Educators Take Stand Against Bullying During National Bullying Prevention Month
By Sara Robertson and Edward Graham
October marks the observance of National Bullying Prevention Month, an annual campaign that brings educators, schools, and communities together to combat the damaging impact that bullying can have on students. With nearly one-third of students reporting being bullied in school and nearly half of adolescents and teens saying they have been bullied online, bullying has reached epidemic levels, especially as some studies connect bullying with suicidal thoughts.At the first ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention in 2011, President Obama discussed the scope of the bullying epidemic in schools across the country.
“Almost 3 million students have said they were pushed, shoved, tripped, even spit on,” Obama said. “It’s also more likely to affect kids that are seen as different, whether it’s because of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear, the disability they may have, or sexual orientation.”
National Bullying Prevention Month was started in 2006 by PACER’s National Center for Bullying Prevention, and since its conception the National Education Association and other education-oriented organizations have partnered up to provide schools with bullying prevention tools and resources. All across the country this month, hundreds of schools and organizations are recognizing the harmful affects of
Head Start Preschoolers Sent Home Thanks to Shutdown
For 770 preschool-aged children in eastern Alabama, school is out indefinitely. Thanks to the government shutdown which began Tuesday morning, Cheaha Regional Head Start (CRHS) has had to close all 16 of its locations, furlough its 240 employees without pay, and tell parents to keep all of the program’s students at home. “There’s nothing that we can do, and there’s no way to head it off,” said CRH