Bullying Policy Stirs Interest from Parents, Victims

Southington resident Kathy Young is still dealing with the effects of being bullied as a teenager.

When she was in high school, she said, she was bullied so often that it eventually got out of control and left her not only with memories of the fear it caused, but one incident led to a broken pelvis bone which has plagued her to this day. She doesn’t want anyone else to have to deal with the lifetime of physical pain she has suffered.

That’s why Young, 48, is asking Southington schools and the Board of Education to go beyond the new bullying laws established by the state and stand up to protect today’s youth from bullying.

“When will enough be enough?” Young asked, supported by her husband during an open forum at in Marion Monday night. “I don’t want bullying to be shoved under rug and have school officials say ‘we did what law requires and that’s enough.’ It’s not enough because it doesn’t end at school or on school bus. It’s something that carries on in every aspect of their lives.”

Young was just one of more than a dozen who spoke out — and one of more than 75 in attendance — as the district hosted the forum Monday. The forum was designed to provide information in regard to a comprehensive policy the school district is designing to both meet the needs of the state’s new anti-bullying law and the growing needs of bullying victims.

The goal of the new state law, which went into effect on July 1 and requires school districts to update their regulations by July 2012 to incorporate responses both traditional verbal and physical bullying as well as new electronic methods, is to provide a “safe school climate” for all children.

For more on the new law and how it works, see Joel Waldron’s analysis by .

“There were some folks who thought this kind of forum could be a formula for disaster,” said School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi Jr. “We felt the benefits outweighed the risks. Hearing these concerns allows us to react to the communities needs.”

In recent years, the district has had a fair success in preventing bullying and responding to cases using existing policies that include a zero tolerance for such behavior, Erardi said.

Helen Crowley, an assistant principal at and member of the policy committee charged with developing anti-bully regulations for the district, said under the new law, bullying is clearly identified through a definition.

Bullying is defined as “the repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic communication, such as cyberbullying, directed at or referring to another student attending school in the same school district, or a physical act or gesture by one of more students repeatedly directed at another student attending school in the same district, that:

1. Causes physical or emotional harm to such student or damage to such student’s property;
2. Places such student in reasonable fear of harm to himself or herself, or of damage to his or her property;
3. Creates a hostile environment at school for such student;
4. Infringes on the rights of such student at school; or
5. Substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school.

Each case must be looked at individually and the proper disciplinary action taken following a quick and timely investigation once a complaint is made. Under the proposed regulations, the investigation must begin immediately once a student reports bullying, Crowley said, and any staff member that witnesses or is told of potential bullying must report the case within 24 hours.

The school district will provide a complete version of the proposed draft of the policy Tuesday. Check back for updates and/or a link.

In Southington, bullying has not been reported as a significant problem with just three cases found at all eight of the town’s public elementary schools during the 2009-10 school year and five cases at the same level during the 2010-11 school year.

The number of cases increased at the middle school level, with a total of 11 cases during the 2010-11 school year and an additional nine cases already this year according to Principal Frank Pepe. Southington High School Principal Martin Semmel reported five cases the past two years.

The concern from the public isn’t the number of cases being reported, however, as many in attendance spoke up and told their own stories of how bullying has affected their lives or the lives of their children and family members.

“Some cases go on for a long time before they are ever reported and some go unnoticed,” said local resident Sharon Kleinhen. “I have two children who are half Jamaican and our family has been through a lot of headaches and heartache because of how my children have been treated in town. We could write a book with everything my daughter alone has been through since kindergarten.”

Bullied and harassed because of her ethnicity, Kleinhen’s daughter was traumatized by the abuse she received, so much in fact that Kleinhen said her daughter chose to attend Wilcox High School in Meriden rather than continue her education at Southington High School.

Meanwhile, Kleinhen’s son continues to face bullying in fifth-grade and despite continued support and assistance from school administrators, the problem does not get any better.

The bullying has gotten so bad that Kleinhen said her family constantly needs to have talks at the kitchen table to make it through. Even then, she said the bullying has led to heartache and a negative change in attitude for both her children.

“It’s these incidents, these children I worry about,” Kleinhen said. “We need to not just follow the law, but make a policy that will address this problem once and for all. These kids have support; not all children as as fortunate. We need real change.”