Putnam Legislature Wants to Start Anti-Bullying Campaign
With bullying a common plague that affects students in Putnam County on a daily basis, the county Legislature is exploring ways it can reduce the teasing and hurt feelings among youths.
Legislator Toni Addonizio requested the topic be brought forward to the heath committee meeting last Wednesday, calling it an important subject that should be addressed. She noted bullying can lead to low self-esteem and other problems for a young person, which in turn can lead to harmful behavior, including drug and/or alcohol abuse.
“I want to integrate a way that we can maybe stop it before it starts,” Addonizio said.
Vice president of CoveCare, Liza Szpylka, who works in behavioral health services, recited statistics that show how prevalent bullying and teasing can be across the country. She said one in five students reported being bullied in some way. That bullying can either be verbal, physical, or emotional, Szpylka said. She added cyber bullying is also part of the problem as social media becomes entwined in a young person’s life.
She suggested compiling stats from school districts in Putnam to get a firmer idea how often bullying occurs in the county and what type of bullying it is. She said CoveCare is involved in the Putnam Valley, Mahopac, and Haldane school systems. School prevention programs to fight against bullying actually can reduce it by 25 percent, Szpylka said.
“It’s very key to get the other students involved in this so they are the best line of defense for someone who is being bullied,” Szpylka said.
Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES is implementing an anti-bullying app in the region and Putnam Valley is the first school system that is using it. Students can anonymously report possible bullying situations on the app.
Szpylka pointed out adults can be bullied as well, including 30 percent at the work place.
“If you’re a bully as an adult, you have had some experience with that as a child,” Szpylka said.
Legislator (and Brewster high school administrative assistant) Ginny Nacerino said the Brewster school system is very progressive when tackling bullying. She mentioned cyber bullying is a major problem, where the taunting can be 24 hours a day.
Social services commissioner Michael Piazza said his department is working with schools to develop a program to fight back against bullying. He said one of the causes of suicide is bullying. He added a peer stopping others from bullying is critical.
“This is a really serious issue,” Piazza said. “A child who sees the world as a happy place, as a place to learn new things and all of sudden by middle school it becomes a place where there’s fear and there’s danger and people like victimizing certain people.”
