Bullying Remains in School District’s Spotlight

After a saying there was bullying at Bedford Middle School went viral, school officials continue responding to the national attention garnered by the clip.

“It is important to note, that despite the recent media attention, Bedford is a place where kindness and inclusion abound,” said Bedford principal Melissa Kay in her monthly email message to parents. “Many students feel that the media has inaccurately portrayed their school. Students at Bedford, as in all schools, struggle with making appropriate decisions and choices some of the time.”

In the video titled "Words are worse than Sticks and Stones," 13-year-old Alye Pollack says she is bullied and insulted daily. She doesn’t say a word in the clip, but holds up pieces of paper explaining her situation. The video, which was reported by Patch on March 26, has since been featured on , Fox News and the Huffington Post. It has more than 415,000 views.

At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, the video was not mentioned once, but bullying was on the agenda. Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon detailed the extensive policies and programs that the school district takes to curb bullying.

Some of those measures include a system where complaints can be filed anonymously, curriculum at all grade levels dealing with bullying and informational programs for parents. Now, even students in grades 3-5 are taught about texting and other forms of cyberbullying.

“And we have clubs that we have formed to help kids behave maturely and decently to one another,” Landon said.

The school district’s policy says that if a student is bullied online and outside of school, then disciplinary action can be taken if the victim’s educational experience is adversely affected by it.

Although the policy has been updated several times in the past decade, Board of Education member Michael McGovern said that rapidly evolving technology can quickly render the policy out of date.

“The challenge I think we have is how we keep up with what’s really happening out there,” he said. “ There’s probably less physical intimidation than maybe went on some years ago, but right now we’re in a realm where students are being cyberbullied.”

Landon said students must sign an policy regarding Internet use and that the schools can work with police to investigate online attacks.

Don O’Day, chairman of the Board of Education, said that school policies and parental involvement could only go so far. There was a cultural shift that occurred over time as smoking became less popular, and he said wanted to see a similar shift in behavior that would put an end to bullying.

“The cultural shift has to start with kids,” O’Day said. “The kids have to say that they will step in. They have to adopt the theme ‘don’t be that kid.’”