You’ve read in past blogs here about bullying statistics and bullying prevention, and about our Speak Up Be Safe™ program, but last week in the news we read about something that shocked many of us. In Naples, Florida, a judge recently granted immunity to a teen who killed another teen last January, ruling that under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground Law” a person who feels bullied or otherwise threatened is legally entitled to meet force with force, even deadly force. The judge ruled the teen was “standing his ground because he had tried to avoid the bully’s advances multiple times and was under the threat of great harm.”
Bullying causes a wide range of consequences in our society… mental health problems, academic learning issues, social and relational issues, bullycide (suicide), and now this! It’s time to stop this…it’s time to prevent this…it’s time to protect children from this senseless pain, destruction and loss. But how? How do we do that if bullying is not taken seriously? And statistics show that many don’t take bullying seriously.
According to www.bullyingstatistics.org, school bullying statistics in the United States show that about one in four kids in the U.S. is bullied on a regular basis. 77 percent of all students are being, or have been bullied verbally in some way or another, including mental bullying or even verbal abuse, and most violent altercations between students are more likely to occur on school grounds than on the way to school. So it is most definitely a serious problem. However, one of the most unfortunate aspects of these school bullying statistics is that in about 85 percent of bullying cases, no intervention or effort is made by a teacher or administrative member of the school to stop the bullying from taking place.
I wonder what our reaction would be if no school personnel responded in 85% of medical emergencies that happened in schools? Not only do students need to be educated, but school teachers and administrators do as well. Speak Up Be Safe™ (SUBS), the bullying and child abuse prevention curriculum being distributed throughout Florida in public elementary schools by the Monique Burr Foundation for Children is doing just that. And everyone can play a role in helping. Learn more about SUBS and how you can help us get this message out and prevent more bullying tragedies at www.MoniqueBurrFoundation.org. Join us and help us protect Florida’s children now!
