Teacher World

A new state law in New Jersey to curb bullying in their schools is being called the toughest legislation against bullying in the nation, and it’s receiving both support and apprehension.

The new law, called the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights was motivated by public uproar over the suicide of Rutgers University freshman, Tyler Clementi, almost a year ago. It requires all public schools to adopt comprehensive anti-bullying policies (there are 18 pages of “required components”) to increase staff training, and to comply with strict deadlines for reporting episodes.

Each school is required to designate an anti-bullying specialist, whose job it is to investigate all complaints of bullying in their school, and each district must appoint an anti-bullying coordinator. Additionally, every effort made by districts will be evaluated by the State Education Department, which will post grades on its website. According to superintendents in the state, educators who refuse to comply could lose their licenses.

While many parents and educators are more than willing to do what is necessary to control bullying both in schools and online, some school board members and superintendents across the state claim that this law, which is slated to take effect tomorrow, goes way too far. They also complain that they have not been given the additional resources it will take to meet the demands this law will place on their schools.

Richard G. Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators said, “I think this has gone well overboard. Now we have to police the community 24 hours a day. Where are the people and the resources to do this?”

In general, schools are using their guidance counselors and social workers to take on the role of anti-bullying specialists. While this may seem like the best alternative, it raises concerns as to whether they have either the time or experience to investigate every complaint of harassment or intimidation as well as filling out the detailed reports that are required, all the while fulfilling all their usual job-related obligations.

An additional concern of some administrators is whether making the schools legally responsible for bullying both in and out of school will make them more vulnerable to complaints and possible lawsuits when students and parents are not satisfied with the outcome of their investigations.

To prepare for the implementing of this law, thousands of school employees spent part of their summer attending training sessions, and more than 200 districts purchased a package compiled by a consulting firm that includes a 100-page manual and a DVD. Cost of the package? $1,295!

Some of those who attended left feeling, like Meg Duffy, a little overwhelmed with the mandates of this new law. A counselor at the Hillside Intermediate School in Bridgewater, she said that there had been an increase in cyberbullying at her school last year, with students texting and/or posting mean comments about other students. These are the kinds of situations this new bill would demand that schools get involved with as well as bullying at school.

Districts are also required under this law to appoint a safety team including teachers, other staff members, and parents at each school. Their job would be to review complaints. It also requires principals to begin investigations of reports of bullying within one school day of the bullying episode. Superintendents need to provide reports to Trenton two times a year which contains details of all of the bullying episodes their district deals with each year.

One district that is taking this law very seriously is the East Hanover district. They have partnered with Crimestoppers, a program of the Morris County sheriff’s office, with the intent of making the reporting of bullying easier. But the fact that Crimestoppers will accept anonymous text messages, calls, or tips to its website is a little frightening. These anonymous tips will be forwarded to schools and local police officials.

This district is spending $3,000 to train its staff, including coaches, cafeteria workers, custodians, and substitute teachers. Joseph L. Ricca, the district’s superintendent, said, “We really want to be able to implement this new law and achieve results.” But he added, that the law’s “sheer scope may prove to be a bit unwieldy and may require some practical refinement.”

 “The whole push is to incorporate the anti-bullying process into the culture,” Lucila Hernandez, a school psychologist, said. “We’re empowering children to use the term ‘bullying’ and to speak up for themselves and for others.”

At North Hunterdon High School, students will be learning that if they see bullying, they have a responsibility to try to stop it because there is no such thing as an innocent bystander.

Dr. Margaret Dolan, the Westfield superintendent expressed concern that, due to this new law, both parents and students may find it easier to call minor disagreements bullying, instead of trying to find ways to work out their differences. 

 “Kids have to learn to deal with conflict,” she said. “What a shame if they don’t know how to effectively interact with their peers when they have a disagreement.”

Now, I must admit, as much as I advocate developing stronger anti-bullying policies in our schools, this law seems so big and so unmanageable that I fear it is going to create chaos. There is simply no way that every single reported incident of bullying is going to be handled within a day by already overworked principals, and that superintendents will be able to find the time to fill out the detailed reports on every incident that is investigated. These expectations are unreasonable when no additional resources are being provided.

The other huge problem I see with this law is the reporting, just as Dr. Dolan said, of every frivolous disagreement between students, which would further inundate the specialists and principals in an avalanche of reports to be investigated, making it difficult or impossible to get to the serious incidents of bullying that really do require intervention.

Finally, the idea of taking anonymous tips is extremely problematic. I am sure that some kids will use this opportunity as it is intended; to report incidents of bullying that they would be afraid to admit to publicly. But you can’t tell me that some wouldn’t view this as the perfect opportunity to get back at someone they harbor a grudge against by calling in a bogus tip just to get that person in trouble, or maybe even to take the spotlight off of their own bullying.

I am all for tougher anti-bullying policies in our schools, and I believe the intent of this law is commendable. I just fear that it is such an overwhelming venture that the likelihood of its success is bleak. I would hope that, if it does prove to be too wide in its scope, future revisions might make it more manageable and more successful.

Good luck New Jersey! I would not be upset if you prove me wrong!

Bullying, Teacher's Unions, teen suicide Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, Bullying, cyberbullying, New Jersey schools, Tyler Clementi

Did you hear that Missouri’s controversial law which prohibited teachers from engaging in private online conversations with their students has not only been blocked, but it may also be repealed?

On August 23, it was announced that the teachers in Missouri filed a lawsuit against the social media law. In their suit, the teachers association said that the use of websites such as Facebook and Twitter had become such a common mode of communication between teachers and students that being restricted from using these means of communication violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The law was supposed to take effect Sunday, however, Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem called for a preliminary injunction which will block it until at least February. The judge stated that the restrictions called for in this law “would have a chilling effect” on free speech rights.

