Debate: Is this an effective way to curb bullying?
Every person on planet earth has had some experience with bullying from sometime in their school history – Ranging from being a bully themselves, dealing with one themselves or witnessing one in action.
Luckily for young kids today, many schools and parents have been made aware of bullying and that resulted in them taking a tougher stance on the issue. But at one step does one go too far in this issue?
North Tonawanda, a town perched in western New York, installed a new rule on Oct.1 that allows parents to be fined $250 or be sentenced to 15 days in jail if their child violates city laws two or more times within a 90-day span.
North Tonawanda, a town perched in western New York, installed a new rule on Oct.1 that allows parents to be fined $250 or be sentenced to 15 days in jail if their child violates city laws two or more times within a 90-day span.
City laws includes going against curfew and frowns upon bullying, which means your guess was right on the money – parents in North Tonawanda could now go to jail for their kid’s cruel behavior in school.
City officials claim the law was passed specially to help reduce rates of bullying in town after the mother of a child who was bullied started agitating for change.
“We hope to never need to use this law but it’s there in extreme cases,” Greg Woytila, superintendent of North Tonawanda’s city school district told ABC News. “But we need to do a better job and we are continually trying to do that.”
Predictably, the law caused a lot of controversy as showed in the tweets below. A few minorities believe the law as a step toward a more harmonious environment for students.
The hope is that the law wont need to be used but it continues to raise eyebrows around.
It’s been estimated around a quarter to a third of American students have said they were bullied at school, according to the U.S school department of Health and Human Services, and many parents claimed they didn’t know the best ways to respond to bullying incidents regardless if their kids were victims or in charge of the bullying situation.
When parents consider if their kids are bullies, it’s crucial to look for signs that suggest your kids maybe lashing out or acting out of the ordinary and seek out adequate support.
One thing is for sure, regardless of where you live, in North Tonawanda or elsewhere, bullying is something we should all look to stop right now.
