Since the end of August, over 4 million children have gone back to school in Texas. 

These children have returned to almost 8,200 schools located in Texas' 1,200+ school districts.

Thousands of these children dread going back to school to face the taunts, jeers, and humiliation inflicted by bullies.

Bullying is not a normal part of growing up. Bullying is not a healthy coping response - it signals that a child needs to learn how to manage his or her emotions, release anger and frustration in more healthy ways, and learn more constructive strategies for getting along with others.

Victims of bullying suffer psychological and sometimes physical scars that last a lifetime.  Victims report greater fear and anxiety, feel less accepted, suffer from more health problems, and score lower on measures of academic achievement and self-esteem than students who are not bullied.  Victims often turn their anger inward, which may lead to depression, anxiety, and even suicide.  The experience of bullying is also linked with violence, as the fatal shootings in Littleton, Colorado, and Jonesborough, Arkansas, have illustrated.

The most effective way of addressing bullying is through comprehensive schoolwide programs.  Programs developed collaboratively between school administration and personnel, students, parents, and community members to change the school's culture to emphasize respect and eliminate bullying.

All children deserve to go to school free of intimidation.  Join with Equality Texas, National PTA, and other organizations to help make your schools and neighborhoods bully-free.

Sign the petition calling for school district policies and programs that address the prevention, intervention, and elimination of bullying in Texas schools.

Equality Texas will use your show of support to advocate for policy change with coalition partners, school district administrators and elected officials.

%adv-participants-stop_the_bullying%  people are helping Equality Texas eliminate bullying.

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This petition is in conformity with the National PTA resolution on bullying.  To see the National PTA resolution on bullying, please click here.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

WHEREAS, bullying in schools is a pervasive problem that has negative consequences for the school climate and for the right of students to learn in a safe environment without fear, and one that can have negative lifelong consequences, both for students who bully and for their targets; and

WHEREAS, bullying is comprised of direct behaviors such as teasing, taunting, threatening, and hitting, that are initiated by one or more students against a target, as well as indirect behaviors such as spreading rumors and acting in other ways to cause a student to be socially isolated through intentional exclusion, with all such behaviors, direct or indirect, amounting to physical or psychological intimidation occurring repeatedly over time to create an ongoing pattern of harassment and abuse; and

WHEREAS, bullying other children and being the target of bullies are considered risk factors for youth violence by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and other relevant organizations, and bullies whose behavior goes unchallenged risk ending up as violent adults, engaging in domestic violence and child abuse; and

WHEREAS, bullying for too long has gone unchallenged, with parents, who are often unaware of the bullying problem, neglecting to talk about it with their children; with students feeling that adult intervention is infrequent and ineffective and will only bring more harassment from bullies; and with school personnel viewing bullying as a harmless rite of passage that is best ignored; and

WHEREAS, those who stand by passively watching or actively encouraging bullying are also affected by these hostile acts; they encourage bullying by creating an audience, they may become desensitized to cruelty, they may learn to imitate bullying behavior and become bullies themselves, and/or they may be fearful for their own safety, adding to their own insecurity; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that Equality Texas, National PTA, and I support policies and programs that address the prevention, intervention, and elimination of bullying; and

RESOLVED, that Equality Texas, National PTA, and I support programs and projects to bring about an attitude that bullying behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in homes, schools, playgrounds, buses, school activities, or any place children congregate; and be it further

RESOLVED, that Equality Texas, National PTA, and I work with the appropriate agencies and organizations in an effort to inform the general public about the risks and cost of bullying for both the bully and the target, as well as those who witness bullying, and bring about a change in societal attitudes toward bullying.

Signed by:

Campaign Launched:
August 28, 2007