Beetem stated that he felt the lawsuit would likely succeed, and his order made note of the fact that social networking sites are widely-used by teachers and the law would even have restricted online communications between family members where the parents are also teachers.

“The breadth of the prohibition is staggering,” Beetem wrote in his order, which specifically assured teachers that they could not be disciplined if they engaged in private online communications with students as long as the injunction is in effect. He continued to explain that they were safe even if the injunction is overturned in the future.

As if that wasn’t enough of a setback, just a few hours later Gov. Jay Nixon announced that he plans, at a special session scheduled to start Sept. 6, to ask lawmakers to repeal the restrictions called for in the law. Additionally, he wants lawmakers to also reverse new work-related restrictions on websites and eliminate the requirement that this law called for which forced schools to create written policies regarding teacher-student communications by January.

Nixon explained that he has reversed his original support of this bill because the restrictions regarding online communication are “causing substantial confusion and concern among teachers, students and families.” He went on to state, “In a digital world, we must recognize that social media can be an important tool for teaching and learning.”

Criticism erupted over the ‘Facebook Law,” as it came to be called, this summer when teachers began to express concern as to how this law could hurt their classroom activities as well as school-related conversations with students that occur after school.

Todd Fuller, a spokesman for the Missouri State Teachers Association, said, “This particular issue took a national tone, and we started to hear from teachers not just in Missouri but from throughout the United States.”

Legitimate concerns expressed by teachers in Missouri dealt with issues such as whether the law could prevent a third-grade class from communicating with a class in another country through a closed website, or whether students would be able to communicate using direct messages in virtual classrooms.

The sponsor of the bill which was signed into law by Gov. Nixon, Republican state Sen. Jane Cunningham, said she had been striving to reach a compromise with education groups which would repeal the law, replacing it with less-specific requirements for local school districts to follow regarding teacher-student communications.

She expressed the need to make changes as soon as possible saying, “There’s no reason for us to punt on this thing and let it continue to simmer and draw attention from all over the world.” (Is her haste to get a policy written quickly due to the fact that she realizes the whole deck of cards seems to be tumbling down?)

Only part of this broad education bill dealt with social media sites and how teachers interacted within them. One of its major provisions requires schools to share information they may have regarding teachers who have sexually abused students with other districts, even allowing lawsuits in situations where districts fail to provide such information. This provision was not challenged, and Nixon said he continues to support those provisions and will not ask for them to be repealed.

To teachers and other opponents of this law, I just want to say, “Way to go!” Look what your voices accomplished! And teachers in Missouri, way to stand together and declare that this law was unconstitutional! There is far too much government control over our schools of late, and this was another terrible example of government reaching too deeply into the private affairs of its public workers.

Meanwhile, the judge’s injunction blocks the law until February 20, in order to hold a hearing on a permanent injunction. Fuller stated that if lawmakers were to repeal the law, then the teachers’ lawsuit would become irrelevant. Fuller added, “But until that happens we wouldn’t drop the suit.”

.

Teacher-World's Blog Facebook Law, Gov. Jay Nixon, Judge Jon Beetem, Missouri, social media sites, teacher-student communications

Let’s talk a little bit about dyslexia and new technology out there that is being utilized to help those who are dyslexic to overcome this disability.

Dyslexia, or developmental reading disorder (DRD) according to PubMedHealth, “is a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols.”

People with this disorder may have difficulty rhyming and separating sounds that make up spoken words, abilities which seem to be an integral key to learning to read. Early reading skills are based on word recognition; being able to separate out the sounds in words matching them to letters and groups of letters. But people with DRD have difficulty making the connection between the sounds of language and the letters of words. True dyslexia is more than just confusing or transposing letters.

According to this website, the symptoms of DRD may include the following:
* Difficulty determining the meaning (idea content) of a simple sentence
* Difficulty learning to recognize written words
* Difficulty rhyming

Ben Foss, a lawyer, businessman, and executive director of Disability Rights Advocates, was identified with dyslexia when he was in the first grade. His parents treated his disability frankly and supportively, even giving him permission to vent in his room when he became frustrated, but they did not let his DRD become an excuse in school.

Foss explains his dyslexia by telling people he is from two different places: “New Hampshire, and dyslexia. Dyslexia is a place where we have different learning practices. Both of these places are part of who I am.”

Foss described what it’s like to try to read when you have dyslexia to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent saying, “When I read text, it’s like having a bad cell phone connection to the page; things drop out, I miss pieces of information.”

He relied heavily, throughout his education, on his mother. Foss said, “When I was a kid, my mom would read out loud to me, which wasn’t a big deal. When I went to college, I used to fax my term papers home to her in New Hampshire, and she’d read them to me over the phone so that I could find my own spelling mistakes.”

Foss, like so many others with a reading-based learning disability, became increasingly frustrated with the long waiting periods he endured for limited audio materials. He was convinced that there had to be a better way for people like him to read in spite of their disability.
 
In January, 2006, Foss came up with an idea to make reading easier for people like himself. He said, “I was sitting at my desk holding a cell phone and wondering if I could get it to take a picture of text and have it read it back.”

The earliest Intel®Reader was actually a cut-up Styrofoam cooler with a lens taped on. Each development and improvement along the way, up till the current design, has been guided by accuracy, convenience, and discretion.

The current prototype is a portable, flexible assistive technology tool (click here to see it in use) that has a high-resolution camera as well as an Intel®Atom™processor.  Very simply, the user takes a picture of the printed text he wants to read. In about 30 seconds, the Intel Reader processes the picture, converting it from the written text to speech. As the words are spoken, they are also highlighted on the screen, creating a dual sensory experience.

