I have no time to read the new materials coming out today but wanted to get them posted for later discussion…
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Communications & Outreach, Press Office 400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202
FOR RELEASE
Oct. 26, 2010
Contact: Public Affairs
(202) 401-1576
GUIDANCE TARGETING HARASSMENT OUTLINES LOCAL AND FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY White House to Convene Conference on Bullying Early Next Year
WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Education issued guidance to support educators in combating bullying in schools by clarifying when student bullying may violate federal education anti-discrimination laws. The guidance issued today also makes clear that while current laws enforced by the department do not protect against harassment based on religion or sexual orientation, they do include protection against harassment of members of religious groups based on shared ethnic characteristics as well as gender and sexual harassment of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender individuals.
The guidance, which comes in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter sent to schools, colleges and universities, explains educators’ legal obligations to protect students from student-on-student racial and national origin harassment, sexual and gender-based harassment, and disability harassment. The letter provides examples of harassment and illustrates how a school should respond in each case.
The White House and Department of Education also announced next steps to address bullying and harassment in schools. Early next year, the White House will host a conference to raise awareness and equip young people, parents, educators, coaches and other community leaders with tools to prevent bullying and harassment. This conference will build upon efforts led by the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies to spark a dialogue on the ways in which communities can come together to prevent bullying and harassment.
“We’ve got to dispel the myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage, or an inevitable part of growing up. It’s not,” said President Obama. “We have an obligation to ensure that our schools are safe for all of our kids. Every single young person deserves the opportunity to learn and grow and achieve their potential, without having to worry about the constant threat of harassment.”
“Bullying is a problem that shouldn’t exist. No one should ever feel harassed or unsafe in a school simply because they act or think or dress differently than others,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “To every student who feels threatened or harassed — for whatever reason — please know that you are not alone. Please know that there are people who love you. And please know that we will protect you,” Duncan continued.
“Students cannot learn if they feel threatened or harassed,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Russlynn Ali. “We want to keep students safe and learning, and today’s guidance will help us do that.”
Following the release of today’s guidance, the Department plans to hold technical assistance workshops around the country in early 2011 to help educators better understand their obligations and the resources available to take prompt and effective steps that will end harassment and bullying in schools and on college campuses.
The guidance issued today is just one of several efforts in the Department of Education’s comprehensive approach to end bullying. In 2009, the Department joined the Departments of Defense, Justice, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and the Interior to form the Obama Administrations Inter-Agency Task Force on Bullying. In August of this year, the Obama administration hosted the first ever National Bullying Summit and launched both the Stop Bulling Now campaign and www.bullyinginfo.org, a national database of effective anti-bullying programs.
For more information about OCR and the anti-discrimination statutes that it enforces, please visit http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/aboutocr.html. To review the “Dear Colleague” letter, please visit: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201010.html.
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The Department of Education is one of those “feel good” federal agencies that simply don’t solve the problem that they were created to fix.
I can go in depth on this subject (and actually do http://upfordebate.us/story.php?title=time-to-end-the-department-of-education if you are interested.)
The students may wish for more funding, but do they stop and ask where that funding comes from?
We have turned into an entitlement society, caring not that government does not create wealth but only takes it.
The more money government throws into the Department of Education, the higher prices for Education will rise. this includes student loans and subsides.
The Department of Education is one of those “feel good” federal agencies that simply don’t solve the problem that they were created to fix.
I can go in depth on this subject (and actually do http://upfordebate.us/story.php?title=time-to-end-the-department-of-education if you are interested.)
The students may wish for more funding, but do they stop and ask where that funding comes from?
We have turned into an entitlement society, caring not that government does not create wealth but only takes it.
The more money government throws into the Department of Education, the higher prices for Education will rise. this includes student loans and subsides.
The AR State DOE can’t officially do anything. That doesn’t mean “nothing” can be done. Already there are groups calling for McCance’s resignations and planning demonstrations/protests if he doesn’t.
And it does appear there is a recall process for elected officials, unfortunately, I can’t get the that info right now (the site for the AR state code is currently down).
Mr. Howard with the Arkansas State Dept. Of Education told me yesterday that nothing could be done because this hate-mongering idiot was an “elected official”.
Mr. Howard told me they oppose such behavior from elected officials, but he reminded me that this was “a backwater town in rural Arkansas — not the big city.”
Just read this story about comments from a school board member in AR.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/27/arkansas.anti.gay.bullying/index.html?hpt=C1
Hopefully guys like McCance are on the way out. Unfortunately, I think that far to many school administrators have had the “gays deserve what they get” mentality for too long, which has contributed significantly to the current problems.
However, Thompson’s comment is revealing as well:
Note, she isn’t condemning what he said, just that he said it publically. At least she did say it was “insensitve.” Although, this quote may be out of context (couldn’t find the original release), and there is a more strongly worded statement from the DOE here:
http://www.arkansas.gov/search/gsearch.php?profile=google-ade&cache=twtaSi7CVxIJ:http://www.arkansased.org/about/pdf/releases/midland_response_release_102710.pdf&words=McCance
(if the link doesn’t work go to http://arkansased.org/ and search on “McCance” it is the Oct. 27th statement) the 1st paragraph reads:
I wonder if AR allows for recall votes of public officials. Anyone from the Midland AR district willing to start the process?
The AR State DOE can’t officially do anything. That doesn’t mean “nothing” can be done. Already there are groups calling for McCance’s resignations and planning demonstrations/protests if he doesn’t.
And it does appear there is a recall process for elected officials, unfortunately, I can’t get the that info right now (the site for the AR state code is currently down).
Mr. Howard with the Arkansas State Dept. Of Education told me yesterday that nothing could be done because this hate-mongering idiot was an “elected official”.
Mr. Howard told me they oppose such behavior from elected officials, but he reminded me that this was “a backwater town in rural Arkansas — not the big city.”
Just read this story about comments from a school board member in AR.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/27/arkansas.anti.gay.bullying/index.html?hpt=C1
Hopefully guys like McCance are on the way out. Unfortunately, I think that far to many school administrators have had the “gays deserve what they get” mentality for too long, which has contributed significantly to the current problems.
However, Thompson’s comment is revealing as well:
Note, she isn’t condemning what he said, just that he said it publically. At least she did say it was “insensitve.” Although, this quote may be out of context (couldn’t find the original release), and there is a more strongly worded statement from the DOE here:
http://www.arkansas.gov/search/gsearch.php?profile=google-ade&cache=twtaSi7CVxIJ:http://www.arkansased.org/about/pdf/releases/midland_response_release_102710.pdf&words=McCance
(if the link doesn’t work go to http://arkansased.org/ and search on “McCance” it is the Oct. 27th statement) the 1st paragraph reads:
I wonder if AR allows for recall votes of public officials. Anyone from the Midland AR district willing to start the process?