New Jersey Education Commissioner Chris Cerf has upheld two charges of bullying under the state’s tough new anti-bullying act. Both incidents took place in 2011 and involved middle-school students. In the first case, a sixth-grader from Middlesex County insulted a classmate in gym class by calling the student “gay,” and saying that he “danced like a girl.” The second case involved a Bergen County fourth-grader, who embarrassed a classmate by suggesting she had head lice. In both cases, the parents of the accused students appealed the local school district’s determination of bullying. In late January, Cerf upheld the local schools’ determinations of bullying and harassment.
The law, the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act (P.L. 2010, Chapter 122), was enacted in 2011. Since then, more than 13,000 incidents of bullying and harassment have been reported. The law requires school districts to follow specific procedures and timelines any time bullying is alleged.
A state task force monitoring the law’s implementation recently recommended that school principals be given more flexibility in deciding what allegations of bullying should be investigated.
To learn more about New Jersey’s anti-bullying efforts, go to http://www.state.nj.us/education/students/safety/behavior/hib/.
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