Users are able to store material in its content management system in a logical manner. Additionally, its compact size and portability make it easy for people to utilize the Intel Reader in all aspects of their lives.

Foss admitted to CNN that his decision to create this device stemmed from his own desire to be independent. He laughingly explained, “That was basically so I didn’t have to call my mom every time I needed something read, you know like, good for me, good for my mom!”

Foss is an advocate for all kids struggling with learning disabilities, striving to provide them with the independence to succeed by themselves. His Intel Reader gives kids exactly this kind of independence and self-confidence.

His message to kids like himself: “Dyslexia is not a dirty word. The sun will not explode if you don’t read well. Just let people know that you have trouble reading and then find an alternative. Do not assume you need to do it the way everyone else does it.” 

Ben continues to fight for people just like him in his position as Executive Director of Disability Rights Advocates, where he tells an audience, “Think about who you are and what your story is.” He encourages his audience to be open about their disabilities rather than trying to hide it. And he persuades them to find ways to adapt in order to succeed.

Foss is also the president of Headstrong Nation, which their website states, “is dedicated to serving the dyslexic community by providing information about dyslexia, self-advocacy and new technologies in multimedia formats.” 

The mission of Headstrong Nation is: “to give people with dyslexia access to hope and self-respect. Our goals are to reduce dropout rates, ease underemployment and end the isolation of the world’s largest disability group.”

With an estimated 15 to 20 percent of the population struggling with language-based learning disabilities, it is extremely important that we continue to search for new ways to help these children learn. Because the possibilities are endless if they can gain the support and independence that Ben Foss advocates.

If you would like to learn more about Ben Foss, follow this link for the rest of his interview.

learning disabilities, Teacher-World's Blog Ben Foss, Disability Rights Advocates, dyslexia, Headstrong Nation, Intel Readers

A group of students from the Austin area have something to be proud of; they helped in a clean-up project in Joplin, Missouri this summer.

The “Austin Slam” baseball team had been looking forward to the 10-hour trip to Joplin to compete in a tournament until the terrible tornado struck in May. As soon as members of the Austin team heard the devastating news, they began to text their teammate, Nick Balley, asking what they could do to help the people of Joplin.

Fourteen-year old Nick and his fellow teammates turned to their coach, Scott Leon for advice. When Leon was a child, he witnessed the destructive force of a tornado first-hand when a funnel cloud hit his family’s home in Kansas, so he knew the team had to pitch in.

With help and encouragement from their coach, the team headed north to volunteer. Upon their arrival in Joplin, Leon said, “It didn’t even resemble a town in some places. It just looked like a junkyard.”

The team had no idea what to expect when it came to playing a tournament game, especially when they saw the condition of the park where they were to play, Balley said, “We were at a park, and we were helping rake up glass and nails and all the debris from the houses.”

It may seem silly to us to even think about playing baseball at a time like this, but the American Premier Baseball Association games help out Joplin’s economy, which clearly needs a major boost right now. And the citizens of Joplin surely needed to take their minds off the tragedy all around them and enjoy an age-old tradition: a good old-fashioned baseball game.

So, after cleaning up the field, the “Austin Slam” got to play their tournament game, against all odds. Nick’s team made it all the way to the championship game but then lost.

But there were no losers here. Nick said he gained more than he lost because he got to help people who really needed it. Nick said, “As a 14-year old, it kind of changes the way you look at things. Everything’s different now.”

And my guess is that that little piece of normal, playing in a baseball tournament, probably helped those boys from Joplin as well.

Later, Leon said of Nick, “Leaders like him are going to become good people, and hopefully, you know, with hard work, he’s going to become a good baseball player.”

We tend to think of teenagers as being rather self-absorbed, a stereotype that these boys proved to be inaccurate. What a great story, and what an inspiration this group of boys is to so many who hear their story.

I’m sure that the members of the “Austin Slam” will never forget what they saw in Joplin and how their contribution made a difference to the baseball team and the spectators in that courageous city. It is a story that I hope they shared with their classmates as they returned to school last Monday, August 22.

Perhaps their story will encourage others to lend a hand in Joplin or wherever help is needed.

Teacher-World's Blog "Austin Slam" baseball team, Joplin, Missouri, Nick Balley

How many of us would willingly lose money at work, if by doing so, we could send a clear message to bullies that their behavior is unacceptable? Well, Jennifer McKendrick, a small business owner, put her paycheck on the line to do just that!

Jennifer is a photographer in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, who is employed by many parents to take their children’s senior pictures. She told Channel 4 Action News’ Ashlie Hardway that she was on Facebook one night and discovered a locally-made page promoting bullying of some of the local high school seniors. When she noticed that some of the bullies were girls who she was supposed to photograph, she decided that, not only was she not going to take their senior pictures, but she was not going to take pictures of any “ugly” people anymore.

Jennifer told Hardway, “I don’t want to photograph them, I don’t want them to be a part of my business image and I don’t want them on my blog. It was beyond ‘your clothes are ugly’ or ‘you don’t have any brand clothes’ or ‘you are ugly, your hair is not right.’ It was vicious. It was talking about sexuality.”

The page identified certain students by name and attacked them. (Cyberbullying at its ugliest!)

Jennifer took screen shots of the online comments, sending them to the four girls’ parents with the following message:

“I am writing to cancel your shoot scheduled _________ due to some recent events brought to my attention. After stumbling upon a Facebook page called (name removed), I witnessed mean and cruel behavior coming from _______. I am returning your depositing of $212.00 and I’m afraid will need to find another photographer for your daughters senior photos. I want to protect the image of my business and the mean and hurtful things she has said on there is not the type of client I want to represent my business. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and I hope you understand my reasons for doing so. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter any further.”

