Transcripts For CSPAN3 Politics Public Policy Today 20141017

And id like to begin by asking you what comes to mind when you think of that word . College. Fraternities. Initiation. Okay. All right. So it didnt take long for some images to pop into your head. And, thank you. And youre like many others who think about some common images as they relate to hazing. And one is young men in college fraternities, beating each other, passing out or even dying tragically from alcohol poisoning because of hazing. Also people think about professional athletes like last years headlines of the rookie Jonathan Martin of the Miami Dolphins and more recently people think sometimes about marching bands with the tragic death of drum major robert champion down at florida a m university. And now more recently over the past month weve heard news of a sexually harassing culture and hazing in the ohio state universitys marching band prompting them to fire the band director. While these images and headlines reflect realities of hazing, they only paint a partial picture. So what is missing . For one thing, the images rarely portray the extent and range in which hazing occurs. Now its probably difficult to see on the left hand side, ill let you know, certainly hazing does occur in varsity athletics and in greek life or fraternities and sororities as the headlines and images suggest, but according to our research of College Students and this these are results from the National Study that i was a Principal Investigator for. We surveyed more than 10,000 College Students at 53 different colleges and universities across the United States. And as you can see, the figures confirm that hazing occurs in a range of different clubs and organizations and activities including intermural sports, club sports, Service Organizations and even academic clubs and honor societies. So the predominant images of hazing and sports and fraternities and marching bands, while theyre real, they dont capture the full extent to which hazing is occurring across many kinds of groups and organizations. And the predominant images rarely reflect the realities of hazing for middle and High School Students. Where our Research Indicates that nearly half or 47 of students report experience hazing in high school. In addition to these statistics, headlines provide a glimpse of hazing in schools, hazing that includes humiliating, degrading, often dangerous and illegal activities. Just to be sure were all on the same page, lets look at the formal definition of hazing. Hazing is any activity expected of someone seeking membership in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers them regardless of a persons willingness to participate. So breaking it down, you see there are three key components to defining hazing. First, its behavior that occurs for the purpose of membership or trying to maintain ones membership in an established group, organization, or team. Second, it involves behavior that risks emotional or physical harm. And third, it can occur regardless of a persons willingness to participate. And its that third part of the definition that is often a sticking point, especially for students who assume it cant possibly be hazing if someone agreed to do it or appeared to just go along with it willingly. While it may seem counterintuitive by definition, hazing can and does occur even if a person goes along with it. So why is this clause included in statutes and policies related to hazing . Well, there are several key ingredients that explain the need for that particular clause. And those include first the strong desire to belong to a group, a human need we all have, and combined with intense peer pressure that is associated with that Group Context of hazing. And you know peer pressure can be both explicit like come on, come on, just do it, its a tradition, or it can be implicit where youth go along with something to prove themselves worthy of membership or to avoid the possibility that their peers might think less of them or consider them a weak link among the group. So taken together these dynamics can create a coercive environment, so that strong desire and need to belong, peer pressure, contributes to creating a coercive environment. And since coercion can impair judgment, it can impede a true consent. So what does hazing look like for middle and High School Students . Imagine a young person who has been playing a sport throughout childhood. Its his or her dream to make the varsity team. They give it their best effort in tryouts. They earn a place on that High School Varsity roster. They attend several practices where the rookies are asked to carry the Water Bottles and the Team Equipment and so they do because thats what its been done before and everybody sort of earned their way. And then they go on the bus to several scrimmages and the veterans tell them, well, the rookies have to sit in the front of the bus and the rookies also have to clean the bus after the veterans depart if theres litter or trash left over, et cetera. And the coach doesnt really say anything or doesnt seem to notice. And so the rookies follow suit. It just seems like the norm. So you can see how the stage begins to be set with taken for granted hierarchies and status differentials that appear to be accepted as the norm. Then a team party is planned for the weekend. When the rookies arrive, they are told its initiation night, a tradition passed down from year to year. All the veterans have gone through it and its fun. Not exactly not knowing exactly whats in store, the rookies assume the teammates you know, take the teammates word for it, its all in good fun. So what happens next . Well, the story unfolds in a number of different ways. In california and these are based on real incidents. In california, incoming freshmen were unexpectedly driven to an unknown location by seniors, covered in cat food, various sticky substances, and rolled in the sand. In mississippi, veteran members of the Cheerleading Team forced new members to wear diapers while veterans threw food at them. In illinois, rookies on the girls soccer teams with bound up with plastic wrap while teammates smeared their faces with makeup and whipped cream. In florida, new band members were called into a dark hallway while veteran band members threw drumsticks and mallets at them. Massachusetts, teammates were expected to drink their teammate urine. In indiana, rookies were beaten with a metal pole in the locker room. They were beaten with bats to the point of drawing blood. Massachusetts, new york, new mexico and numerous other states, rookies have been sexually assaulted with broom sticks or baseball bats or other implements. These are a myriad of recent examples. It cuts across a range of different groups not limited to just athletics but including performing arts groups, class hazing, rotc, and other kinds of clubs and organizations. Some of these examples might sound strikingly similar to bullying, which prompts the obvious question are hazing and bullying the same . Is hazing a type of group bullying . While there are a number of similarities between the two, there are some important nuances that distinguish them. One of the more obvious is that hazing occurs for the express purpose of inclusion, while children who bully are typically seeking to exclude and marginalize another child. In some cases, incidents of hazing can meet the criteria of bullying. For example, they can be explicitly aggressive. They can intend to cause harm. They can be a pattern. And for those cases, we might call them a type of group bullying. For example, in fraternity pledging, it can involve aggressive behavior like kidnapping, paddling, beatings, lineups where pledges are screamed at, cursed at, yelled at. And all these activities can occur over a period of weeks culminating in what is often referred to as a hell night prior to initiation. And in that scenario, it seems that hazing meets the criteria that commonly defines bullying. However, there are many instances of hazing that do not fit squarely within the scope of the bullying criteria. For example, sometimes it can involve a single incident. Sometimes the activities are not necessarily dont appear aggressive on the surface like Scavenger Hunts, skits, requirements to get to know older members. However, frequently they cross the line into hazing when they include expectations for sexual favors, other forms of personal servitude, the performance of sexual simulations and consumption of alcohol and other drugs. So why is it important to understand the comparison between bullying and hazing . Well, ive worked with many educators who believe the schools bullying policy will sufficiently address hazing too. But because the definition of hazing is more expansive, it causes some confusion, and because hazing tends to be associated with inclusion, it will often go unrecognized or be overlooked if the school simply relies on its bullying policy to cover hazing as well. Schools need to be aware of hazing and recognize when it occurs because it can cause physical and emotional harm and even death. Ironically, while students often precipitate in hazing to build group unity, hazing undermines those very goals, damaging relationships, breeding mistrust among group members, causing anger, resentment, and