The Tamalpais Union High School district has begun a new initiative to fight bullying at Tam, starting with a survey distributed to students during tutorial on January 18 .
“We have to create a culture where [bullying] is not allowed,” Assistant Principal Brian Lynch said. Lynch is leading the initiative at Tam along with Assistant Principal Kim Stiffler. “The people who can invoke change are students.”
The new initiative follows heightened national awareness and new California legislation. In effect since July 2012, “Seth’s Law,” named after 13-year-old Seth Walsh who took his own life after being bullied, requires California public schools to have a strong anti-bullying policy as well as a process to evaluate reports of bullying. The bill also requires that schools publicize the anti-bullying policy, and include anti-bullying resources on the school website.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter, U.S. Office of Education Assistant Secretary Russlynn Ali reminded school administrators that public schools are “responsible for addressing harassment incidents about which it knows or reasonably should have known.”
“We’re making sure teachers and staff members know that we need to take it seriously,” said Lynch. “Not just because it’s a liability, but because we need to create a culture where students are treated appropriately.”
According to a 2003 Harris poll, 41 percent of 8 to 17-year-old girls cited verbal bullying as their greatest fear. “It’s about recognizing what it means to be a student right now… the biggest fear among teenagers is being teased,” Lynch said.
The Tam survey, which asked students to supply names of anyone they considered a bully and questioned students on their exposure to bullying, has caused some concern among students who wish to know what actions will be taken based on the results.
“If there’s no consequences for the person you put down [on the survey], then it’s no big deal, but I don’t know what will happen,” said junior Philip King.
Consequences for bullying, King said, are helpful only if students are sincere in their answers to the survey, “but I know a lot of people who put down names as a joke.” For this reason, King said, “it’s better to help the kid who’s being bullied than to punish the kid whose name gets put down.”
While the survey results are not yet available, action will only be taken on “statistically significant” data, according to Lynch. Redwood High School passed out a nearly identical survey earlier this school year. “They hadn’t found any student that was reported significantly [as a bully],” said Lynch.
Still, Lynch said, the survey is a step in the right direction.“We all play a role in bullying. It’s not just the victim and the bully, there are the bystanders,” he said. “And the bystanders are where we need to focus our energy at this school…. it’s the people who just sit there and allow it.”