The Menace Of Bullies: Why Reporting, No Bully Partnership Matter

Over the past two years, Patch has been bringing awareness to the terrible toll bullying takes on the nation’s children through a national advocacy reporting project, “The Menace of Bullies: Can We Stop This?”

Patch reporters across the country have told heartbreaking stories of children pushed to the brink by bullying, but also uplifting stories about kids who stand up to bullies, stories that offer strategies to parents, and in-depth reports about the effects of bullying and online cyberbullying.

Patch Editor-in-Chief Dennis Robaugh said the reporting project was inspired in particular by those bullied children who felt so hopeless that they chose to take their own lives.

"Not only did we want to tell their stories and the stories of their parents, we wanted to bring to light why their schools failed them," he said. "And we wanted to help others struggling with the same emotional abuse to find help."

A milestone in this project is Patch's recent news partnership with No Bully, the nation’s largest anti-bullying advocacy group. Nicholas Carlisle, who was relentlessly bullied a teenager, founded No Bully in 2009 to ensure other children don’t endure similar abuse. The nonprofit’s mission is to “eradicate bullying and cyberbullying and ignite compassion worldwide,” CEO Will McCoy said.

Among No Bully’s many programs is the No Bully System program for schools that was developed in collaboration with educators. It serves hundreds of schools with more than 250,000 students.

“Through our evidence-based prevention and intervention program, we have a 90 percent success rate of solving incidents of bullying,” McCoy said. “With one out of three students being targets of bullying, No Bully's mission has never been more important.”

The Menace of Bullies: Our Reporting So Far

• Bullied To Death: When Kids Kill With Words
• America's Shameful Truth About School Shooters And Bullying
• Survivor Of Bullying And Suicide Writes Frankly About Both
• Girl-To-Girl Bullying: Why It’s Different, Difficult To Confront
• Bully Upstander: Whatever He Said Caused Bullies To Back Down
• Bullying Caused 11-Year-Old To Attempt Suicide, Mother Says
• Bullied 10-Year-Old's Suicide 8th In School District This Year
• Cyberbullying Is Now Against The Law In Michigan
• Shooting Incident Linked To Bullying At School, Mom Says
• Girls More Likely Than Boys To See Bullying As Harmful: Study
• 13-Year-Old Hangs Herself, But Bullying Killed Her
• 3-Week Nightmare: How Bullying Pushed My Son To Run Away
• Teen Tells Bullies In Video: 'Every Day, I Wear Your Words'
• 'The Hero Myth': Why Expecting Kids To Fight Bullies Is Harmful
• 'Mr. Anti-Bully': Reformed Bully, 12, Sets Mistake Right
• Mallory Grossman Bullying Detailed In Wrongful Death Suit
• Malden Schools Were Non-Compliant Through Bullying Saga: DOE
• 'They All Failed And Changed A Child': Malden Bullying Detailed
• Mom Speaks About Bullying Heartbreak: 'I Feel I Failed Him'
• Why These Kindergartners Start Each Day With A Handshake
• The Bully Menace: 'The Hurt Never Goes Away'
• Bullies And Their Targets The Same: Digital Self-Harm Rising
• Boy, 6, Overcomes Bullying, Heart Condition To Spread Kindness
• Williamsburg Poetry Teacher Helps Bullied Kids Open Tortured Minds
• Bullying Tougher To Confront When It's Bias-Based: Researchers
• Bullied New Hampshire 5th Grader Makes Tearful Plea
• The Bully Menace: 13 Age-Appropriate Reads
• Teen's 'I Wear Your Words' Video Inspires Nashville Songwriters
• Bullying Caused 11-Year-Old To Attempt Suicide, Mother Says

From No Bully, Patch News Partner

• Patch Partners With No Bully To Help Eradicate Bullying
• Cyberbullying Is Now A Crime In Michigan: Is Criminalizing A Good Idea?
• Hitting A Homerun With Kindness With The Phillies

From The Experts

• 'The Anti-Bully': Talk And, Especially, Listen To Your Kids
• The Bully Menace: Patch Experts Offer Tips To Parents
• Anti-Bully Experts Offer Tips On Sometimes Deadly Encounters
• Understanding The Bully: They're Often Victims, Too, Experts Say

What We've Learned

• The Bully Menace: What Patch Has Learned About Childhood Torture

We Want To Hear From You

Do you have a story to tell? Are you concerned about how your local schools handle bullies and their victims?

Email us at bullies@patch.com and share your views in the comments.