Every child deserves to feel safe and welcome in school. The sad reality, however, is that all too many kids suffer physical or emotional abuse at the hands of their peers on a day-to-day basis. Further, in many cases, this torment follows children and teenagers home through cyberbullying. It is crucial to the safety and future of our kids that we step up and put an end to this unacceptable behavior.

Feb. 22 is recognized as International STAND UP to Bullying Day to raise awareness about an issue that affects thousands of kids across the country, but is too often swept under the rug. A 2016 teen cyber census by the Siena College Research Institute showed that 1 in 6 teens in New York State and 31 percent of teens in Central New York are subjected to cyberbullying.[1] Cyberbullying can take many forms, including comments or photos on social media, text messages and gaming platforms to embarrass, insult, threaten or spread rumors about a victim.

Kids who are bullied are at a higher risk of experiencing depression and anxiety and often exhibit several other associated symptoms including sadness, loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. Victims of bullying are also at a greater risk of decreased academic achievement and school participation, as they are more likely to miss, skip or drop out of school.[2] Even more alarmingly, there’s a clear link between bullying and suicide – reports show that kids who have been bullied are more than twice as likely to consider taking their own lives.[3] As a father and a legislator, these statistics are haunting. Cyberbullying needs to be addressed head on.

Locally, the Cyberbullying Ambassador Program at East Syracuse-Minoa High School is an innovative model that aims to break the harmful cycle. The program focuses on promoting an “upstander” behavior model to help educate students, teachers and school administrators and to provide workshops, tools and resources to combat cyberbullying.[4] The program helps train students to recognize bullying in schools or online and encourages them to report the behavior to an adult instead of ignoring it. It is not enough for us to teach our kids to stand up for themselves – we need to ensure that they feel safe in standing up for one another, too.

Students deserve to have a school environment free of bullying and discrimination so that they can not only focus on their education, but enjoy it too. I’ll continue to work with the community and my colleagues in Albany to help make bullying a thing of the past. As always, I’m here to help. If you have any questions or concerns about this or any other community matter, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 315-452-1115 or at StirpeA@nyassembly.gov.