leaving lasting physical and emotional scars. And in light of the many problems associated with it, understanding it and preventing it is vital for the health and wellbeing of our youth. And its important to recognize that hazing isnt exceptional. It occurs for both boys and girls. It occurs in both public and private schools, in and all regions of the country, and it doesnt appear to be unique to particular racial identities. Research also indicates that the vast majority of students who experienced hazing do not label it as such. So of the 47 of students who experience it in high school only 8 called it hazing. Major disconnect. Curious about this discrepancy, we explored it further on hundreds of interviews with students. And based on the research so far, we believe the gap is largely due to students failure to identify hazing except in cases of extreme physical force and abuse. So when you ask students to define hazing, theyll Say Something like, well, its forcing someone to do something they dont want to do to be part of a group. When you probe further and say what do you mean forcing someone . What does that look like to you . Theyll describe tying someone to a tree or a chair or holing them down or putting them in the trunk of a car, kidnapping, those kinds of physical force. But rarely do they account for the power of coercion. The power and control that can happen and is so central to hazing. Another challenge is that many students will just uhoh. We lost it. Where did it go . Ill keep talking now. Many students will justify hazing based on the perceived positive intentions of the activity. Not there. So youll often its not uncommon to hear them rationalize by saying things like that wasnt hazing even if the behavior meets the definition of hazing, no, that wasnt hazing. That was just a tradition. That was just an initiation. That was just group bonding. No, no. It wasnt hazing. And as students often justify it based on the perceived gains, sometimes teachers, coaches, and even parents condone it, creating another major challenge to hazing prevention. Some of our Research Indicates as many as 25 of coaches and advisors knew about the hazing or even participated in it. So given the harm for hazing and the extent to which it goes unrecognized, what can be done to prevent it . What can you do to make a difference after you leave here today . First, its important to understand hazing within a larger context. And learn lessons from prevention and other arenas. Because as of yet, we dont have an Evidence Base around hazing prevention. So we are translating from other fields. But one of the lessons we know is we have to consider it within a larger context. Its not a few bad actors out there who are doing this hazing. Or anomalous groups. Its about something thats embedded in the culture and often goes unrecognized or normalized. And its not an isolated problem. So we need to draw on prevention science and take a comprehensive approach using the ecological model. We can think about how we might analyze the problem of hazing on multiple levels. Many of you are familiar with this. I had a slide but looking at hazing at the individual level, group level, the school level and the Larger Community level and looking at the factors that contribute to it as well as protect from it, protect, you know, the individuals and groups from participating in hazing. So, for example, at the group level, a contributing factor might be that some students are more likely to engage in hazing if they dont see alternative to promote group bonding. So a protective factor would be to engage students in developing and adults and coaches, et cetera engage in developing cool and desirable alternatives for Building Group unity and achieving something without having to participate in hazing. Working to develop and effectively communicate and enforce an antihazing policy could be a protective factor at the school or community level. Bottom line, as educator, Community Members, parents, friends, we all have a role to play. Our research has found that a good deal of hazing in high schools occurs in plain view of adults. Students talk about hazing and there are many people who know its happening and see the signs so, there are many bystanders to hazing. So the five step process of Bystander Intervention is something that were using to promote hazing prevention efforts. And thats what we can think about here. When we leave here, what are some things we can do, some concrete things to notice hazing . Step number one. Two, interpret it as a problem. To help others see the harm associated it with. Three, to recognize our responsibility to change it. Four, to acquire the skills needed to change it, and five, to take action. Toward that end we need to Work Together to reframe this issue. Its not harmless antics and pranks among willing participates. Hazing is abusive and undermines the kind of School Climate we need for our children to thrive. Its a Community Issue. Hazing has ripple effects beyond the school walls. If you think about it, these cocurricular activities where hazing is occurring, theyre the leadership laboratories for our future leaders. And so much of what theyre learning, you know, theyre learning about how to be a leader, how to be in relationships with others, how to be a member of the group. And if this is what theyre learning about Team Development and group development, then obviously it will have farreaching consequences. So ultimately, then, hazing prevention is about working toward the kind of world we want to live in. With the kind of leaders we want to help guide our future. Strong leaders who can build cohesive groups with members who feel engaged and powered and challenged to be the best they can be without having to be subjected to abuse in the name of tradition or group unity. As a Community Issue with farreaching effect, we all have a responsibility to make a difference by committing to hazing prevention. At the local level, i urge you to share information about hazing and engage family and friends and colleagues and Community Members in discussions about it. Include information in your news letters and workshops and professional development opportunities. And of course its vital to help students and the adults in their lives acquire the skills they need to identify hazing and then intervene. And you can help by practicing and engaging youth and practicing what to say and do if they encounter a hazing situation. Challenging students to build new traditions and bonding activities that dont rely on hazing is vital. We can urge policy makers to include hazing as Research Funding and programattic initiatives. Finally, if we want all of our students to thrive in safe, supportive and respectful environments, then hazing has no place in our schools or communities. It is our responsibility to stop hazing. There is so much to be done and no time to waste. I challenge you to join me in taking action to prevent hazing and in the process well develop healthy students and communities and a better world. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, elizabeth, for your presentation. Lets give her another round of applause. [ applause ] so now id like to open it up to questions from audience members. I saw your hand go up first. You mentioned something about things to say to somebody that might be going to be hazed or Something Like that. Where do we find that . You can go to stophazing. Org. Thats my group. Yeah. There are a lot of resources. And i sent sources that should be included on your little bracelet. Yes. Elizabeth and darlenes presentations are available on the wrist bands that youre wearing and then theyre also available on the web sites where you registered for this. There is also a Research Paper that elizabeth wrote about hazing in high school as well if you guys want to take a look at that too. I got three of the five. Okay. Notice, notice the event, the issue. So in my case it was notice hazing. Then you have to interpret it as a problem. Third, recognize your responsibility to change it or intervene. Third, acquire the skills needed im sorry. Im on the fourth. Acquire the skills needed to intervene. Because you can be highly motivated and want to do something. You see something you think its wrong. And you really want to do something. If you dont have the skill, you often dont act. Then fifth to take action. Thank you. We learned this morning that transgender adults experience the most violent among groups. Do we know the statistics . Say the last piece . Do we know what the statistics are for teenagers in terms of teen dating violence, teenagers are more likely to experience violence . Do we know what the numbers are . I dont know right off hand. I think if you go to loveisrespect. Org, they have a lot of stats on their website. Yeah. Uhhuh. Yep. Our football jamboree and the teams come and cheer. They have like a party. It was this girls house, it was a Slumber Party and it was kind of like a Scavenger Hunt. They have to go around and get certain stuff. It wasnt, like, anything like bad. It was nothing illegal or anything. But, like, the Football Players had one but it was, like, you know, get footballs thrown at you and all this other stuff. And i was, like, wondering if that was hazing, because the coach, like