Mass. school districts promise anti-bullying action by deadline

Only a handful of districts have submitted anti-bullying proposals required by Dec. 31.

Only a handful of Massachusetts' 393 school districts have submitted plans to combat bullying and harassment that are due by Dec. 31 -- but district representatives assure the state they'll be ready.

Governor Deval Patrick in May signed into law the Anti-Bullying Bill, passed unanimously by the House and Senate. The law requires school districts to submit proposals detailing how they plan to deal with bullies -- and victims of bullying -- by New Year's Eve. The plans will help charter, parochial, and public school employees -- from cafeteria workers to bus drivers to teachers -- recognize how to spot, and stop, bullying.

"This is too important for districts to ignore," state Rep. Marty Walz (D-Boston), the author of the anti-bullying law, told The Boston Herald.

A Herald survey of a dozen district representatives indicated that they are aware the deadline is approaching, and plan to meet it with complete proposals.

"We knew this deadline was coming. We're going to make it," Jocelyn Meek of Brockton told the Herald, adding that the town is planning to launch an anti-bullying tip line this month.

LGBT activists weren't thrilled with the version of the bill that finally became law. It lacks specific enumerations offering anti-bullying protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students by name.

"This policy leaves behind Massachusetts' most at-risk youth," Stanley Griffith, Board President of Greater Boston Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG), and Danielle Murray, co-chair of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), said in a joint statement released in May.

"It is critical to specifically name the problem in this kind of legislation -- girls would not have sports and our schools would not be integrated if policymakers had not specifically addressed these inequities by enumerating categories like sex and race into our laws."

Recent studies have shown that LGBT students (ranging from elementary school to high school) can face an intense and brutal brand of bullying. According to the 2007 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey, high school students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender were almost five times more likely to attempt suicide than students who identified as straight. LGBT students also reported being bullied almost twice as often as their straight peers. More disturbingly, nearly two-thirds of students participating in GLSEN's 2007 National School Climate Survey (NSCS) reported hearing homophobic remarks from school personnel.

A spate of recent suicides across the country have brought more attention to bullying and harassment -- especially targeted at gay students or those who are perceived to be gay. Educational, academic, and government organizations, as well as LGBT groups and a variety of celebrities, have released statements condemning the bullying that led to more than ten suicides of young people ages 13 to 19.