By: Cooper Drummond

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines “bullying as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths, who are not siblings or current dating partners, that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance, and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated.”

Victims of bullying can experience “physical injury, social and emotional distress, self-harm, and even death. It also increases the risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement, and dropping out of school.”

The CDC found in September that “nearly 14% of public schools report that bullying is a discipline problem occurring daily or at least once a week.”

Teacher/DASA coordinator comment on issue

Bullying affects certain populations more than others. Reports of bullying are highest in middle schools (28%) followed by high schools (16%), combined schools (12%), and primary schools (9%). In addition, nearly 40% of high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and about 33% of those who were not sure of their sexual identity experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year, compared to 22% of heterosexual high school students. About 30% of female high school students experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year, compared to about 19% of males. Nearly 29% of White high school students experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year compared to about 19% of Hispanic and 18% of Black high school students.

“With technology, the bad behavior we see keeps changing and evolving with the world, sometimes it is hard for schools to effectively stop the bullying,” said Kim Switalski, a fifth-grade science and social studies teacher at City Honors School in Buffalo.

She has taught for over 20 years, but rarely sees bullying herself. “Kids are very slick about being mean to others in school. Bullying cases are usually sent to the administration because it does not happen in front of the teacher. It happens on the bus, gym locker room, the lunchroom and online.”

However, she has witnessed various approaches to bullying from others surrounded by the issue.

“Parents often reach out to the school for help after they have tried to settle the situation themselves. Online bullying is terrible for students, it provides a level of detachment for the bully and it can follow the students everywhere they go.”

She also said there are “class assemblies and discussions at my school in order to try and prevent bullying from happening and letting students know they should go to an adult for help. I think assemblies are helpful for the victims, in that they give them guidelines for what to do when they feel they are bullied. I do not think they stop bullying altogether.” Overall, she feels that schools are doing everything they can to stop bullying.”

For more resources on how to prevent bullying, you may scan the QR code seen here.