it happened, like, at practice. They had to run. They had to like they clean up the cheer buses and the varsity players junior varsity, they had to do that. I was wondering if that was hazing . It sounds like it to me, yes. And, again, its not about im glad how you pointed out how the Scavenger Hunt may or may not be its not in and of itself but how it happens that makes it hazing. Hi. I have a question for elizabeth. You said acquiring the skills was key if you want to do something. Where is that that you acquire that skill . Well, we are learning. Were applying whats been learned in violence especially Sexual Violence prevention because there is an Evidence Base for Bystander Intervention there. And prevention innovations at the university of New Hampshire has this program called know your power. Were collaborating with them to translate whats been learned there for hazing. They have a Great Program that, you know, builds the skills and so, you know, there are so many different but it takes practice. Its like you know, what they do is have people role play. And, you know, you practice what might be a potential scenario and use the words. In colleges and universities were trying to do that in new student orientation. They have skits with these scenarios and then have breakout groups after to get students to practice. I think we can do that thing also in schools. Sorry. How effective that is . This prevention Intervention Group has statistics. They have an Evidence Base. Another thing i quickly mention is what theyve also done, which is really innovative and i love the data supporting it, is social marketing. So they have a really sophisticated way of having images of students intervening as bystanders. And yeah. And theyre on posters. Theyre on this is at universities. Theyre on the campus buses and table tents in the dining hall and developed by students who say, yep, that looks like me and my friends in a situation we might be in. And then, you know, and they have and then so they do a workshop on by stander intervention and then they use the social marketing as a booster. And they have found that it is effective in actually changing behavior and promoting the likelihood that people will intervene in those kinds of situations. Afterwards i can give you the contact information. I want to add a couple of resources. You talk about skill sets. From the Parent Teacher standpoint and for students themselves. You can go on what is it thatsnotcool. Com. And they have all kinds of apps, somewhat role play, skit type of ways of, you know, somewhat highlighting how you should handle certain situations. Things of that nature. Also you can go to the teen teendatingabuse. Org website for information as well. And lastly, greendot is a Bystander Intervention strategy which i think you can use in that case, too, as well. I think shes been holding her hand up for a while. So we can answer your question, we have a short amount of time before we have to end. Yes. Social marketing about the aura around these clubs that kids go through hazing to get into because i think one of your bullet points, interpreting the event is a problem, a lot of kids who are going into or want to join these clubs think of it almost as an honor. Yeah. Its kind of this brainwashing. Absolutely. Theyre going through this hazing but they feel like its an honor that theyve been asked to do it. And so the Marketing Needs to be up front about the clubs and the aura so that the kids are alerted way before they even are in the situation where theyre intervening. Absolutely. Yeah. I wholeheartedly agree with you. I dont know of anything yet that has accomplished it, but were moving in that direction. Yeah. Unfortunately, were out of time. But i do want to encourage everyone here to please read through their biographies. They have a lot of information about the work that theyre doing, what their offices are doing. Theyve provided you with some great resources today and some great jumpingoff points. So thank you both sincerely for coming. Thanks for talking about that. [ applause ] cspans campaign 2014 coverage continues tonight with the wisconsin governors debate between incumbent scott walker and democratic challenger mary burke. Heres some recent campaign ads. Mary burke lied about her jobs plan. Turns out it was plagiarized and now shes at it again attacking scott walkers record on jobs. Attacks the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel say are false. Shes twisting the numbers, and its not the first time. The truth . In the last year, wisconsin ranked third in midwest job growth. The facts are wisconsin gained 100,000 jobs under scott walker and we cant trust mary burke. He made a pledge. 250,000 new jobs by the end of our first term in office. And asked us to hold him to it. Is this a campaign promise, something you want to be held to . Absolutely. Today wisconsin is dead last in midwest job growth, tenth out of ten. Wisconsin lags behind most of the country when it comes to job growth. And those 250,000 jobs not even close. Broken promises, dead last in jobs. Scott walkers not working for you. Its been called the lie of the year. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. And mary burke supports it. It doesnt mean that the governments going to tell you which doctors to go to or which plan to have. But millions have lost their doctors and their plans. Mary burke says she still supports obamacare unequivocally and wants to expand it. Wisconsin cant afford madison liberal mary burke. Period, end of story. You know who had a really good idea about taxes . Ronald reagan. Surprised you, didnt i. Reagan expanded the earned income tax credit, cutting taxes for working families. You know who had a really bad idea . Governor walker. He did just the opposite, cutting taxes for the wealthiest and raising them on 140,000 wisconsin families. Raising income taxes on working families isnt just bad economics. Its wrong. Mary burke, governor. Recent polling has listed this race as a tossup. See tonights wisconsin governors debate live at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Be part of cspans campaign 2014 coverage. Follow us on twitter and like us on facebook. To get debate schedule, video clips of key moments, debate previews from our politics team, cspan is bringing you over 107 house and governor debates, and you can instantly share your reactions to what the candidates are saying. The battle for control of congress. Stay in touch and engage by following us on twitter at cspan. And liking us on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Tomorrow on washington journal ron waldman looks at how the Ebola Outbreak is being tackled. The cspan cities tour takes book tv and American History tv on the road traveling to u. S. Cities to learn about their history and literary life. This week we went to green bay, wisconsin. Wisconsin is americas dairy land because we make the most cheese but also the best. The industry developed in wisconsin from what was homestead cheese where each family made cheese for their own use. It was recognized that we had an ideal environment for raising dairy cattle. Cheese was really just a way to take that product, the milk before refrigeration would only last about three days. If you make cheese into it, Cheddar Cheese can last for a decade. This was late 1880s when the industry got started in wisconsin. Generally, farmers in the neighborhood would form a cooperative. They would build a Cheese Factory and they would hire a cheese maker. The cheese maker would work for the cooperative on shares. The cheese makers tended to move around a lot. There were thousands of them. In 1930, over 2,000 cheese plants in wisconsin. As transportation and the road system improved, there was consolidation among the smaller plants. That continued up until about 1990 when there were only about 200 cheese factories in wisconsin. Watch all of our events from green bay saturday at noon on cspan2. Our rebroadcast of the National Bullying convention continued with a discussion about state and federal laws. This is about 50 minutes. Comb afternoon. Im going to go through introductions fairly quickly. My name is tori cummings. Ive done a number of cases related to harassment and particularly cases related to sexbased harassment, including some lgbt issues. Next to me is dr. Strapstein who is a child psychiatrist. Does he clinical and Research Work to detect, prevent and treat fictional and emotional problems affecting young people who are bullied and who bully others. He has testified before congress, the Maryland Assembly and the District Of Columbia on behalf of antibullying legislation. Then we have charlotte landvers who is a staff attorney at the u. S. Department of education in the office for civil rights where she works in the Program Legal group and phone. And on my right is dr. Sarah allen who is also with the u. S. Department of education. Shes a Program Specialist for the office of special education programs, research to practice division. She leads the Personnel Development program, which is aimed at improving the quality and increasing the number of general and special education teachers, early intervention, Early Childhood providers and related Services Personnel who will are skilled in the use of effective instruction in interventions to improve outcomes for children with disabilities. Were going to talk to you all today about state and federal laws, policies and guidance related to harassment. Were going to start by each panelist doing a tenminute presentation. Then we will have time at the end for questions and for further discussion. Without hesitation, i will let dr. Allen lead it off. Good afternoon. Thank you. I would like to thank tori and others for including the office of special education and Rehabilitative Services in the presentation this afternoon. Im really pleased to have the opportunity to talk about federal law that impacts students with disabilities, in particular around bullying behavior preventing and addressing bullying behaviors. The office within the u. S. Department of education, we support programs that serve millions of children, youth and adults with disabilities. One of the laws authorizing the programs and activities is the individuals with disabilities act, also known as idea. I. D. E. A. Governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6. 