“I got a couple responses that said ‘thank you for letting them know,’ that they were unaware what was going on and that they would take care of it,” Jennifer said. 

Jennifer also blogged about the incident on her website explaining why she did what she did and declaring that she would not photograph anyone who behaves this way to other people. The blog, titled “I Won’t Photograph Ugly People,” explains that after Jennifer saw the Facebook page, she posted the following comment on Facebook:

“If I’m wrong, please speak up. I came across a page on facebook that was created (by someone under a ficticious name) thats purpose is to bully,  ridicule and say mean and hurtful things about their class mates. While visiting the page, I found several teenage girls that have scheduled sessions with me for their senior pictures. I am emailing them tomorrow to cancel their shoots. I do not want them to represent my business and I am beside myself at how MEAN and CRUEL they were on that page.” (Clearly Jennifer was upset, as you can tell by her typos, which I will not correct in order to relay information exactly as it appeared.)

She stated in her blog that while she was writing the email she intended to send to the four girls’ parents, hundreds of comments began pouring in, most of them stating their total support and admiration for her decision.

She also stated in her blog that she clearly cannot screen every client to determine whether they are bullies, but that in this situation, “it was right in front of my face. I saw it with my own eyes.” And in order to explain her decision, she stated, “it wasn’t hear say, it was right there..with their smiling face right beside such an ugly statement. I couldn’t forget about it, I mean how I could spend 2 hours with someone during our session trying to take beautiful photos of them knowing they could do such UGLY things. Realistically, I know by canceling their shoots it’s not going to make them “nicer people” but I refuse to let people like that represent my business.”

She went on to say that since she is a small business owner, she has the luxury to make decisions regarding who she will photograph, and she boldly stated, “If you are ugly on the inside, I’m sorry but I won’t take your photos to make you look pretty on the outside!”

While Jennifer has received hundreds of comments supporting her actions, not all of the comments she has received have been supportive. In a follow-up blog on her website, she answered some of the negative questions which were raised regarding her decision.

In some instances, she reported that people had made “very mean, hateful, cruel comments.” In fact, some people, including four of her clients, accused her of being a “Facebook stalker who was using Facebook to prescreen or check out her clients.

Jennifer explained that the bullying Facebook page came to her attention when a former colleague of hers, who is a Facebook friend, posted a comment on her page, which Jennifer, as a parent of a small child herself, clicked on to read further. Here is what her colleague had sent her that tweaked Jennifer’s curiosity and led her to the infamous Facebook page:

“If bullying has ever affected your life in any way, please help in this very small way to reduce bullying in Indiana. Go on the Facebook page (left blank in Jennifer’s blog) and report it as inappropriate. It only takes a couple of minutes. And then say a prayer of compassion for the person who set it up.”

Jennifer explained in her second blog that when she went to the page her friend had posted, she discovered her four clients were involved in the bullying. She felt that taking these girls’ pictures would make her a hypocrite, “when they did such ugly things and it went against everything I am trying to teach my daughter.”

Some even accused her of being a bully themselves because she called these girls “ugly.” She blogged that she was clearly referring to their actions and not their physical appearance when she called them ugly.

She wrote, “People aren’t born mean, it’s something they are taught to do or that they do by CHOICE. They were making a choice to be mean and I was making a choice NOT to be part of it or to be part of my business. For those of you who say I should keep my personal beliefs out of my business because it makes me unprofessional. Then I will be unprofessional until the day my business fizzles. I sleep good at night.”

Additionally, some accused Jennifer of starting this whole thing for publicity. To this, she countered that she was writing, as she has done in the past, about her business and her personal beliefs, not for publicity. She wrote, “My original intent was not to go on an anti-bullying rally, but hey if that is the message that gets out there…is it THAT wrong. At least it got you talking about the subject, it opened up dialog for some people to talk with their children about it….is it really such a bad thing.”

Some criticized her for not releasing the names of the four girls, to which Jennifer responded, “We live in such small towns here in Southwestern PA, don’t you think by releasing those names I would in-turn be releasing the media and internet onto them completely defeating the purpose. I mean, if I’m getting mean and hateful things said about me for STANDING UP for something I believe in, can you even imagine what would happen to these 4 girls? As much as I don’t LIKE what they did, I do have compassion and empathy and I would never do that to ANYONE.”

And some accused her of depriving these four girls of having their senior pictures in their yearbook. Unlike the high school my children attended, where students all had to go to one photographer for their senior picture to be placed in the yearbook, Jennifer explained that she isn’t the contracted school yearbook photographer, in fact, there are many photographers in the area for them to choose from, so these girls can still get their senior pictures taken and placed in the yearbook.

I am sure it will come as no surprise to you, in light of my numerous blogs regarding bullying in our schools, that I not only applaud Jennifer McKendrick, I salute her! The courage it took to choose what is right over padding her own bank account speaks volumes about this woman’s integrity. And if it brought some publicity that helps in both the fight against bullying and her photography business, I’m all for both!

This story makes me wonder what would happen if more of us took a stand against bullying in our own spheres of influence? Educators alone cannot battle bullying. That old saying, “It takes a village…” comes to mind. It takes more individuals of integrity, like Jennifer McKendrick, to stand up proudly and declare that they refuse to buy into or cater to bullying anymore, no matter what the personal cost.

What do you say? Are you willing to be a Jennifer McKendrick in your own community, whether at work or at play? Are you willing to take a personal risk for the greater good?

It will take a village to stomp out bullying! Are you willing to play your part?

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog cyberbullying, Facebook, Indiana County, Jennifer McKendrick, Pennsylvania

A controversial new book is slated to hit the bookstores in October, but it already has parents up in arms over what they perceive to be its negative messages for kids.

