HISD Takes A Stand Against Bullying

Bullying in school was the topic of discussion during an open forum meeting at Lamar High School Wednesday evening. The Equality Texas Foundation hosted the event for parents, teachers, and school administrators to discuss school safety.

An estimated 5.7 million teens are involved in school bullying, whether they are engaging in it or are the target of it. Bullying can range from physical violence to spreading malicious gossip and in the digital age, bullying has gone online.


"Cyber-bullying is a new phenomenon that has really developed through the Internet age, and we see also not only with the Internet things with texting, sex-texting, and those sorts of things," said Peter Messiah with Houston Independent School District Safe Schools Program.

Messiah also said parents should keep an open line of communication with their children and look for changes in behavior for signs of bullying.

HISD has a bully ban in place, but this year voted to expand the ban to include cyber-bullying. In addition, the school district has a policy banning students from harassing others based on gender identity, religion, and ethnic origin. HISD said it wants to teach their students tolerance and to respect each other's individual right to self-expression.