5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities in the United States. Across 14 different disability areas. I work in i work in the ofls of special education programs. We have the authority to administer funds provided under i. D. E. A. To give ut background and the context. Policy that ill be walking about in a minute. To be sure for those who may not be as familiar with i. D. E. A. And services for children with disabilities, i want to draw your attention to a couple of terms within the law that are important when we think about serving students with disabilities who might be the target or the person initiating bullying behaviors. The first is free and appropriate Public Education. As i. D. E. A. Was reauthorized in 2004, the law clarified that the intended outcome for each child with a disability is that they be provided a free and appropriate education that prepared them for future education, employment and independent living by providing an Educational Program designed to meet the unique learning needs of each child. So its critical that the Educational Program, the instruction supports and Services Provided to children with disabilities are structured around their unique learning needs. And then secondly, at regulations clarify that children with disabilities are to be educated in the least restrictive environment, to the maximum extent possible. As we understand the law, the environment the least restrictive environment is most like that of a typical setting that would meet the needs of the child with a disability. So that maximum extent possible. I. D. E. A. Provides the basis for a letter that was released by michael udin, the acting assistant secretary and melody mussgrove, the director of ocep about a year ago, almost this week a year ago in august, that dressed it was intended to provide guidance on i. D. E. A. Would be relevant for protecting students with disabilities. Who might be bullied or be bullying others. We are active in the department of educations policy and position asserting that bullying any student by another student for any reason cannot be tolerated in our schools. You have heard a few people earlier on panels today talking about the work thats happened for 15 or 16 years coming out of our office, talking about multitiered services, talking about safe, positive, Healthy Schools for our students. So we often talk about and support the idea of no bullying, safe, positive healthy for all students. Its hard its hard to get a good sense and to assign numbers really to describe the incidents of bullying. But we do know that consistently, surveying and other reports indicate that students with disabilities are disproportionally affected by bullying. Two to three times more likely to be the target of bullying behavior than their nondisabled peers. 75 of children with disbiltds report being bullied at least once in the past ten months. 20 to 50 report being bullied at some point during their school years. 40 to 70 say bullying in school takes place often on class breaks, in the lunch room, hallways, bathrooms. And typically are very brief incidents but have an impact that show that more than 60 of kids with disabilities report bullying as a part of their school experience. Again, two to three times more than their typical peers. Here is a couple of examples. Just for our consideration. A second grader with a learning disability, who has difficulties with decoding unfamiliar words result in giggling and name calling when he is called upon to read aloud, to write on the board. With the taunting move often than not carrying on into other settings such as the playground, cafeteria and leaving an impression about this child that will carry with him for many years. A fifth grader with an emotional disability who despite her enthusiasm and creativity, her deep knowledge for the subject matter is always the last one to be chosen by peers for a group of projects because of her disorganized approach to work and her need for modelling and structure on the work assignment. A ninth grader with a disability who is told not to climb but is egged on by peers until he succumbs and breaks the rules resulting in punishment and further victimization by peers. An 11th grader with a learning disability who struggles with reading and stormterm memory has has deficits and is told by the guidance counselor that he would not be a good candidate is discouraged from setting his ambitions and sights on enrollment in a competitive college. As we think about different situations in which kids are involved on a regular none of those are extraordinary. There are extraordinary examples that we hear about in the news or publicized. These are sad sly i think everyday situations that happen in schools. In response to requests from disability organizations, as i mentioned, ocers released a letter that intended to clarify the responsibilities of scho school a School District would have. Here is the gist. Schools and School Districts with obligated to ensure that students with disabilities receive a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. Bullying of a student with a disability regardless of whether is t is related to the disability or not is considered a denial of fape if it results in the student not getting a meaningful education and must be remedied. The intent of the letter released by ocers was to draw attention to raise awareness that i. D. E. A. Considerations must may apply, could apply to make to put schools on notice that they need to consider i. D. E. A. When bullying behaviors involve a student with a disability. If students move to a more restrictive environment, i heard examples of the student is denied access to a program such as physical education. If he or she is discouraged from participating in a program as the example i gave a minute before. Is it incumbent upon the school to revisit the have the iep team, the team that helps set up, including parents, the students individual Educational Program would reconvene and would gather information and make decisions to decide if the child is being provided meaningful educational benefit in the least restrictive environment. In addition to the letter, as an enclosure to the letter, we felt it was critical to milwaukee a statement about the importance of preventing bullying. So for a school to recognize that they have a responsibility to address bullying behavior if a student with a disability is involved. But more importantly, that as adults in schools and as parents and Community Members, we have an obligation first to prevent bullying. So in addition to the letter, we had an enclosure that outlined effective evidencebased practices for preventing and addressing bullying. We encouraged schools to use a million tietiered framework, like pbis or the multitiered structures you have heard people talking about to teach approach bow hafsh jurors and how to respond to provide active adult supervision. So to look at the evidencebase, use the research to inform the kind of practices that would be implemented. Really what we would like to do is draw your attention to the letter, encourage you to make school boards, administrators, staff, teachers, certificate phied and otherwise aware of the letter and the implications for bullying prevention and addressing bullying behaviors. To encourage schools i will go back one. To encourage schools to reevaluate policies and prab tigss. Most schools have policies on the books. But its important that we reevaluate them annually if not more often to see that they are inclu including the guidance provided by this letter and others that we will be talking about. Reevaluate your policies and then begin to build evidencebased build evidencebased practices first to be prepared to address it if it were to occur. And then, finally, please check out some of our resources, the Dear Colleague letter and the effective evidencebased practices are available on the. Gov web site. Other osepfunded resources, the pbis center, for many years and i know paul and others are here we funded the pacer center. They have some wonderful resources, particularly for addressing bullying around for children with disabilities. And finally, the intention Intervention