|
1/07 Update : In the past year, the Coalition continued to have occasional networking meetings, conducted a successful (50 participants) training for lawyers at NJ Law Center, is engaged in a project with the Attorney General's Office of Bias Crime and Community Relations to develop and distribute a core package of anti-bullying materials to all school districts in the state, has helped ACLU develop a legally-oriented anti-bullying brochure, has presented talks for schools and other organizations on bullying and on hazing, answers several calls a week from parents and school staff on the hotline (908-522-2581), providing referrals and resources, and continues to await a final decision on the LW case from the NJ Supreme Court.
2/06 Update: Quarterly meeting did not occur because all available time/energy has gone into following up on the 12/7/05 Appellate Division decision on LW. Specifically, moving the Coalition's 'law project' forward has been the consuming focus. Working with lawyers from Coalition-involved organizations (Elizabeth Athos - Education Law Center; Jeanne Locicero - ACLU; Leisa-Anne Smith - NJ State Bar Foundation; Bear Atwood and Frank Vespa-Papaleo - NJ Division on Civil Rights, Hestor Agudosi-NJ Office of Bias Crime and Community Relations) and Jerry Tanenbaum - a private attorney, planning has advanced to establish a bullying-related training program for lawyers, to be followed by establishment of a mechanism for connecting such lawyers with families of bullied children and schools seeking legal advice (toward minimizing liability by strengthening approaches to bullying). SG attended the recent ICLE conferences on Family Law and School Law (at which Frank Vespa-Papaleo delivered a strong keynote address, focused on LW) and staffed an exhibitor's table, courtesy of ICLE. A package of materials, including Coalition handouts, a Law Journal article on the LW decision by Jerry Tanenbaum
, an article comparing states' anti-bullying laws by Michael Greene and Randy Ross, and NJSBF material (courtesy of Leisa-Anne Smith)
was given out. There was great interest at both conferences. Hundreds of the packages were given out to lawyers who stopped by the table, at least 50 conversations about bullying were conducted, and (most important) approximately 70 lawyers indicated a desire to be contacted about the training, which ICLE has agreed to sponsor. The training will be conducted on a date in late Sept. or early Oct. A draft proposal for the training and its faculty has been favorably received, and the program will be well finalized and ready by the training date. Managing the communications and work for the law project has taken up all time which would otherwise available to convene our quarterly meeting. Our next meeting is therefore likely to occur in early May, rather than - as was planned - in late January.
These time/energy-limit issues will continue to occur until the Coalition process is more formalized and paid staff available. Steps toward obtaining 501c-3 status will benefit from offers of pro bono legal help, several of which were received during the law conferences. SG will follow up. In the meantime, an application was made to the internship program at a local university - such help is unlikely to arrive before summer and will be (itself) quite limited (e.g., one school term, probably), though appreciated.
A new handout - Helping Bullied Children - was written (Stuart Green), reviewed (Michael Greene) and posted on the site. Parents have continued to call at a rate of several/week, to receive information which may be helpful to their situations (bullied children, commonly) or for referrals (e.g., to Office of Bias Crime and/or Civil Rights division). Press has continued to call as well (several/month) for comments on developments/articles. And schools have been in contact to ask about programs.
Several talks have been done, including one on hazing (for Bob Baly and NJISAA) at the Yogi Berra museum. Other developments will be reported, and scheduling/agenda for the next meeting announced.
The slow, frustrating pace of other projects, for various and understandable reasons, continues.
- SG
10/05 Update: There was good attendance at the 9/22 Coalition meeting. Attendees heard a review by Michael Greene (Youth Consultations Service) of recent developments in the bullying-related literature (summary to be posted), and by Elizabeth Athos (Education Law Center) of the status of the LW appeal, and other bullying-related legal developments (summary to be posted). Concern was expressed about a well publicized series of talks in NJ sponsored by a continuing education company in which the focus is on encouraging bullied children to behave differently as a proposed solution to bullying. Steps taken toward developing the Coalition as a 501c-3 non-profit organization were described. Thanks to Leisa-Anne Smith and NJ State Bar Foundation for hosting and support, as usual. Further information to be posted, as mentioned.
