Easter Montana schools have recorded several student suicide caused by bullying. Parents are now calling the school officials, but it seems they still do not know how they are going to handle the situation.
There is an anti-bullying bill that has been passed by the Montana legislature last year. However, it offers only a few directions regarding the policies should a school district must include and it just worsen the situation, Montana Standard reported.
Children can be bullied anytime and even at the comforts of their home through social media and other platforms where cyberbullying can be done.
Schools have different ways to handle the bullying complaints. Many districts have been using a report form. Some of them limited the access to students only while others are allowing the parents to get the form online. Many bullying complaints are being checked by an independent adjudicator in School District 2 in Billings.
A group of parents in Laurel City in Yellowstone County has been pressuring the school officials for a new way of addressing bullying. Some parents even pulled their children out from the district as they believe that the district cannot protect their children from assault and harassment.
George Zorzakis, a school resource officer from the Billings Police Department said that bullying happens every day. Most of the incidents started from social media interactions. Zorzakis also works for both Will James and Lewis and Clark middle schools, according to Billings Gazette.
According to him, school districts' weak response to bullying is caused by lack of strong state legislative direction. It is also hard to tell the difference between a typical peer-to-peer conflict and bullying. One factor that indicates bullying is an imbalance of power, which is based on economic status, learning ability, size or other differences.
"The bullying group becomes larger, so we're dealing with more parents, more kids," he said. "It becomes more complicated."
