Dear Principal and Administrators:

Thank you for your support and attendance. We have gathered you here today to discuss the
prevalence of bullying among our students, and why we believe it is important to incorporate this
topic within our core curriculum. First, we believe it is critical to not only teach our students the
basics and foundations of education, but also instill moral values on a variety of social justice
issues. As teachers and administrators, we are advocates for our students. Therefore, as advocates,
we need to empower our students, ensuring that the students get the education they need in a safe
environment. With this in mind, we would like to bring forth some shocking statistics to your
attention in support of our unit on bullying.
In one specific study, a shocking number of approximately 49% of children in grades 4
through 12 reported being bullied by other students at school, at least once during the past month
(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). That is an appalling statistic. In fact, 47% of
students do not feel safe enough or believe that the school staff will or can not do anything to stop
bullying (Horner, Asher, & Fireman, 2015). Clearly, bullying is an ongoing, widespread issue that
is increasing, especially with the rise of technology-use both in and outside of schools. With
boundless connections and far-reaching, lightning-speed sources of communication, such as social
media, the different options for bullying are becoming increasingly available more than ever. This
is an issue that is no longer limited to simply physical, face-to-face confrontations; it has extended
out to cyberbullying as well.
Many of the incidents are going unnoticed, behind the backs of oblivious, and uninformed
teachers, administrators, policy makers, and others who are simply unaware. According to the
National Education Association (2015), more than 160,000 children miss school every day due to

the fear of being bullied. Students can develop anxiety, sleeping difficulties, depression, poor
school adjustment, and drop out of school (Jose, P. E., et al., 2011; The Center for Disease Control,
2012). In addition, studies have also found that adolescents who continuously bully over time are at
risk of becoming involved in gang membership, substance abuse, and other types of crime (Jose, P.
E., et al., 2011). Furthermore, according to studies by Yale University (Bullying Statistics), bully
victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, while a study in Britain
suggested that, at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying (Bullying
Statistics). Regardless of whether bullying results in the extreme repercussions of suicide or not, it
is still an issue that is inflicting and causing damage to our students. As advocates, we can no
longer allow this to happen to our students, whether it is on school ground or not.
McCallion and Feder (2013) have discovered that, on average, school-based anti-bullying
programs decreased bullying behavior by 20%-23% and victimization by bullies by 17%-20% (pg.
6). Without a doubt then, schools can help alleviate the issues that are hurting students by actively
developing, improving, and fostering prevention and intervention efforts. Both adults and children
can learn to define and monitor the problem, identify the risk and protective factors, and ultimately
develop and utilize prevention strategies to reduce and fight bullying in and outside of schools. If
students are well informed and believe they can make a difference, they are more likely to stand up
for for social injustices like bullying (Thornberg, et al., 2012). With the right approach, as
advocates, we can make a significant difference in the lives and experiences of our students. In one
survey, for instance, our students reported that accessing support from peers and adults was the
most helpful strategy to make things better (Davis & Nixon, 2010). For these reasons, schools

need to bring the issue of bullying to the foreground, and make it our priority to learn, teach, and
spread awareness about bullying.

References
Bullying Statistics: Anti-Bullying Help, Facts, and More. Bullying and Suicide. Retrieved from:
http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.html
Center for Disease Control, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2012).
Understanding bullying. Retrieved from:
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullyingfactsheet2012-a.pdf.
Davis, S., & Nixon, C. (2010). The youth voice research project: Victimization and strategies.
Retrieved from: http://njbullying.org/documents/YVPMarch2010.pdf.
Horner, A., Asher, Y., & Fireman, G. D. (2015). The impact and response to electronic bullying
and traditional bullying among adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 288-295.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.007
Jose, P. E., Kljakovic, M., Scheib, E., & Notter, O. (2011) The Joint Development of traditional
Bullying and victimization with Cyber Bullying and victimization in adolescents.
Research on Adolescence, 22(2), 301-309.
McCallion, G., & Feder, J. (2013). Student bullying: Overview of research, federal initiatives,
and legal issues. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43254.pdf.
Thornberg, T., Tenenbaum, L., Varjas, K., Meyers, J., Jungert, T., & Vanegas, G. (2012).
Bystander motivation in bullying incidents: To intervene or not to intervene? Western
Journal of Emergency Medicine , 8(3), 247-252. Retrieved from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3415829/.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Facts about bullying. Retrieved from:
https://www.stopbullying.gov/index.html.