9/05 Update: It's frustrating at times to report only slow progress - at least on the Coalition organizational and project front. By contrast, national events continue to move quickly, including:
(1) the trend toward parents taking bullying concerns to court - and achieving settlements and favorable judgments;
(2) media attention continues to increase, and the quality of what is reported is increasing as well. Newspaper reports much more routinely (and accurately) depict bullying as a serious matter which must be primarily addressed by adults;
(3) schools - perhaps in part in response to factors 1 and 2, above, are increasingly requesting talks and advice about programs and resources. Perhaps most important, oral arguments in the LW case (at the appellate level) are taking place in early October (see 'upcoming events' announcement and/or 'legal issues' page, this site).
However, in all other Coalition project areas (see 7/05 note, below) we do not yet have major new progress to report. The controlling factor is the limited time anyone has available to put in on these overarching and interorganizational projects. At the upcoming meeting (9/22, 12pm, at NJ Law Center) we'll hear an update on the cascade of bullying-related studies in the past year (from Dr. Michael Greene), an update on legal developments (from Elizabeth Athos), and try to move the various projects forward. As usual, contact Stuart Green at (908) 522-2581 or at njbullying@yahoo.com if you are senior staff of a non-profit or governmental organization and interested in attending.
7/05 Update: (1) Parents' Campaign: The parents' campaign meeting at NJ Law Center successfully identified a core group of parents committed to developing the campaign. They've been communicating and have received input and encouragement from Lisa Toomey (CT campaign) and I. But it's been slow off the ground to this point. Org dev is not easy, and each parent has their own family situation as an active focus, so ... This needs nurturing in various ways: that's the stage we're in. Both short-term 'wins' and long-term plans are important. There is our Coalition's vision/hope for what the parents can do and what next steps could be, but activity is the parents' work process and needs to be on their timeline. It's not yet clear what will develop from this.
(2) Hotline: A meeting with Office of Bias Crime to discuss extending the reach and services of the existing hotline (877 NO-BULLY) is coming up. Parents Anonymous (extensive and relevant hotline experience) will be involved in the meeting. Hotline/resource line issues can be quite complicated in NJ. Even very well-established and model entities such as NJ Self-Help Clearinghouse are struggling to sustain themselves and United Way's strong development in this area has implications for all such services as well. I'll report on the meeting right afterwards.
(3) Resources/Training: Requests for talks are still increasing, organizations report. OCCBR is continuing its series of cyberbullying conferences - the next one is fall '05. NJSBF trainings continue to be overbooked. CAP and other organizations continue to guide school interventions, and there have been inquiries about the Olweus team's NJ work. On a national level, Google and NY TImes news tracking continues to indicate still-increasing coverage of bullying. The Times, in particular, continues to be receptive to bullying-related commentary (e.g., letters to the editor). Stan Davis' book, Schools Where Everyone Belongs, has now been picked up by a publisher (Research Press). Stan is coming to NJ in December to do a training. We are considering a book - or other - event, while he is available, to promote awareness of bullying and the whole school model, as a special educational activity for a selected audience, or as a fundraising event (e.g., to raise money for bullying-related research, or Coalition activities). We get feedback that the Resource Project's 'guide for school administrators' is very useful, and there is enthusiastic response from audiences at talks about the other handouts. There's a new one - support for children - on the website's 'resources' page. Next step for the resource project still needs to be taken; the plan was for a 'database' noting programs and progress in NJ. Realistically, this will await paid staff (or an exceptionally dedicated volunteer with lots of time to devote). But this remains a gap to be addressed and it will be needed for the hotline project, among other uses. In terms of training, in addition to ongoing NJSBF, CAP and other organizational training activities, Leisa-Anne Smith (NJ State Bar Foundation) and Jeannette Collins (CAP) are certified Olweus trainers, and Cheryl Mojta of CAP is taking the training. Jeanette is doing an implementation in Cranford, and other implementations will be done. And - aside from official Olweus activity - there's some good activity addressing bullying going on in the state (very far from enough). It would be good to be able to track this better. It's hard to have enough contact and personal visits to identify and 'evaluate' (informally) everything, but there are tempting programs in play. One recent one from Camden County about what the prosecutor's office is doing was extremely positive, but it's hard to know enough about the various activities without meetings, observation, review of materials, etc.