Paul Kramer is the author of the children’s book called Maggie Goes on a Diet; a book about an overweight 14-year old who is bullied by other kids who call her “chubby” and “fatty.” Maggie decides to do something to lose weight, but she does so in a healthy way. Rather than starve herself, she begins to eat “healthy and nutritious” foods, eats less junk food allowing herself a “normal-sized treat” once a week, exercises every day, and even joins the soccer team.

So far, it sounds fairly innocuous, right? Unfortunately, Kramer begins to send a potentially problematic message when his book, written in rhyme, proclaims the results of Maggie’s efforts. The book states, “Losing the weight was not only good for Maggie’s health, Maggie was so much happier and was also very proud of herself,” and “More and more people were beginning to know Maggie by name. Playing soccer gave Maggie popularity and fame.”

So, what is causing the huge ruckus over this book? First, the title is an issue in and of itself for many parents. Many parents are concerned with the suggestion that children should go on diets, as the title seems to suggest. They argue that girls are already so susceptible to obsessing about their weight due to our culture’s focus on thin, model-like bodies.

Adrienne Ressler from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida commented, “The idea of this book makes me want to either cry or scream — actually both. It’s bad enough that the messages and images in the culture have co-opted most women into loathing their bodies, but targeting the insecurities of young girls, vulnerable to the risk of developing an eating disorder, borders on promoting high risk behaviors and attitudes that are destructive both physically and psychologically. Please take this book off the market.”

On GMA, Kramer was asked why he had to include the word “diet” in the title because it sends the wrong message. He basically said that if the title was Maggie Eats Healthy it would probably be overlooked. Probably the wrong answer for someone who, according to his own statements, is advocated exactly that; eating healthy and exercising.

This brings up another problem people have with the book: Why did he make the main character a girl rather than a boy? Cathleen Connors, the author of HerBadMother.com told The Daily Caller, “It’s so interesting that he didn’t write it about a boy, and that he uses girl-body-image stereotypes to make his point-young girl dreaming about fitting into nice jeans, etc.”

When girls are far more likely to develop eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, it seems irresponsible to target girls in his story.

Another problem with this book is that while Maggie is supposed to be a 14-year old girl, the actual reading level of the book is much lower than 14. Amazon places the reading level between ages 4 and 8, while Barnes & Noble places it between 6 and 12. Many who have posted irate comments argue that little girls shouldn’t even know what a diet is, and they certainly shouldn’t be encouraged by a book to go on one.

In an interview on Fox News, Kramer defended the accusation that his book is aimed at younger children. He said, “I’m not advocating, never did, that any child should go on a diet. First of all, this is a change of lifestyle. This is not meant to be to go on a diet.”

Yet, a few seconds later, he admitted that Maggie did go on a diet just as the title claims.

Yet another problem with the book is its indifference and implied acceptance of the bullying that Maggie experiences. At no point in the story do the bullies face consequences for their actions or show remorse for what they put Maggie through. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth because it seems to tell young people that if you don’t want to be bullied anymore, you need to change what is different about you rather than be accepted for who you are.

Wrong, wrong, wrong! This negates all the anti-bullying messages out there as it shifts the work from the bully to the victim. This book would have been far more powerful, as far as I am concerned, if through a series of events, the bullies had taken responsibility for their actions and learned to see the things about Maggie that make her special, instead of only seeing her as chubby.

Isn’t that the real lesson we want our kids to be learning; that in spite of our differences, we are all worthy of respect and fair treatment? This book muddies that simple message up terribly.

Which leads me to the last big problem with this book. This book has been criticized because it sends the message that being thin will make you happy, will make kids accept you, and will make you popular. Kramer took issue with this criticism saying, “If one is obese, and one loses a bunch of weight, and one becomes fit, I think the rewards of just accomplishing that is good enough.”

But that isn’t the implication in the story; the book says, “More and more people were beginning to know Maggie by name. Playing soccer gave Maggie popularity and fame.” Now, I’m sorry, but any child reading this book, especially a child from 6 to 12-years old, is going to hear the implied message that Maggie became popular and famous because she lost a bunch of weight! I don’t care how Kramer tries to spin this; the message is very clear.

The only positive aspect of this book is its suggestion for healthy eating habits combined with exercise. If the author had written a book that showed how these two healthy habits made a child healthier, most importantly, and also thinner, and that they developed these habits because they wanted to be healthier, I think parents would have praised him for his book. But this message gets lost amidst all of the other disastrous messages.

I am not advocating boycotting this book when it comes out in October, and I don’t think Paul Kramer intentionally wrote a book to get young girls to diet or to make them feel worse about themselves. But I do feel that his choice of character, his unresolved bullying storyline, the genre he chose and its readability level, and the messages this book screams out to young girls are extremely unfortunate.

Would I want my daughter to read this book at a young age? Absolutely not! Would I encourage you to let your daughters read this book? No way! Even if you are reading it with them and trying to undo the implied messages along the way, I fear that girls will only hear the message that Kramer hammered home: You will not be popular or happy if you are overweight, so you’d better go on a diet, girls!

In my opinion, Maggie Goes on a Diet is an unfortunate book with some dangerous messages. But what do you think? Check it out through this link, and let us know how you feel about it.

Bullying, child obesity, Teacher-World's Blog Bullying, child obesity, Maggie Goes on a Diet, Paul Kramer

I’m always interested in information that I can relay to readers about how children can defend themselves against bullying, so when I read this story about the use of Brazilian jiu-jitsu to ward off bullies, I felt compelled to share it with you. I am not advertising or promoting this program, but I find it very intriguing. Perhaps you will, too.

Let’s start with a little background. Rener and Ryron Gracie, sons of Rorion Gracie, UFC coordinator and grandsons of Helio Gracie, the legendary Brazilian jiu-jitsu grandmaster, developed a program designed specifically for younger children who are the target of taunts, shoves, kicks, and punches.

