WASHINGTON — The Department of Education hosted its first conference on bullying Wednesday, adding the issue to a steadily growing list of education priorities for the Obama administration.
Speaking at the conference the day after President Barack Obama approved billions of dollars in education funding for cash-strapped states, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said bullying is a school safety issue that must be resolved.
• Research: What do we know? What don’t we know?
• Programs: What programs work? In what areas are more programs needed?
• Policy: How can we prevent bullying at the local, state and federal levels?
“Bullying is doubly dangerous because it can have unintended consequences and be escalated to even more serious violence and abuse,” Duncan said. “Just as you have gateway drugs, bullying, I think, is a gateway to a hate.”
The conference — which is an interagency effort by the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Justice, Defense, Interior and Agriculture — is the first of its kind, bringing together government and non-government players in the education field to discuss how to address bullying.
Duncan acknowledged that there may be questions about why the agencies hadn’t come together before.
“We simply have not taken the problem of bullying seriously enough,” he said.
But bullying is not a new issue for the federal government, said Jason Smith, project director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Stop Bullying Now! campaign.
He said the department first announced a public awareness campaign against bullying in 2001, countering the myth that it’s “a rite of passage.” Research shows children who are bullied have a higher incidence of unhealthy behaviors, including smoking and underage drinking, as well as truancy.
“This is 10 years in the making that the government has understood that bullying is a public health issue and that it affects students’ ability to learn,” Smith said.
Smith attributed the current spotlight on the issue in part to media coverage of tragedies associated with bullying, such as the suicide of an 11-year-old in Massachusetts last year. The boy hanged himself after being bullied with taunts of being gay.
In particular, Smith cited the role of Kevin Jennings, who is assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools in the Department of Education and considers bullying an important issue of school safety.
“There’s not only emphasis and focus from Health and Human Services, but also equal amounts of attention and enthusiasm coming out of the Department of Education,” he said.
In his speech, Duncan said bullying is a behavior that children learn, emphasizing the need for preventative measures to improve schools.
“A school where children don’t feel safe is a school where children struggle to learn,” he said.
Duncan pointed to a 2007 study that found one in three students reported being bullied, revealing how widespread the problem is. He said he doesn’t accept the myths about the innocent nature of bullying.
“I have very little patience for the argument that ‘kids will be kids’,” Duncan said.
The conference continues Thursday.