(4) Website: The website is getting 'hits' at a rate of about 200 a month. This is without any publicity, or Google adds, money put in, etc. Additional help for updating is still needed. There's usually a lag of a few weeks before accumulated material is posted. Parents and professionals are making contact through the site (there's a posting form on the site, as well as contact info for all of us), receiving individual replies. But it would be good to start a regular email 'newsletter' to those groups (time is the limiting factor, as usual). Also, through the site, we've gotten some bullying-related books from publishers (and continue to buy many others which come out). It would be good to have more reviews to post on the site, but again time limits the ability to do this in a timely fashion.
(5) Organizational: As an attempted solution to the 'limited time' problem, steps toward 501c-3 status for the Coalition are being taken. The goal is to being able to raise funds for the projects and (most important part) staff help to move the projects forward. (As described in a previous message, the ability to go forward as well as is needed is too limited presently without such help.) The process involves identification of a board, and discussion and then approval of by-laws.
(6) Law: W e are still awaiting resolution of the LW case, and then can take further steps toward legal education and outreach. There is tremendous interest in this area - and we're not yet adequately meeting the need for information at the moment, though the waiting for clarification is certainly understandable.
(7) Community Model: There have been conversations about extending the faith community-based/town model through the state's Human Relations committees, but next steps are still pending.
6/05 Update:
An organizational meeting
for the new statewide parents'
action campaign to
end childhood bullying was held on June 7th, 2005 at NJ Law Center in New Brunswick. A small group of parents
of bullied children
and those concerned about it participated in discussion and planning for the campaign. At the moment, 28 parents from across the state are participating, and the number should grow quickly, as follow-up meetings, events and activities are announced. At the moment, anyone interested in participating should contact us (by calling the Coalition at (908) 522-2581, by contacting Sh'corah Yehudah, of SPAN, at (973) 642-8100, ext. 113 or at vpc@spannj.org, or
by email to Stuart
Green, or fill out and email the
form on the How
to Participate page). Parent-to-parent contacts will be announced soon. Parents who contact Coalition organizations will be offered campaign information and an opportunity to participate, if desired. Lisa Toomey, founder of a parents campaign
in Connecticut, was an inspirational and informative speaker at the June 7th meeting, and will provide continuing consultation to the campaign. Coalition experts who attended and provided support for the meeting included Elizabeth Athos, of Education Law Center; Michael Greene, of Youth Consultation Service; Phil Brown, of NJ Center for Character Education; Leisa-Anne Smith, of NJ State Bar Foundation; Sh'Corah Yehudah, of Statewide Parents Advocacy Network; Stephanie Kramer, of ARC; and Stuart Green, Coalition director. Expect more news shortly!
______________________________________________________________________
Top
Here is an update of Coalition activity and status as of 4/29/05:
Coalition Update 4-29-05
The next full Coalition meeting will be in late August (date to be set); for information on attending and on Coalition participation, call 908 522-2581 or stuart.green@ahsys.org.
Project group meetings may be held beforehand and/or on the day of the August meeting. For project group information, see the Update (above).
____________________________________________________________________
The link below was posted just before the 3/29 meeting and contains updates reviewed prior to the meeting:
The next meeting of the Coalition
will be held on 3/29 at 12:30pm at the
Law Center in New Brunswick.
Organizations wishing
to attend should e-mail Stuart Green
or call at (908) 522-2581.
The following developments since 11/04:
...
_____________________________________________________________________
Coalition
Update 11/9/04:
Meeting
held at NJ Law Center.
Progress Report:
(1)
Status of LW case appeal
...
______________________________________________________________________
Update 10/3/04:
(1)
The
next meeting
...
_____________________________________________________________________
Coalition
Update 8/04:
The Coalition
held a meeting at NJ Law Center on 8/17/04,
...
_____________________________________________________________________
National
Update 6/04:
An
important resource has recently become
available...
______________________________________________________________________
Coalition
Update 6/04:
The
NJ network of organizations ...
______________________________________________________________________
NJ
Update 6/04:
Town models are beginning to
move forward and attract interest...
______________________________________________________________________
Coalition
Update 4/04:
The
possibility of an effective statewide parents' action ...
______________________________________________________________________
Coalition
Update 4/04:
On
3/30/04, at NJ Law Center, the first meeting
was held of a
new state 'network' ...
______________________________________________________________________
NJ
Update 4/04:
More
faith community groups are becoming involved ...
______________________________________________________________________
Top
|