Center is a center nationally funded to talk about tier 3 kind of work. So when you are talking with a child who has intense, individualized need, they can provide some resources that may be helpful in addressing them. Thank you. [ applause ] im going to ask everyone if you have a question for dr. Allen to please jot it down and save it to the end for the discussion portion. Well go right into charlotte lambers presentation. And i dont have a power point. If it is not on, that is as it should be. Hi, everyone, my name is charlotte lambers. I am a staff attorney with the office for civil rights in the department of education. Today, i am intending to talk first about our enforcement work with respect to complaints regarding harassment based on a protected civil right. So harassment based on race, color, sex, disability or age. Next, i will talk about the section 5504 implications that can arise from bullying and a haszment. And, finally, ill talk about how the two can interact at times. So ocr, the office for civil rights enforces several civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability and age. And, essentially, as explained in our 2010 Dear Colleague letter on harassment and bullying, schools have several obligations as soon as they learn of bullying or harassing conduct based on a protected class. So as soon as they know or should know that a child is being subject to bullying or harassing behavior, they have an obligation to investigate. After if the result of the investigation shows that the student is being subject to a hostile environment, which is essentially conduct that is sufficient sufficiently serious to interfere with or limit a students ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities or opportunities offered by the school, the school is then required to take prompt and effective steps, reasonably calculated to and the bullying or the harassment, eliminate the hostile environment and prevent the conduct from recuring and remedy its effects as appropriate. Youll notice that we at ocr care less about if a student uses magic words to tell a School Official that they have been subject to bullying or harassing conduct. Instead, ocr is more interested in the schools responding appropriately. So if a child calls bullying teasing or hazing as if it isnt happening, if it is happening, schools have very real obligations to act. So thats an important point to kweep in mind. Earlier,dr. Allen talked a little bit about the implications on i. D. E. A. Section 5 0 4 which is a law that i should explain because i, at times, get too accustomed to the law i enforce and i fail to expl explain its definition. Section 5 04 requires that students with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, Public Education. At times, bullying or harassing conduct can also itchly kate a childs ability to receive equal education opportunities. Sew so if a child is teased const t constantly at school and becomes less interested or able to actively participate in the school program, it may implicate their ability to access education. Similarly, observing this noticeable change in the childs ability to investigate, they may possibly meet to ensure that the child is continuing to receive fape. And the failure to coso could result in the schools failure to provide fape, if, in fact, that child is not accessing fape any longer. So, how the two interact, at times, when the child is subject to bullying or a harassing approach, may also be expe experiencing a diminish. Ment if theyre access of fape so cools shouschools should be bullying or harassing conduct can indicate numerous legal standards. I think that is a very basic legal analysis. And thats probably enough for now. If individuals have questions, id be happy to answer them. Thank you. [ applause ] good afternoon. And thank you so much for the organizers of the summit for inviting me to be part of this panel. Im the medical director of the clinic for Health Problems at Childrens National medical center. In the next ten minutes, i would like to highlight these three main points about bullying from a public perspective. Involving the con september of what bullying is all about, its epidemiology, ecology and all the Serious Public Health related to the form of my treatment. Number two, the enacted aentbullying laws lack Health Department prevention measures. And we need to experience policies that should include a threetier prevention strategy that i will discuss in a couple minutes. This shows at its base the approximate 40 of u. S. Children are participating in bullying i said incident as victims and or perpetrators. Out of this population, a quarter of them, 2 23 , suffer from a wide array of physical and emotional Health Problems associated with their participation in bullying. Further more, within this group, 40 of them suffer from bullyingrelated Health Problems. They try to hurt themselves or others on purpose. We are left with how many juvenile deaths occur in the United States that are related to bullying. Including headaches, stomach aches and or back aches as well as daily depression, ability, anger anxiety and insomnia. Further more, they are also at risk for running away from home, abusing alcohol and drugs, smoking daily, carrying weapons to school, hurting others, having a decline in academic performance and significant absenteeism. And therefore, we see how bullying is at a cross roads of very, very Serious Public Health risk. We dont know how many youngsters die every Year Associated with bullying. And an unknown fraction of the almost 6 ,0 0 0 juvenile accidental deaths. Plus, almost 2,0 0 0 suicides per year, homicide should be regarded as a maximum consequence of bullying. So in a case of homicide that there is a situation of bullying bli behind, it all depends on how you define bullying. Om a public perspective, bullying is a very multifaceted form of maltreatment around the world, social settings and around the life span. It can be manifested as physical aggression verbal aggression or daring someone to do something inappropriate having tremendous consequence in concerns of considering hazing is a form of bullying. Also, in juvenile dating relationships, the pressure put on one of the parter ins, well, if you love me, blah, blah, blah, that may lead to unwanted pregnancy and so on. Indirect aggression, like spreading rumors and osz tra sizing, and, last, but not least, rejection or exclusion. But, above all, starting with the proceed trigs and the concept of child abuse, if bullying is at the center here, it shares elements of intimidation and harassment. And, at one extreme, verbal or physical aggression or abuse and violence. And the other extreme, reject, rejection or exclusion. It doesnt have to be from one child to another. It could be from a child to an aadulthood, an adult to a child and so on. It is important. Intentionality from a medical point of view, i know my colleagues in research will absolutely disagree with this. And it will be kis agreed in the official definition that has been implemented by the federal government with an all due respect from that, i think that from a Research Point of view, what we have as the definition is correct, but for all of us that are out there in the trenches, the practitioners, you cannot determine intentionality. The question of whether the alleged ins dent meets the criteria for bullying is in the eyes of the beholder. It primarily happens at home between siblings that love each other and is being misconstrued by the community as sibling rivalry. But it also occurs in the neighborhood, in the telephones and internet, walking to and from school, on the school bus, at school. During after school programs. Yes, this happens in the workplace. And, last, but not least, we should not forget the young people in correctional facilities. Im talking about all the states almost have enacted laws, including the commonwealth of purt reel cole and guam. Now, less predominant is the fact that these Public Policies call for the protection of victims and enhancement of school planning. For the past six years, this principle has been in a joint statement of the American Psychiatric association and the American Academy of child adolescent psychology. We are talking about all the measures to raise Public Awareness about the nature and the public and the Health Department risks of bullying. To promote safe, social environment and we are debating which program is better. At the end of the day, no matter which program we have, theyre continuing to bullying. And the question is in regular pediatric visits in child adolescent psychiatric visits should be included. A reporting system not for the purpose of the kids being pun h punished, but to support the victims and to council the perpetrators. And last but not least, medical referral. Along the life span to promote a physical and emotional safety or social community environments. Not just the school. The child may have been physically abused at home or witnessed Domestic Violence or have other things avoid the requirement con strants with repetitive pattern. Very important to advocate gepsz corporal punishment. Physical punishment in the schools and its time to call attention to this matter as its a very serious public factor. Further more, most of