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Defining Bullying to End Bullying - What do the Laws Really Say?

We know that bullying often makes us feel bad, and while this blog absolutely acknowledges our feelings (because they are valid), this blog is dedicated to solving the bullying epidemic in Maricopa County, Arizona through socio-emotional growth and development of our students. However, to support this growth and support our educators in responding to students who exhibit these aggressive or bully-like behaviors, we must first define what bullying, harassment, and intimidation are. And did you know in Arizona that our laws actually do not define these very crucial keywords in our educational landscapes nor does Arizona require school districts to individually apply meanings to these words (Council, 2016)? 

The United States Department of Health and Human Services defines bullying as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance, and the behavior is repeated or has the potential to be repeated” (Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA), 2021). As seen above, only some states have clearly defined bullying in their legislation and of the 50 states, 43 states have chosen to include the language "general harm" to define bullying behaviors. It is impossible to end this behavior without a proper definition of the behavior because laws, statutes, regulations, and policies cannot be appropriately drafted to uphold the definition as per the law. 

Without properly defined terminology, Arizona educators suffer from not being able to adequately apply policies to students or create a framework backed by legislation for their student body. Due to Arizona not requiring school districts to apply meanings to the words bullying, harassment, and intimidation our schools very visibly suffer from a lack of structure, guidance, and policy on how to properly address the aggressive behaviors and change the expected outcome. We must acknowledge this grave deficiency that impedes our educators' ability to appropriately create policies for their student body as "policy lays the groundwork for an array of more specific and targeted interventions to be deployed in schools by outlining goals and directives in the policy document" (Hall, 2017). 

Last week I challenged you to learn how to share compassionate and kind communication with your peers by offering genuine compliments to them over seven days. If you successfully applied this challenge to your life, congratulations you have successfully begun forming a new habit! Just like last week's challenge implored you to become verbal about your thoughts, I challenge you to do the same thing this week - but from a different perspective. This week, I challenge you to reach out to a local legislator in Maricopa County, Arizona (you can find your local legislator here) and encourage them to read this blog post while educating them as to why it is increasingly crucial that definitions be made for these integral words and that policies be mandated in schools regarding bullying, harassment, and intimidation. Ending zero-tolerance policies and replacing them with policies that encourage socio-emotional growth and actually target aggressive behaviors to create a safer and healthier school environment is imperative for our youth. Let me know in the comments who you send this blog to!

References

Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA). (2021, November 5). What Is Bullying. StopBullying.Gov. https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/what-is-bullying

Council, N. R. (2016). Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice. CrimRxiv. https://doi.org/10.21428/cb6ab371.8b0ec66c

Hall, W. (2017). The Effectiveness of Policy Interventions for School Bullying: A Systematic Review. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 8(1), 45–69. https://doi.org/10.1086/690565

Images Sources

EMT Associates, Inc. (2011, December). Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies. U.S. Department of Education Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development Policy and Program Studies Service. https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/bullying/state-bullying-laws/state-bullying-laws.pdf

Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network. (2021). Policy Maps. GLSEN. https://www.glsen.org/policy-maps

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