They became interested in utilizing their jiu-jitsu training to give children the courage to stick up for themselves after learning that more than 150,000 students miss school every day because they are afraid that they will be bullied.

So Rener created the Gracie Bullyproof program using jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu is a calculated, mostly nonviolent form of self-defense which uses leverages, locks, and holds to neutralize a larger, stronger foe when they are both off of their feet and fighting in close proximity to each other. Rener and Ryron believe that combined with an understanding of the proper rules of engagement in a school setting, knowledge of jiu-jitsu can help a child fight of a bully.

Let me tell you about one child whose life was changed by this program. Martin Hendricks is a 12-year old who had been bullied for several years by other students at his school.

His mother, Wendy, said, “His grades suffered and he would never stick up for himself. He’s a nice, gentle soul kind of kid and now he didn’t even want to go to school.

Wendy learned about the Gracie Bullyproof program from an online video, and decided to take her son to California and enroll him. Martin spent a week at the academy where he was given private jiu-jitsu lessons by Rener each evening, and was taught a plan for dealing with a bully fairly.

Martin learned what is called the three T-steps:
* TALK to the bully and ask him to leave you alone.
* TELL the teacher and your parent that the bully won’t stop even after you’ve talked to him.
* TACKLE the bully and use jiu-jitsu to gain control of him without resorting to punches or kicks.

Clearly, some bullies will back off when a school administrator is contacted by the parent of the victim, and the situation may be resolved. But some bullies will continue to harass their victims, so notifying both a teacher and parent that they have been asked to stop is an insurance policy for the victim in case they need to go to the third step of this Gracie Bullyproof program.

Renner told Martin, “If you draw that line with your words and the bully respects it, the case is closed without a physical altercation. But if you draw that line and they slap you, kick you, cross that line again, you don’t think twice. You take both of your hands and push him as hard as you can in the chest. You blast him. Knock him off his feet. Then take control using jiu-jitsu and tell him you will let him go if he promises not to bother you any longer. If he won’t say it, wait until a teacher or another adult shows up before letting him up.”

As a result of his training, Martin went back to school with a little more confidence. But after being back to school for four weeks, the bullying started again. Martin said he called Rener for advice, and Rener asked him, “Martin, would you rather fight one time and be protected for the rest of your life, or do you want to get bullied for the rest of your life?”

According to Wendy, Martin agreed that he would rather fight. And the next day, Martin was harassed again by the same boy who also began to bully Martin’s friend. Then the boy began hitting Martin and threw his water bottle at him.

Martin did what he had been trained to do; he pushed the boy in the chest with both hands, knocking him to the ground, then he pinned him to the ground by placing his knee on his chest and holding his arms down. Martin held him down without hurting him until the principal showed up.

The principal took both boys to his office, listened to their stories, and called their parents. Wendy admits that she was thrilled that her son had finally had the courage to stand up for himself.

The story has a happy ending. The principal told Martin that, even though fighting was not tolerated, he felt that it was an appropriate response to what had happened. The bully apologized to Martin in front of other students, and the word spread quickly. And Martin has been bully-free ever since.

Did it work in this case? Apparently it did. Is it worth the time and the money? That’s up to you. I offer this as an option to those of you who may be at your wit’s end because you have a child who is being picked on by a bigger child and they are too afraid to do anything but take it.

I don’t know that all school administrators would be so understanding of someone like Martin who uses jiu-jitsu in their school. But I do believe that children have the right to defend themselves from attack, and this program seems to give children the courage to stand up for themselves without inflicting injury.

For those of you who might be interested, you can either enroll your child in the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California, or other certified Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Training Centers around the world, or you can order the Gracie Bullyproof program which is available on DVD. Go to GracieAcademy.com for more information.

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog Bullying, Gracie Academy, Gracie Bullyproof program, jiu-jitsu

Three recent reports over the past one and a half months have me wondering what is going on in Phoenix and the Phoenix area when it comes to the bussing of special needs students. I’ll give you a quick overview of the three disturbing events, and I guarantee that you will be raising some questions yourself.

The first incident occurred in nearby Glendale on a school bus carrying special needs children to and from a summer school program for the Washington Elementary School District. On Wednesday, July 6, the school bus driver reported to her employee that the school bus aide, Andres Mendoza, was “acting inappropriately on the bus.”

When school officials and police watched the surveillance videos from a camera on the bus, they could see that 70-year old Mendoza was fondling the girl’s breasts and pelvic area under her clothing. At one point, he put the girl’s hand in his lap and, according to the police record, he becomes “short of breath, grimaces, shifts in his seat and leans over and says things in her ear.”

When police questioned the victim, she told the police that this behavior “had been going on for some time,” maybe as early as June 27.

When Mendoza was arrested, he confessed to touching the girl, but he claimed “he was just playing around.” Mendoza was booked into jail in connection with 30 counts of child molestation and six counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

The second incident occurred on August 10, when a 6-year old boy who has Down syndrome was belted in and left in a locked school van for 1 to 2 hours at least, in temperatures which climbed to 105 degrees.

Tanner McCarty was picked up from his babysitter’s house at 12:45 p.m. to attend a summer school program for children with developmental disabilities at Quest Alliance, a state-sanctioned care facility. For whatever reason, the driver of the van clearly did not make sure all of its passengers were safely out of the van, leaving Tanner buckled in with a seatbelt that he was unable to disengage on his own. The van sat in the parking lot of the school with little Tanner trapped inside.

Luckily, Tracy Roberts, Tanner’s mother, picked him up early that day. When she arrived at 3:30 p.m. and inquired about her son, she was told that he was a no-show. At this time, the school’s director ran out to check the van, and found a terrified, dehydrated Tanner, who was lucky to be alive.