the states have in their codes an oxymoron Public Health message that is called reasonable corporal punishment. You tell me what reasonable is and we can discuss that in the questions and answers. Report bullying to ensure Health Intervention and the child should understand that they are not considered a snitch for doing it, but, definitely, they are helping for a health problem. Make treatment available to perpetrators. Ive had the privilege in the last year of coordinated efforts for the launching, hopefully, next month, of the socalled Global Initiative for the prevention of bullying. This will be an International Effort to raise Global Awareness about the serious Health Department and safety risk associated with bullying. So they have the direct links to the abstrablcts to raise awarens between the physicians and psychologists and so on. Thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you to all three panelists for their interest. Id like to open the floor to questions if anyone has any . If not, i will ask the first one. To my colleagues from the bpt of education, im wondering if you can share a little bit about what types of remedies might be appropriate for School Districts to implement once there is a violation of i. D. E. A. As a terms of denial of fape a it results in terms of bullying. Assuming for the moment the allegations involve a child with a disability who alleges that both he or she was harassed based on his or her disability and also, he or she was not receiving a free, appropriate, Public Education in part because of the bullying and assuming ocr completed an investigation and entered into a resolution greemt with a recipient, it could first require that the childs iep team meet to talk about the extent to which the bullying has had an adverse effect on the schields ability to receive fape. It could also monitor to see whether bullying exists and if so, they could intervene to talk about other approaches. In addition, as part of the harassment, violation, they could implement a prevention strategy. Their could devise a School Survey for parents and students to assess the presence of bullying based on disability. They could revise the districts antibullying policy for whand in this particular case and they could train staff and parent volunteers again to look for signs of bullying and to respond appropriately if they encounter those things. I just want to agree. My background is not legal, but from my work as a School Psychologist and thinking, you know, as a member of an Educational Team to support a student, the first step is to reconvene the iep. Sometimes, the Quick Response is to take the child out of the situation. We need to make clur that the child may not need to be removed, but the situation may need to be addressed. So for example, a child with a disability is in a science class. It was difficult to have the child participate for whatever reason, so they just cancelled all the field trips. And that wasnt a bullying situation, necessarily. You know, the fact that one of the recommendations we make to parents that meet to the principal and the counselor to report the situation of bullying is not to discuss this matter in t the. The yelling of the teacher. They feel like being mistreated. Above all, they feel being mistreated above the aadulthoods, the powers that be dont recognize that bullying really has happened. And you have not been bullied because it doesnt meet the criteria, whatever it is. So losing support from the powers that be is worse than the victimization of itself. One typical example that i see clinically very frequently in terms of processing and reseptembered. So there you have mistreatment coming to the kids on top of the situations of bullying. Yes, we have a question over here. Squl i just have confusion, okay. Sure. The confusion is, so, with your definition, could you expand a little bit more if you dont use bullying, do you use the word aggression . If you dont, how do you define it . I just want to know a little bit more of what you were talking about. My discrepancy was in terms oaf recognition. First of all, the victim can be hurt. That child doesnt want to hurt somebody else. But the other child is going to be hurt physically or emotionally, regardless. Thats number one. Repetition, one knock on the head may be sufficient to lie this kid in the hospital. Thats number one. Number two, it may be the first incident this year but it may come on top of previous incidents either in school or other forms of victimization. So you dont need to have two or three in order to be a concern. Balance in power is very, very difficult to assess. Not only they have the highest morbidity, but they are not understood by the school because they say what do you expect . He or she is provoking it . Well, one has nothing to do with the other. The message we send to the schools is we are going to protect the other children in your school so our patient doesnt hurt the other children. Please help our patient to be protected from the other children. So Everybody Needs to be protected. In listening to all of the presentations today, i was reminded of a phenomenon that we at the department of justice and often in conjunction with ocr have actually been requiring School Districts to hire a Mental Health consultant or to actually hire a Mental Health professional to come in and look at the impacts of harassmented on the students in the School District. So i just wanted to share that question. I apologize for running a little late. As youve discussed the medical definition of bullying, im wondering if were not moving toward an e. D. Diagnosis. Is that the intent behind what you shared today . Yes, and no. Bullying is relevant not only in the case of civil rights. At the end of the day, its a Public Health issue. The kids are suffering, both the perpetrators and the victims. And they can die. Now, in terms of diagnosis, if there is this cluster of symptoms like nightmares and flash backs, you can think of the possible ility that bullyingrelated medical problems can be included if we need to use a diagnosis on something that is not in the dsm, but is in the icd from the World Health Organization and you can use for many, many things. Thats the reason why i highlighted the con september of us to think of treatment and comorbidity with others at the same time. I dont know if that answers your question. I know were running a little late, so im going to go ahead and close out. I think wed all be happy to stick around for few minutes if folks want to go ahead and ask questions individual. Thank you so much and enjoy the rest of the day. Next, High School Students offer their perspectives on the problem of bullying. This is part of the annual bullying prevention summit in washington, d. C. And an effort to create a National Strategy to address the issue. This is about half an hour. Im the director at usda for the National Institute of food and agriculture. It is my privilege today to be the moderator for this panel of youth experts. Theyre experts because theyre here and they have the ear of all of you in the audience and they have important things to say. What we need to let you know, though, is this was a youth adult partnership. So those aadulthoods who participated with the yoout and the youth focus groups, would you please raise your hands . I want to thanks the folks who took notes and i apologize in advance if i screw up your names. But, anyway. Those things pertain to whats working in youth bullying prevention. What are some of the challenges in implementing bully prevention programs, School Climate and federal bullying prevention efforts in state and local efforts. First, id like you to meet the youth who are here today. My name is cameron, i am from tennessee, if you cant tell by my accent already. So one of the new National Healthy living ambassadors and one of the things that i specialize in is bullying prevention. It wasnt until a couple years ago when we had a 4her from my county that committed suicide from bullying. Thats when i really wanted to say hey, this needs to stop. We need to start working with our federal government. We need to start working with one of the beth Youth Development programs in the world, 4h, and stop spreading in abuse across america. Myself and okley are on there and we want to get more programs out there and start getting this more overwhelmed. Hello, everyone. Im anna from oklahoma. I am the founder and creator of stay strong and sparkle on which is a support group for girls with eating disorders or suicidal thoughts and actions by suicidal bullying. I came up with that project when i attended a medical forum. Everybody loved her. She was so karz matic and it really hurt me to hear that back home, in her home state of louisiana, she had no friends and everybody had turned gechbs her and she had developed a eating disorder because of that and her home life was also broken. When i came back to oklahoma, i wanted to start a program to help girls like her so, yeah, thank you. Hello. Im a bully victim. I was bullied since kinder garden. When i came out bisexual my freshman year in high school, the bullying hit high levels to the point where someone thought it was okay to tell me to go kill myself, which is when i started a group aimed to give peertopeer support to any bully victim, whether youre a victim of sex yum harassment or Sexual Orientation bullying or race bullying, we dont care. Youre a bully victim and were there to help you. So nice to meet you all. And i am oakley perry from georgia, as you can tell me from actress. 