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A child huddled while being bullied -
A chart defining bullying
Never was there a time when she felt like she “belonged.” Living in poverty in Beaumont’s North End, she never owned a pair of Air Jordans, never had “pocket money” for book fairs, never dined on heaping pounds of crawfish or wore clothes that didn’t belong to someone else first. She never had the opportunity to enjoy the finer things in life – and her peers made sure she didn’t forget it.
“Jane,” who dropped out of middle school before finishing the 8th grade and never returned to academia, had suffered being the butt of jokes and the odd man out of cliques during her elementary years, spending tearful nights alone listening to the neighborhood children that shunned her playing in the streets outside her home. By the second time Jane repeated 8th grade, she wasn’t interested in fitting in with those same tormentors that had made her formative years miserable – she was in power now.
“I guess I was just really angry,” she told The Examiner. From victim to villain, Jane exerted her will over the younger students and formed alliances with other “mean girls” to terrorize classmates. Jane was counseled, suspended from school, expelled from school … Nothing changed Jane’s behavior but, bothered by the constant educator intervention on behalf of those she targeted, Jane eventually quit showing up to middle school.
Now at 19 years old, with no high school diploma, no job and no plan of how to proceed, Jane reflects on how her life may have been better if the main voices in her head during her formative years weren’t those of the schoolyard bullies that led the chorus of self-fulfilling prophesies and insults that ultimately formed the way she viewed herself. “I wish things had been different.”
Jane’s story isn’t uncommon. All over Southeast Texas, the state and the country, children live every day petrified of bullies they spend all day with at school. Actual physical assaults, threatened behavior, and words hurled harder than any stone leave scars that last a lifetime. For years, parents have pleaded with elected officials and lawmakers to help these kids in deep despair. And, for years, nothing has happened.
March 31 of this year, however, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) issued word that local school districts would be required to step up their anti-bullying stance, with measurable metrics required in advance of the next school year. Interested parties can even make comments and suggestions regarding the proposed requirements through April 30. Public comments should be submitted to
StudentDisciplineSupport@tea.texas.gov with the subject line “Minimum Standards Public Comment.” All submitted comments will be reviewed and considered prior to release of the final minimum standards on or about July 1.
According to information from the TEA, a legislative amendment to the Texas Education Code passed in 2021 requires school districts to adopt policies and procedures concerning bullying prevention.
Enhanced curriculum, student surveys and data collection that is disseminated to the public at large are just a few of the proposed changes TEA is suggesting.
In addition to required curriculum under the Texas Education Code, the TEA is also supporting the requirement that school districts provide all students, “at least twice per year,” what could be deemed as “age-appropriate instruction” covering a wide array of topics including: the definition of bullying; the definition of cyberbullying; the negative effects of bullying; how to recognize, prevent and respond to bullying; building healthy relationships with other students and staff; fostering a positive school climate; how a student can obtain assistance and intervention in response to bullying; how a student can report an alleged incident of bullying, as well as how to report anonymously; and the importance of reporting.
The surveys TEA proposed school districts collect should be geared to illicit responses that reveal student impressions of the frequency, severity and location of bullying incidents that have occurred or been witnessed.
“Survey results, in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), must be used to inform and develop actionable strategies that address identified student concerns regarding bullying, including cyberbullying,” the TEA proposes. Further, each campus should organize a committee to address bullying, with the requirement to meet within the first 20 school days of the beginning of each school year and at least once every reporting period of the school year thereafter using a consistent meeting process, including agendas and meeting minutes.
Community resources, established bullying reporting procedures, and annual student bullying survey results would all be posted to school district websites, the TEA advises, with a common goal of curbing the student-on-student bullying noted in elementary, middle and high schools throughout the state.
In November 2017, the Beaumont ISD Board of Trustees approved local rules governing bullying in schools. According to “Freedom from bullying” policy, “Absent extenuating circumstances, the investigation should be completed within 10 district business days from the date of the initial report alleging bullying; however, the principal or designee shall take additional time if necessary to complete a thorough investigation.”
Reports can be filed in person, through campus administration via phone or email, or through a “Report Bullying” link found on the bmtisd.com website.
Parents of bullied children have reported hindrances to peaceful resolution in the past due to little information being divulged as to the alleged juvenile bully, what punishment has been meted out, and what will be done to prevent it from happening again. Limited disclosures are still commonplace, as districts like Beaumont ISD place importance in “privacy of the complainant, persons against whom a report is filed, and witnesses.”
BISD Communications Director Denise McLean acknowledged that the district’s current policy already meets the minimum standards proposed by the TEA, but adds, “Currently, the district is also working on a plan to enhance those efforts beyond just meeting the requirements.”
Beaumont isn’t alone, though, as school districts throughout Southeast Texas battle bullying. School districts such as Vidor ISD and Lumberton ISD have direct links on their main webpages to report bullying. Port Arthur ISD’s Adrienne Davis Lott said the district’s anti-bullying stance is disseminated in the student handbook, as well as the code of conduct. Port Arthur ISD also offers statistics related to bullying produced by the STOMP Out Bullying organization, a national clearinghouse nonprofit on the front lines of the bullying conversation.
Results of the nonprofit’s data collection reveals:
* One out of every four kids is bullied.
* Nine out of every 10 LGBT students experience harassment at school.
* One out of five kids admit to being a bully, or doing some “bullying.”
* 8% of students miss at least one day of class per month for fear of bullies.
* 43% of students fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
Further, the statistics reveal, one out of every three surveyed students reported they heard another student threaten to kill someone. With the evidence in researchers’ hands, experts estimate every seven minutes another child is bullied – 85% of incidents transpiring with no peer or adult intervention.
Lott, who was a counselor in the district for nine years prior to being promoted to administration, directly dealt with bullying throughout her career, typically utilizing principals and assistant principals as the first line of defense/offense. According to her, PAISD enlists counselors’ supervisors, as well as the assistant superintendents, to cultivate the district’s anti-bullying regulation.
“The district has and will continue to address bullying concerns at the campus level with all staff members, from teachers to counselors, social workers, and administrators working together to teach, model and reinforce,” she added, “strong character education lessons that focus on a specific character trait each month; restorative circles practices and implementation to prevent discipline issues; and specific anti-bullying campaigns to encourage kindness, as well as targeted bullying intervention programs and counseling sessions held as interventions and responses to all forms of bullying.”
Port Arthur ISD Superintendent Dr. Mark Porterie issued a statement April 5 pleading with parents to set better examples for the youth of today.
“Let’s not be delusional,” Porterie urged. “There is absolutely no way some of the extreme actions we witness in the classrooms and on campus are isolated events that only occur during the school day.”
“Children have anger issues because there are anger issues within their homes,” the superintendent stated. “Children lie because they are being lied to by those responsible for their upbringing. Children fight because they see their parents and role models fighting. Children do not know how to walk away from conflict because they don’t see the people they look up to walking away from conflict.
“Children aggravate situations and don’t calm down because parents do ‘pop off.’ We see it up and down social media timelines. We see it when we call parents, whether they answer the calls or ignore them. We see it when parents come to the schools for whatever reason and how they express their disagreement with our decisions made in the best interest of their children.
“Now is the time for parents and the village to do better.”
Those wanting to get involved in the state-mandated anti-bullying efforts can provide comments and suggestions regarding the proposed requirements through April 30. Public comments should be submitted to
StudentDisciplineSupport@tea.texas.gov with the subject line “Minimum Standards Public Comment.”