CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. School Bullying: What It Is and Why It Hurts
2. The Role of Bullies, Victims, and Witnesses
3. Factors Contributing to Bullying and Violence
4. Screening and Assessment
5. Treatment For Children and Adolescents
6. Prevention and Intervention
7. Legal and Ethical Issues

Supplements
Case Studies
Fact Sheets
References
Resources

The ABCs of Bullying
Addressing, Blocking, and Curbing School Aggression

Federal Lawsuits

Numerous families have filed Federal lawsuits in the past couple of years on behalf of their children, who were repeatedly bullied at their schools. Schools have a responsibility to provide a safe learning environment that is conducive to learning. A sampling of suits includes:

• The family of a boy that was bullied on a school bus sued the Eugene, Oregon, School District in September 2003. ref The act was caught on videotape and broadcasted throughout Oregon and nationally. Casey, the young boy, was repeatedly attacked beginning in 2001 when he was 11 years old. The parents kept reporting the incidents and naming the attackers, but the school district failed to prevent continuing assaults. Some of the attacks took place in front of teachers. The case is still pending.
• In 1999, a mother sued a Chicago-area school district for reckless disregard for not preventing a bully from beating her son. ref Derek, her seventh-grade son, was beaten so badly in sixth grade that he suffered a concussion. The bully exhibited a pattern of violent behavior even after school officials were warned of that behavior by a father of another boy who had been beaten by the same bully the day before.
• A Seattle, WA, senior filed a lawsuit against the Kent School District for 5 years of harassment, threats, taunts, and an assault that landed him in the hospital. ref The student was repeatedly bullied because he was gay. He said even a teacher taunted him saying, "I don't need another girl in my class."
• In 2002, school districts in Visalia, CA, and Washoe County, NV, paid large sums of money to settle lawsuits alleging they failed to protect gay students from harassment and bullying. ref With payments of $130,000 and $451,000, respectively, the school districts also had to agree to implement staff and student training and add sexual orientation to the sexual harassment policies.