4 4 h was an out let for me to overcome that. As cameron mentioned, a Health Ambassador for 4h council. A round of applause. Thank you. I know you each have your personal life stories, but you also had an opportunity to engage with the adults and other yoout here in the audience. Lets hear about some of the key things that youre going to remember from those sessions. And we had those five questions, so, oakley, lets start with you, first . Sort of a group in the first two questions together from my group, the first question is whats things thats happening now thats helping bullying prevention. Our group pretty much said youthtoyouth is something thats really hitting home and not necessarily an adult to another youth. By that same token, we also said that one afternoon in a gym does not work. If you want to do the one afternoon with a gym, thats great. But you need something to continue throughout the school year, throughout summer, everyone. To reinforce whats being taught in that gym for afternoon. Another point that we really brought out was that we need to educate educators on how to deal with different issues inside schools. Many educators, they do not know how to deal with problems. A girl chewed me out every day and the teachers desk was right beside might be and her desk. I really feel the educator did not know how to handle that situation. So, instead of getting involved with it, she let it go. We have special groups about bullying. The native American Youth and the l. G. B. T. Youth. We need to have special resources for that youth. At the same time, we do not need to have so many different siets that its hard to naef gait. Native American Youth may also be lgbt we need to have one place with different resources. I had the same points as oakley did. But one of the things that i slightly have different is our groups came up with the idea that the federal government needs to take responsibility for the overall Mental Health and the social and Mental Health of a teenager. Its not just education. Its not just academics that were focusing on. How can groups reach out to teens . I have information for you all so that they can reach us. And its on the web, so you can read it well. It says bullied teens, 9864 g 9864 9864 gmail. Com. And we have a web site here. So thank you. In my focus group, we covered all the questions, but we talked a lot about emotions and emotional stability and safety within the school system. When teachers are judged and their paycheck depends on test scores, theyre going to spend time on testing. One of the things that was actually really cool was a story about a school who had pictures of every single student in their school up on the withdrawal. Every time a teacher connected with one of those students, really emotionally connected with them, they took the picture counsel. By the end of the school year, every one of those pictures were taken down. It was a great way, i thought, to be able to focus on the test scores. But, also, in the free time, focus on the students and being able to connect with each and every one of them. In my focus gruch, i tried to narrow it down to the top three. They just kept on going over and over and being 16, i completely understood that. Another thing was peertopeer education. You dont know where we are today. You were back when it was one on one bullying. It just kind of fakes that peertopeer education where they understand where were coming from because theyve been there. Some of the big challenges that they had was better funding. We had a researcher in our group that was phenomenal. He agreed 1 00 pnt that most of that needed to be up to date. Another thing was a program that i cannot remember what state, if somebody could fill me in, that would be amazing. Its called raising healthy children program. Being moan fors against bullying. Be a mentor. Stand up and say hey, this is what you can do. This is the way i would do it if i was in your shoes. Confronting, go to the school if you have a bullying person in your school that would really kind of connect with them and get them okay with dealing with bullying. So now im going to ask you a question that wasnt really discussed earlier. They talked about what was working or what possibly might be solutions. But whats a challenge that they saw that you here . Ive kind of addressed a couple of them, but im just wondering. We talked a lot about Cyber Bullying and how do you, as a school, as teachers in a school, really prevent Cyber Bullying. I know one school that we talked about, they monitor what their students post and what accounts theyre on. I thought it was a great way. But how do you also do that when youre not monitoring and something happens. Thats just one of the problems that we talked about and addressed. One of the things we touched on was cell phones in school, the next year, we could have cell phones and have them out at lunch and at our study hall time. So that was a big wow on how it really impacted a ton of those applications that were turned in about bullying things that happened. So this year, were going back to a completely nocell phone call. And so im really looking forward to sitting down with our counselors at the end of the year to see how many applications we turned in to look through the past three years and kind of go through and say hey, we went to a no cell phone policy and brought our applications down to 2 00, which 2 00 is still way too many. One of the things we talked about was the bandwidth of administration. They get so overwhelmed, they dont understand how to hand it. They cant tell the difference between what is bullying. Theres so many dincht types of bullying. Finding a bandwidth that works is really hard. All of these challenges can affect you providing a great bullying program, an antibullying program for your ch chunty or your school. One thing that ive always hit home on is education for educators. Theres one woman in my group, i believe her name was keisha. Several other different challenges that School Systems face that can deal with money. Especially in the south. The last thing i asked you to address was because you have an opportunity, a platform here, where you could give parting comments to those in the audience. So who would like to go first . I have a motto that i have for my organization. Its by being a friend, you can change someones world. You can make the difference between that person being alone and that person having a support system. We really focus on peertopeer education and help. And i would love to challenge all of you to challenge your peer done or your kid and your students to educate their fellow peers to educate and be a friend. Not only do they feel if theyre getting their peertopeer oneonone type of time, they can feel like they can talk about what theyre going through. For kids, that is so important. I made these people play with tooth paste and paper and toothpicks and stand up and sit down. They were just a great group. Ask one of them about the tooth paste and they will be glad to tell you. I want you guys to keep doing what we do. Unfortunately, we have this really bad problem in america with bullying. Woere very thankful in america that we have you doing this day and and day out preventing thai thanks for this wonderful opportunity. I really just thank you guys for being that wonderful mentors to us and seeing where we want to be one day. I want to give these youth a round of applause. Thank you. [ applause ] its all right. Its fine. Dont worry about it. My bullying story started when my father and mother became sprated and i became very depressed. My bullying started because of me being an oversized kid. Stfs a short little video of stuff of that nature. I know. I know how it feels to sit in your room and think that you have no one in this room that cares about you. I know how it feels to get a welcome and think for yourself that this could be your only resort of kbeting out of what is so terrible. I know those feelings. I believe that we, as people, should stand up and fight for what is right. And thats what im going to fight for for the rest of my life. You can tell i get to be the person who gets blown away at the front of the audience. We have microphones and wed love for you to ask them questions. So anyone . If theres a particular person, and its a complex question. So i havent really thought about how to articulate it. But we have data. And we have young people, like some of you, who have been through some of the most e gre jous behavior and experiences. Its kind of unimaginable. Maybe a person can have too much empathy. Its hard to be moved by these experiences that you guys have been through. Its hard to know what the answers are. But on the other hand, we have data that really shows that people, for the vast majority in this country, are good to each other. We see headlines saying that bullying is an epidemic and Cyber Bullying is an epidemic. The data really shows that its far from an epidemic. Ill talk about this in a little bit, but we