Columbia Board of Education delays vote on bullying policy
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Board of Education on Monday decided to push the vote on its new policy to address bullying within the school district to Oct. 21.
The policy was up for discussion for a fourth time and was expected to be voted on Monday before the board opted to push it back again. Monday evening’s discussion on the topic lasted more than an hour.
Eric Cronacher, a father to a special needs student in the Columbia Public Schools district, said bullying is something he is constantly worried about.
“A special needs parent. Our biggest fear is bullying,” Cronacher said.
Cronacher said although his child has not said they are facing bullying issues, as a former teacher, he knows bullying is present in almost every school.
“Being someone that was in education for a little bit, like I was, I saw it a little bit more firsthand. At that side of it and know that the teacher’s hands had been tied over the years,” Cronacher said. “And that makes me a little apprehensive.”
Under the current policy, teachers are just mandated to report any witnesses or suspected bullying to a higher-up, who would then take it to an investigation. The revised policy will provide a more active role for teachers when they encounter bullying.
According to the policy documents, staff “are expected to intervene to prevent student bullying, appropriately address the situation, assist the victim, and report the incident to the building principal or designee for further investigation and action.”
Cronacher said compared to when he was a student, the current policy is more restrictive for teachers, and the revised policy will draw pushback from parents.
Through the years, Cronacher said bullying has evolved into less physical methods and more mental bullying.
“You can be shunned, you can be shamed, body-shamed, things like that,” Cronacher said. “That, to me, is just as scary as anything. Where’s the discipline on that?”
Another addition to the revised bullying policy is victim support. The district will provide support for victims who have reported bullying through counseling, mental health professionals, and school psychologists, according to the policy.
For Cronacher, providing support to victims is a step in the right direction to help limit bullying in schools.
“You know, lots of people don’t report bullying. Why? Because they want to they don’t want it to recur,” Cronacher said. “So I think that is definitely a step in the right direction in this policy that some counseling and that it feels okay and that it can’t just be soft-handed.”
“Columbia Public Schools keeps the same policy all the way across for all schools. How they implement it is, I think, probably the biggest key,” Cronacher said. “You have to listen to the teachers on the front line. That’s who is encountering it.”
The board has been discussing the revised bullying policy since April and will have another review of the policy with a potential for final approval according to the agenda.
Check back for updates.
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