With reports of bullying incidents increasing nationwide and in Maryland, City Council members passed an ordinance Monday that calls for vigorous enforcement of laws that pertain to those who bully others.
The legislation, introduced by new council member Valerie Nicholas, also requires city officials to list the link for the main anti-bullying website on the city's web page, http://www.stopbullying.com.
"As we look at the news, a lot of children are committing suicide because of being bullied, so I saw a need for this," Nicholas said. "We all on the council have a shared passion on this and we hope to raise awareness by going into the schools and talking about bullying. I definitely plan to go to the schools and talk to students and hopefully launch a national campaign on this issue."
Figures released this year by the Maryland State Department of Education show that statewide, more than 3,300 bullying incidents were reported in the 2009-10 school year, up from 2,132 the previous year. State officials attribute some of that increase to better reporting, but they also say bullying is increasing throughout the state. In May, Maryland's first lady Katie O'Malley teamed up with the state Education Department in an awareness and prevention campaign on bullying.
"We are following the lead of First Lady O'Malley in our resolution, which says that bullying is not an acceptable form of behavior in our schools," said council member Frederick Smalls. "This is a serious problem everywhere, and we want to be in front of it and work with our schools' principals and staff on this issue."
Nicholas said in addition to being concerned about the effect bullying has on children's physical and mental health, it is an issue close to her heart because she was bullied from her junior high through high school years and knows firsthand how it feels to be pushed around physically or verbally abused.
"I would get pushed and verbally bullied by a group as soon as I would get off the bus, but I never dreamed of committing suicide as some children are doing today," Nicholas said. "Now bullying is more physical than it used to be. People shot spit balls through straws when I was growing up, but now, they're shooting bullets and doing bodily harm, so this is so bothersome to me. That's why I want to talk to parents and kids and help to educate people on this issue."