also have research that shows that people need to have the truth. They need to know the data. Data. And at the same time that they need to be moved by victims experiences, they also need to know that its not a hopeless situation. And so how do you guys balance that in your work to educate peers and adults on your experiences and on the solutions that you found to the bullying problem, how do you balance getting the facts out and helping people see that it really is normative to be kind rather than to be cruel . But cruelty exists, so i would love your wisdom on that. First off, you said that its good for people to know its not a hopeless situation. If it was hopeless, theres no point in many here. I could have missed out on being here and not had to send a letter to all my professors saying im going to be here. So it is not a hopeless situation. And you also said that people for most part is nice to each other. Good to each other and i like to believe that everyone is hardwired to be good people. But ive also been told the saying all my life, one baddal apple makes the rest of the apples bad. If you have one or two kids in a 30person classroom thats mistreating other people, then those people are being mistreated. Now you have 30 kids, one is being mistreated, twos doing the mistrooting. Thats three. So bad with math, let me count, 27 other individuals in that classroom thats being nice to each other. But those other two that were being mean are causing problems for that one thats being, one that the stuff is being done to. Its not a hopeless situation and i would never, ever want anyone to think that its a hopeless situation. But i do believe that it is a problem. Maybe not headline all the time top problem. But its something that we face and something that we need to work towards. Did i answer your question . Or okay. So you said that the data shows that im not exactly sure how you worded it. But the data only shows what people have come forward and said, though . And thats the only thing that i think we really need to start focusing on some kind of data to get that shows everybody. Because not everybody is going to come up and say what happened to them as a bullying thing like oakley will. Ive heard oakleys story and every time he says that, i get goose bumps. Its Something Like that that if we can get tons people to do, thats whats really going to help. And you mention its really not an epidemic and i believe an epidemic is a really widespread thing. But when you have a 12yearold thats committing suicide because hes being bullied, thats an epidemic. Putting that in more situations, in tons of people feeling that, thats an epidemic. That is a horrible thing to have in society. That 12yearolds and 16yearolds and 9yearolds are committing suicide due to this thing. So its a disease, its traveling, its treatable. We just have to have more people out there to do it. For sure. Like cameron said there are people who arent coming forward. I didnt come forward with my story until this past year. It was only because my friends convinced me to come forward. Because they saw how it affected me. I didnt come forward with the fact that someone told me to kill myself for two weeks after because i was terrified of my parents finding out. Thats the reality, these kids are terrified of their parents finding out that theyre not fitting in well at school. Theyre terrified that theyre going to get picked on because they snitched. And sometimes the administration cant handle them out of reports that theyre handling. Its not hopeless situation like oakley said. There are people out there who care. We care. I care for everyone. I have so many people who i have to thank who cared for me. Who without them, i might not be here today. Because they were there. And probably a message i give to ever everyone i talk to about bullying is if you Say Something, you have to Say Something. Its okay, youre not going to get in trouble for it they have to remember that. We have two and i guess i dont care which one of you goes first. You have a card . I do have a card. I have to adjust my height. Lack thereof, i have a question from social media. And actually its a question that we pose at stopbullying. Gov to social media. How can we empower outto build lasting change in their schools and communities . I know ive been hogging the mike just a bit. But really to empower your youth, you have to inspire them. You have to give them a story that they can relate to. Because if they cant relate to something, then theyre not going to care. If they dont see that bull wering is one third of the population of all students in the school, then theyre not going to care. And they have to be touched personally by it. I know when i talk to people at my school, i go, im bullied, ive been bullied, i know what its like. Its not cool and you guys need to stop. Telling them your personal story and making them realize thats real makes them want to do something about it. I know i talk a lot, im sorry. So the thing that i would say is get youth involved with some kind of Youth Development organization like one of the best in the world, 4 h. You guys can tell i love 4 h very much. We do a lot with bullying prevention. We do a lot with preventing the bad stuff and promoting the good stuff. Our biggest motto to make the best better. Thats what we do, thats when we love by. That would be my biggest thing. If you have people, we have mentor programs like ojjdp does, that mentors youth into a better living. Those programs are designed for kids in troubled lives. Kids that are being bullied. And that is what 4 h is all about, is making the best better and getting people from the bad feeling part or to the im not sure if im looking for the right word, whatever the lowest thing is up to a great organization. Up to a great feeling. I just want to elaborate on what madison and cameron, sorry, yeah, you think i would remember his name said about let Youth Inspire you and get involved with other things. I feel like if they had hobbying and they were with other positive youth. They would not only feel better about themselves. But want to make a difference. Because theyve been there and they want to change someones life because they know what it feels like. Should we go on . So first of all, thank you for sharing your stories and all youre doing. I have a question, i didnt hear your ages. Could you share your ages really quickly . I am 18. Okay. Im 16. 17. 16. Okay. Great, thank you. Thats not my question, really. My question really has to do with how much responsibility you feel comfortable taking on as children helping other kids who have been bullied. So im just wondering when youre hearing these stories, for example, for madison, youre getting emails from people and youre hearing some horrific things. Like when do you know or what do you do when you what is your Decision Making around what you take on and what you dont take on . How do you help children reach out to perhaps trusted adults . Well, thank you for bringing that up. Actually, when we start any session with my group, we establish that we are required by pg county that if theres anything we need to report, we have to report it. We also have five basic rules. Respect, honesty, what is said at support group will stay at support group. If you want to talk about it outside of that, its on your terms. Do what youre comfortable with. We have certain rules that there will be no discrimination. But at the same time we do have to tell them that if it is serious, if someone has been throwing you against lockers and you know their name, we need to report it. And we have a sponsor who hes an amazing person and hes actually helped me with my bullying experience. Where one time i came to a session crying because people had been harassing me all day. And he was like, did the teacher do anything. And i had told him, no, he didnt do much. So he went right up to the teacher, got the students name and reported him. And a few weeks later, i got pulled into the office and the administration was like, what happened . Whats his name . And well take care of it. So we do have things that we report. And we have this teacher there who monitors that. We have one more question and this should be our last one, right . Ill wrap it up with a comment, since you were all so great during the panel and during the sessions. The world needs heroes, every single one of you is a hero because youve come here, told your story. Youre helping others. Ive said for years that its the student equation of this thats going to help us and move this forward. Youre kind of proving that. Years ago when we said some kind of crazy things about involving students in community activity. It wasnt seen as the thing to be done. And now its commonplace. So what ill give you, what ill ask you to do is go back to your schools and dream big. And dont let anyone ever tell you something cannot be done. Think outside that box or even better, throw that box away. Come up with your own ideas of what works with you, whats going to engage your counterparts, because you guys are really the future of this movement. And in time, were going to have to follow your lead. So you guys are great for being here, i wanted to step up and say thank you. And thank you to cameron. Amy, anna, madison and