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Asbury Park
Press
Expelling bullying
from school
AT SEMINAR THURSDAY
IN TOMS RIVER:
100 local educators
learn the price of bullying,
legal measures to
address age-old problem
By FRAIDY REISS,
app.com on the Web, February 22, 2008
Every time her son left for another
day at Jackson Memorial High School, Rena Jacobson worried. Would he
endure more taunts from fellow students about his sexual orientation?
Would he again be cursed at, threatened, followed home or physically assaulted?
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Frank
Vespa-Papaleo, director of the state Division of Civil Rights,
explains how state law requires schools do something about bullying
during a forum Thursday.
(STAFF PHOTOS: MARY FRANK) |
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"It's a horror when your son is being
exposed to bullying and harassment," Jacobson, 60, said. "You just have
this sense of powerlessness."
The Jacobsons are awaiting a hearing date on the complaint filed with the state
Division on Civil Rights against the Jackson school district, which charged that
the district violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination when it did not
stop students from repeatedly harassing Daniel Jacobson because he is gay and
because he was born in Honduras. The Jacobsons contend the harassment
continued until Daniel graduated in 2006.
Allison Erwin, a district spokeswoman, declined to comment on the case.
Meanwhile, Rena Jacobson said her desire to help other families prompted her to
help organize a seminar to prevent bias and bullying in schools, held Thursday
in the Toms River branch of the Ocean County Library for some 100 school
officials and staffers.
"We don't want to see other children go through what our son did," Jacobson
said.
Children are suffering at the hands of bullies in schools everywhere, in urban
and suburban districts, J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, director of the state Division
on Civil Rights, said during the seminar.
Bias-based bullying is a major problem in New Jersey and throughout the
country," he said. "But in New Jersey, there are strong laws that can
protect students, which don't exist in other parts of the country."
State officials have realized they must prevent bullying because of the
"dramatic effect" it has on society, Vespa-Papaleo said. Forty percent of
children who are bullies in school go on to become criminal offenders, he said.
If that isn't reason enough to warrant dealing with this issue, I don't know
what is," Vespa-Papaleo said.
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| Daniel Jacobson (right) talks with his attorney,
Luanne Peterpaul, during a break at the seminar. Jacobson is
suing the Jackson school district over the bullying he endured while
a student. |
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Parents and educators should learn
about the state Law Against Discrimination, which is perhaps one of the
strongest civil-rights laws in the country, he advised. They should report
bias crimes immediately by calling (800) 277-BIAS, he said.
Several people at the seminar pointed to a bill the state legislature passed in
January, which required school districts to post their anti-bullying policy on
their Web site by March 13. The bill also created a commission that will
consider changes to the state's bullying statute.
Talk at the seminar also turned frequently to Lawrence King, a 15-year-old
California boy who was killed last week by a fellow student, apparently because
King was gay.
"Any students that are or appear to be sexual minorities are much more likely to
be bullied," said Phyllis Long, president of Jersey Shore Parents, Families and
Friends of Lesbians & Gays, one of the groups that sponsored the seminar.
Long also mentioned a former Toms River Regional School District student,
identified in court papers as L.W., who recently spoke up about his experience
getting bullied in school because other students believed he was gay.
"Everybody, every child, adult, should be treated with respect," she said.
"Gay and lesbian students should not be tolerated but accepted and celebrated
for who they are."
Barnegat Police Detective Michael Mitchell, a school resource officer who
attended the seminar, said he was glad to see state and local officials are
working to solve the age-old problem of bullying in schools.
"It's a lot better than it used to be when I went to school" and was told to
"toughen up and be a man," Mitchell said. "Now it's addressed by school
districts."
One of the issues discussed at the seminar was the reluctance of school
officials to report a bias crime, out of fear that it will reflect badly on the
district. That caught the attention of Daniel Jacobson, who attended the
seminar.
"That's what happened with me," said Jacobson, 19, who now attends Skidmore
College in New York. "They care more about (their image) than the safety
of their students."
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