“He came around the van with my son in his arms,” Tracy said. “He was totally red. He was conscious but totally lethargic and obviously in distress. He looked terrified.”

To make matter worse, instead of calling 911 immediately, the school’s personnel panicked.

Tracy reported, “They started talking. The people who worked there were telling each other what happened. And, they were saying they just found Tanner in the van and I had to scream at them, ‘Stop! You need to call 911 right now’!”

Tanner was taken to the hospital where he was rehydrated and has fully recovered. He is back home and doing well, but that is through no effort on the part of Quest Alliance.

“I am very, very angry,” Tracy said. “If I had picked him up at my normal time, he would have been in that van for at least another hour. I was lucky. I got to leave work early today. My son could be dead and it would be completely through their negligence.”

Susan Bastian, CEO of Quest Alliance said, “We are investigating the situation. We are very, very sorry. Our prayers go out to the family. … We’re investigating the matter.”

The last disturbing report will sound surprisingly familiar to you after Tanner’s ordeal. On August 16, a bus carrying 12 students arrived at Greenway High School in Phoenix, but neither the bus driver nor the assistant noticed that only 11 got off.

A 14-year old special needs student apparently laid down on his seat and fell asleep, and when the other students got off, he must have slept right through it.

Kevin Riddle, the transportation director for the Greenway Unified High School District said, “The driver and assistant that were on board failed to complete a visual inspection of the bus.” Clearly, and to make matters worse, they drove five miles to the district bus farm, parked the bus, and left.

Riddle reported that the boy was found about two and a half hours later by another bus driver. So from roughly 9 to 11:30, that boy was in a bus without air conditioning or any open windows in temperatures that started at 95 degrees and climbed to 103 degrees outside. You can only imagine the temperature inside!

Riddle reported that they didn’t have to call 911 because the boy “didn’t exhibit any type of symptoms that would illicit that type of a response. Believe it or not, (the student) was in extremely good shape. He was brought into our office and cooled down and hydrated. We called our school nurse. She came over and checked him out.”

Both the bus driver and aide have been placed on paid administrative leave while awaiting the results of an investigation. “Well, obviously, it’s a major concern for us and we want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Riddle said.

What is the deal here? First, why did it take so long for the bus driver in the first incident to notice that something wasn’t quite right with the way her aide was interacting with her passenger? If she was using her mirror and checking on her passengers as she should have been, surely she would have at least noticed that Mendoza was spending too much time with this poor girl. And how could she have been so oblivious to the physical contact?

Is there a background check done on bus aides? Aren’t they fingerprinted and checked out just like teachers are? This man is 70-years old. He didn’t just start molesting young girls since becoming a bus aide! How did he even get this job?

And do school officials periodically check bus surveillance tapes? It should be mandatory that those tapes be watched from time to time in order to make sure all is well on your district’s busses.

After this disgusting report hit the news in Phoenix, wouldn’t school districts have taken the time to make sure they were following proper guidelines to provide the best quality transportation for all children but particularly these special needs children who can’t always speak up for themselves? To have two more reports come out within days of each other which reveal such a tremendous level of negligence is simply criminal.

In Tanner’s situation, how do you strap a child in a seat and not realize you need to help him out of that seat? Utter stupidity! And no matter what, you sweep the bus before you leave it parked somewhere, whether you have special needs students on there or not! That is part of your job, and to leave that job undone, for whatever reason, puts your students at risk.

In both of these cases in Phoenix, these children were exceedingly lucky and so were their parents. There is no excuse for this kind of near-tragedy to occur in our school systems! Ever!

School administrators everywhere, take note! This is just disgustingly, negligent behavior, and it cannot be tolerated!

Teacher-World's Blog Arizona, bus safety, Phoenix, Quest Alliance

With school starting again in districts all over the country, it is important for those of us in education to remember that in order for our students to learn and be successful in our classrooms, we must provide a safe environment in which children feel accepted and encouraged by their teachers and their peers. In other words, we need to work together to build bully-free schools.

We all know how common bullying is in schools, and we have certainly seen the terrible consequences of relentless bullying. The website eHow family recently provided some important information regarding this subject, and I would like to share some of its more salient points and conclude with a recent study regarding bullying and its possible affect on grades.

First, we are already aware that often bullies are kids who have been bullied themselves and are trying to regain some power by dominating someone else. But eHow family tells us that often these kids who become bullies were either abused by adults or witnessed some type of domestic violence at home. These kids generally target someone who is different or socially isolated to continue the pattern of abuse. 

Kids who are bullied may experience problems in school, such as trouble concentrating. They usually experience difficulty interacting with their peers because they are self-conscious and afraid of rejection, especially if the child who is bullying them is accepted and liked by other children. The victim may begin to steer clear of school activities like class reports or presentations and group projects. Some will even stay home from school, resulting in excessive absences which lead to poor academic performance.

The self-image of a bullied child is adversely affected due to the emotional pain of name-calling and verbal harassment and the physical pain if they are being pushed, hit, etc. They begin to fear that all of their peers see them as the bully does; weak, or a “loser”. They may even begin to feel that they somehow deserve the bullying, which will negatively affect their social skills. And often, fear that they will be tormented even more if they tell an adult keeps them silent.

As children get older, their increased size and hormonal changes make them more aggressive. As a result, victims of bullying are at risk for more serious injuries. And both the victim and his bully have a greater risk of behaviors that include dropping out of school, running away from home, or alcohol and substance abuse. Teens who are bullied, as we have certainly read in recent news reports, may even become suicidal.

