, according to top officials." The issue was a dressed in a letter from US education officials "sent Tuesday to thousands of schools, colleges, universities and school districts around the country that included examples of bullying and harassment cases that constituted violations of federal civil rights laws."

 

Christina A. Samuels wrote in the Education Week (10/26) "Politics K-12" blog that "harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered students may be a form of gender stereotyping and therefore a federal offense," according to the Department of Education. "Federal civil rights law also protects against harassment of religious groups 'based on shared ethnic characteristics.'" Russlyn H. Ali, the Education Department's assistant secretary for civil rights, noted that "the guidance from the department is a reiteration of guidance that had come from the Bush administration in 2001 and 2006."

 

Maureen Downey wrote in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (10/26), "While I agree that bullying is a problem, do we need the White House to put it on its agenda?" According to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the guidance aims "to both help education institutions build on their bullying prevention programs and to wake up 'the schools that have their heads in the sand.'" He also explained, "If the federal government has to step in, it means that the problem was ignored for far too long."

 

Survey Shows Half Of High School Students Admit To Bullying Peers. California's Contra Costa Times (10/27, Butler) reports that a survey released Tuesday by the Josephson Institute of Ethics found that "nearly half of high school students report that they have been bullied," and "exactly half of respondents admitted they had bullied, teased or taunted someone in the past year." The survey, "billed as the largest bullying survey of high school students," included "43,321 high school students" in the US and "had a margin of error of less than 1 percentage point."