Mayor announces regulation to fight school bullying

SEPT. 3 – A day after schools opened for the year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a new initiative designed to counteract bullying in New York City public schools. Flanked by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Chancellor Joel Klein, Mayor Bloomberg announced a new chancellor’s regulation intended to combat harassment based on race, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation or disability.

“Bullying can take a formidable toll on the ability of our students to learn,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “We can build the best facilities, we can hire the best teachers, we can pour all the money in the world into our schools, but it won’t make much of a difference if we don’t insist on a culture of order and respect.”

The chancellor’s regulation, which is accompanied by a “Respect for All” pamphlet being distributed to public school students this week, requires schools to establish a standardized reporting system for tracking incidents online. Each school is also required to designate a staff member to address student complaints, and to ensure that staff member is easily accessible to all students.

“I think it’s a long time coming,” says Barbara Young, a mother of three whose oldest son, now 20, was a victim of bullying when he attended the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem. “Bullying – it does something to a child,” Ms. Young says of her son, shaking her head slowly. “Now he wants to be one of them, wants to be a bully.”

Still, she has hope for the Mayor’s new initiative: “I’m glad he finally stepped up to the plate.”

Not all parents believe as strongly in the initiative. Martin and Andrew Farasch-Colton, whose twins Julia and Lucas attend P.S. 3 in Greenwich Village, think that bullying is a perennial problem at any school. The prevention of bullying “really depends on the competence of the teacher,” says Andrew. Lucas nods knowingly.

“Talk is cheap,” says Martin, who is reserving judgment of the initiative until he witnesses it in action. “I’d like to see how the rubber hits the road, because schools are not run by rules and initiatives – they’re run by people.”