There are some devastating long-term effects of bullying which can last well into adulthood. Victims may have difficulty trusting others, fearing that they will always be hurt and betrayed which can affect their friendships and other relationships. It is also likely that that their relationship issues will affect future educational and career opportunities. A common issue shared by victims and bullies is anger. Victims may even hold on to a desire for retaliation.

Now, preliminary results from recent research indicate that bullying may contribute to a drop in high school students’ grade point averages (GPAs). The study polled 9,590 students from 580 U.S. high schools, and here’s what researchers found.

Compared to those who weren’t bullied, students who were bullied in tenth grade experienced a 0.049 drop in their GPA between ninth and twelfth grade.

Lisa M. Williams, the lead author and a doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State University, had this to say in a news release: “This effect, though small, is highly significant and suggests that bullying negatively affects GPA even after factoring in previous grades, family background and school characteristics often associated with achievement, which are all variables the study controls for.”

These effects were stronger among high-achieving black and Hispanic students. Black students, for example, who had a 3.5 in ninth grade and then were bullied in tenth, experienced a 0.3 points decrease by the time they reached twelfth grade. The drop was more significant for Hispanic students who started with a 3.5 GPA in ninth grade and reported being bullied in tenth; they experienced a 0.5 point decrease in their GPA by twelfth grade.

When you compare those statistics with those of white students with a 3.5 GPA in ninth grade who were bullied in tenth, their decrease was only 0.03 points by twelfth grade. So what is the difference?

“Stereotypes about black and Latino youth suggest that they perform poorly in school,” Williams said. “High-achieving blacks and Latinos who do not conform to these stereotypes may be especially vulnerable to the effect bullying has on grades.”

So, what’s the point? Very simply, no matter how you feel personally about the issue of bullying in schools, it is clearly a detriment in regards to students’ ability to succeed both emotionally and academically. We owe it to our students to do more than most schools currently do to get a handle on this pervasive issue.

I volunteered recently to take a newly enrolled student who is attending our school this year to escape ongoing bullying at his previous school. My question is this: If schools are doing all they can to establish a zero tolerance of bullying, why would any student have to leave a school to escape being bullied?

It is clear that we are not effectively resolving bullying issues in our schools. Too many of us have the attitude that bullying has always been around, will always be around, and we aren’t going to be able to stop it. We need to change that way of thinking.

I am not naive enough to think that all bullying is going to be irradiated in our schools, but we certainly owe it to our students to make it a priority to teach children at an early age that bullying is unacceptable. We need to teach, as part of our curriculum, how to affectively get along with others even when they are different from ourselves.

Every essential skill that students need to learn to be successful in and out of school requires repeated reinforcement. So too, interpersonal skills need to be reinforced just as persistently.

And when bullying occurs in our schools, we need to act every time, relaying the clear message that our schools are bully-free zones.

We can change the way children interact with other children, but like anything else we teach, it will take time, perseverance, and commitment. I think it’s well worth the effort.

What about you?

Bullying, Changes in Teaching, Teacher-World's Blog, teen suicide Bullying, high school GPAs

A grief-stricken community showed up Sunday night at Mainland Regional High School football stadium to hold a prayer vigil for four high school football players who were killed in a crash on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway Saturday.

The tragic accident occurred after football practice, when a car load of eight football players were on their way to an all-you-can-eat buffet for the whole team. Police reported that at a crest in the highway, the SUV came up on sudden heavy traffic. Casey Brenner, the 17-year old driver tried to stop quickly but apparently lost control of the SUV, which sped into the median flipping several times along the way. One of the boys was reportedly thrown from the vehicle.

Casey was killed, and so were Edgar Bozzi, 16, of Somers Point; Nicholas Conner, 16, from Northfield; and Dean Khoury, 15, of Linwood, according to State Police Sgt. Julian Castellanos.

Additionally, Kyle Beattie and Alex Denafo, both 16-year olds from Northfield, and Kenneth Randall, 15, and Jacob Smith, 17, of Linwood, were transported to Atlantic City Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

To honor the four students who died in this tragic accident, 3,000 members of the community, along with the football team dressed in their jerseys, and some of those injured in the crash, joined together in misty weather, which matched their spirits, to mourn their loss last night at their high school football stadium. Photos of the four teens who had died were prominently placed in the center of the field.

Some of those in attendance spoke of the teenager’s accomplishments both on and off the field, while others just cried and hugged each other.

Sixteen-year old, Joey Geiger said, “Right when it happened, I was in total shock, I was just praying it wasn’t true. Every single play (this season) is now for them.”

Chris Hickey, the parent of a Linwood student, Lauren, said that her daughter was good friends with two of the teens who were killed in the crash. “I don’t even know what to tell her. I don’t even know how to make sense of it,” Chris said.

Superintendent Thomas Baruffi said he has been through the tragedy of student deaths before, but never multiple deaths simultaneously. “They’re always tragic,” he said. “You know there’s nothing you can say or do that’s enough.” He expressed his hopefulness that the candlelight vigil would give people the opportunity to mourn their losses together.

State police are continuing their investigation, and as of yet, have not released any details as to how fast the SUV was moving before the crash or whether or not the boys were wearing seatbelts.

A sad footnote to this story is that under New Jersey law, drivers under the age of 18 are only permitted to transport one passenger unless a parent or guardian is in the vehicle with them. The oldest passenger of the SUV was 17.

Mainland Regional High School, which pulls its 1,600 students from Linwood, Somers Point, and Northfield, begins school on September 12, but the Mainland Mustangs first scheduled game is September 9; a game, I’m sure, which will be an emotional one for both the team and the community.

I’m confident that I speak for everyone when I say our hearts and our prayers go out to the families and friends of these four boys, to those who were injured in the crash, to the students and staff of Mainland Regional High School, and to the community at large.

Teacher-World's Blog car crash, Mainland Regional High School, prayer vigil