New Laws and Rules Could Make Bullying a Crime, Parents Urged to Be Alert

Adolescent bullying just got a lot more complicated statewide, and the Somerville Schools are aggressively working to stop the bullying and regulate it here.

In May, the statehouse passed anti-bullying legislation entitled “An Act Relative to Bullying.” In December, Somerville presented its Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, where it currently awaits approval.

To clarify what this all means for students, parents and teachers in Somerville, the Middlesex Partnerships for Youth made a presentation on Thursday at Somerville High.

Bullying no longer an act of loners, but moreso by the popular kids, the jocks and the “Mean Girls”

Curiously, many people often are not clear about what qualifies as bullying and what does not, pointed out Assistant District Attorney Nina Pomponio on Thursday.

Pomponio, who is also the Partnership’s Preventative Education Coordinator, and Margie Daniels, the Partnership’s Executive Director made the presentation.

“I get calls all the time about incidents that parents think are bullying but aren’t,” said Pomponio. “By definition, bullying occurs in a situation where there’s unequal power. It’s repetitive, either written or verbal and it’s intentional.”

“Bullying has changed,” she continued. “Before it used to be a behavior largely exhibited by loners, but now it’s really coming from the popular kids, the jocks, the ‘Mean Girls’.”

No Escape, No End

Bullying is also much more sophisticated these days—not the message but, rather, the mediums used for delivery.

Pomponio and Daniels explained that until Columbine, most of us just accepted bullies as an unfortunate-but-normal facet of the adolescent landscape. In the 12 years since, however, technology has put us in constant contact with one another. There’s no place to hide.

No longer can victims escape when they close the door behind themselves having arrived home from school: text messaging, Facebook, Myspace and other media outlets continue the suffering well into the night and on weekends.

As a result, bullying has become altogether tragic. Amongst others, the suicides of Phoebe Prince, Dawn-Marie Wesley, Kelly Yeomans and Tyler Clementi somberly make this point. And for every case resulting in death there are thousands more; victims are left suffering in silence with internalized anxiety, depression and fear.

What’s more, 2010 survey results published by the Washington-state-based Workplace Bullying Institute estimate that an astounding 53.5 million adults have experienced some form of bullying on the job— it doesn’t stop when we turn 18.

New laws and Somerville’s plan cover vast territory

The new legislation is sixteen pages in length and Somerville’s plan is only slightly shorter. Together they cover vast territory about regulating the use of electronic devices and cyber-mediums to pursue victims both in and out of school.

Each calls for mandatory new school curriculums and extensive training for school staff, which will now be held responsible for implementing the law and investigating infractions, step by step.

New rules intended as “prohibitive,” but can make bullying criminal

The state’s Act amends or strengthens several previous laws but, as Daniels and Pomponio were quick to assert, it does not criminalize bullying. Rather it’s just “prohibitive.”

That said, it’s nearly impossible to commit an act of bullying and not cross one of the predefined lines that graduates a behavior to a civil rights violation—which then makes it a federal crime. These include what are called “Identity-Based Group Memberships” such as race, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability.

Other means by which bullying can become defined as criminal include when it occurs three or more times (criminal harassment, a misdemeanor), incorporates stalking (which involves the threat of physical harm and is considered a felony), identity fraud, and “sexting,” which, at the age level in question, qualifies as distribution of child pornography.

Parents advised to become more involved in their children’s online relationships

Flanked at times by School Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi and Rich Melillo, Somerville Public Schools’ Director of Student Services, Daniels and Pomponio spoke at length about the need for parents to become more involved in their children’s online relationships and to make themselves aware of the ever-changing ways in which adolescents communicate.

Startling statistics revealed at meeting

Some of the stats revealed Thursday were startling:

• According to 2009 M/A/R/C research, 20% of Massachusetts kids have “sexted” at least once.
• In another survey of admittedly bullied homosexual students, 26% claimed to have contemplated suicide as a result.
• Supposedly spurred by an episode of South Park that demonized redheaded ‘ginger kids,’ a “Kick a Ginger Day” Facebook page emerged and attracted 5,000 members, many of whom claimed to have delivered a kick to an unsuspecting fair-skinned and freckled individual.

New laws and rules raise questions

The combined state law and Somerville-specific plan make for an ambitious assault on bullying, which all involved see as necessary. But the move also raises some serious questions. What you do think?

• Will public schools be able to accommodate an increase in legal disputes?
• Are we striving to raise our children in protective bubbles or are we reasonably adapting our watchfulness to address changing times?
• Is there any other way of handling this or are laws the only remedy?
• Is the new legislation too complex?

“Yes, it’s complicated,” reasoned Melillo after the presentation ended. “But for the bullies, I think the message is actually quite simple.”