Dignity for All Students Act

Concerned about Bullying? Read This.

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Kids in Tompkins County are getting bullied at school, outside of school, and online. The most recent survey of students, in 2023, showed a marked increase in bullying over the previous two years.

39 percent of 8th graders in Tompkins County say they have been bullied at school

About a quarter of students in grades 6-12 reported being bullied at school, with the greatest prevalence occurring in middle school grades, according to the Community-Level Youth Development Evaluation (CLYDE) survey of 3,496 students.

Overall, 27.4 percent of students said they were bullied at school; 20.5 percent bullied outside school; and 20 percent bullied electronically.

Eighth graders reported the highest percentages, with 39 percent, 27.5 percent, and 25 percent saying they were bullied in those categories, respectively

The 2023 results represented an increase in overall bullying behavior since the 2021 CLYDE survey, when 21.2 percent, 18.6 percent, and 20.8 percent of students said they were bullied at school, outside school, and electronically.

The Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force publishes “Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families,” a guide with information about how bullying affects individuals and communities and what we can do to prevent it.

For schools, the guide contains resources for curricula, discussion plans, activity kits, infographics, videos, art projects, coloring books, role playing, pledge signing, clubs, Bullying Prevention Month activities, and special websites for teens and kids.

The task force distributed the guide to all school leaders as well as Parent-Teacher Organizations/Associations in Tompkins County.

“The guide presents a brief overview of bullying and its impacts as well as national and local data illustrating the extent of the problem,” said Scott MacLeod, task force coordinator.

“But the focus of the guide is on providing schools with resources with which to proactively prevent bullying. It lists resources that schools can use to organize bullying prevention activities year-round and especially for National Bullying Prevention Month in October.”

For parents and their children, the guide provides detailed information about how to file a complaint to school officials about bullying, harassment, or discrimination under the New York State Dignity for All Students Act (DASA).

“The Dignity Act is set up so that everyone has a role in supporting a child when bullying occurs,” explained Brandi Remington, TST BOCES Youth Development Coordinator and task force member.

“I want parents and family members to know that they are not alone, if they ever find themselves in this situation, and that the best thing they can do for their child is to work in partnership with their school Dignity Act Coordinator to address the issue and to improve their child’s experience.”

DOWNLOAD Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. The Task Force encourages schools and youth-serving organizations to use the occasion to provide educational programming and activities designed to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) bullying behaviors.

DOWNLOAD Tompkins County Schools Dignity Act Coordinators

Bullying can have negative and even life-long impacts on both victims and aggressors. Bullying can have a negative long-term impact on mental health, substance use, and it even has links to suicide.

According to StopBullying.gov, kids who are bullied are more likely to experience:

  • Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy.
  • Health complaints.
  • Decreased academic achievement, school participation, and attendance.

Kids who bully others are more likely to:

  • Abuse alcohol and other drugs in adolescence and as adults.
  • Get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of school.
  • Engage in early sexual activity.
  • Have criminal convictions and traffic citations as adults.
  • Be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults.

DOWNLOAD Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families

Dryden Unites: Spreading Kindness Across the Community

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Dryden Central School District (DCSD) made it a priority to take part in the United in Kindness program organized by the Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force in October.

But DCSD’s engagement is a multifaceted campaign that will continue throughout the 2023-2024 school year. The district is promoting the campaign on its social media platforms.

DCSD kicked off its United in Kindness campaign with Unity Day on October 18, calling on community members to wear orange—the color for bullying prevention—”for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.” School bulletin boards were festooned with kindness messages, and all school cafeterias served meals with orange-colored items. Middle and high school students were given orange-colored United in Kindness wristbands to wear. School staff wore specially designed orange t-shirts with the slogan “Be the Unity in Community.”

The district is hosting guest speakers, such as Brandi Remington, TST-BOCES Youth Development Coordinator, who gave a presentation for parents about New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act (DASA).

DCSD launched a “Mental Health 101” website, which provides community resources, mental health services, and social emotional learning opportunities.

DCSD libraries created an array of books with themes on kindness and giving back. During the month of February, the school district will distribute to preK-12 students and community members bookmarks with kindness messages and reminders to include everyone and be respectful of other people’s differences.

Another kindness initiative involving students was a food drive, with donation boxes placed outside classrooms, to support Dryden families during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Student athletes brought their own contributions to Dryden’s campaign. Dryden High School cheerleaders created mental health awareness posters and posted them around school as signs of mindfulness for their classmates.

Even before the United in Kindness campaign began, Dryden Lacrosse player Tyler Franzese along with high school coaches and teammates created Dryden’s “You Matter” initiative to promote mental health and suicide prevention at “mental health games” sporting events. The initiative, which has been featured on Nick Karski’s “Between the Lines” ESPN podcast, honors former assistant Lacrosse coach Matt Williams, who died by suicide in 2022.

For Dryden games, players wear “You Matter” t-shirts during warmups and purple and teal suicide prevention ribbons on the field. The school sells the “You Matter” shirts to raise money to support the expansion of the district’s mental health resources.

The initiative says its mission is “to help people through their inner struggles, no matter how big or small, by promoting positive mental health and suicide prevention.” It encourages people to talk about their struggles and to be open to help with their mental and emotional health.

United in Kindness, designed to observe National Bullying Prevention Month, showcases all of the great work taking place around Tompkins County and act as a reminder that each of our individual efforts come together to support a culture of acceptance and kindness. Many agencies, school districts, groups, and individuals are working together to build empathy, self awareness, social skills, and holistic health that is needed to cultivate a culture of kindness.

In a world where our days are filled with activity, responsibility, and a constant flow of information, the importance of mental health can be overlooked. Yet, it is an essential part of our overall well being.

DCSD recognizes that the road to better mental health is not a linear path. It is okay to have setbacks or hard days. What is important is the commitment to move forward and invest in our own wellbeing. By attending to our own mental health, we can inspire others to do the same.

—By Mary Hicks and Lara Patz

Mary Hicks is a social worker and Lara Patz is a public relations specialist in the Dryden Central School District

Keep up with Dryden’s United in Kindness campaign on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

Photo credits: Dryden Central School District Facebook page

How Schools Can Address Bullying

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Amanda Verba, chief operations officer for the Ithaca City School District, urges school personnel to take measures when they see serious acts of discrimination, harassment, or bullying that may be violations of New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act.

Amanda Verba, chief operations officer, Ithaca City School District

Verba spoke at the 2022 United in Kindness Symposium, “What to Do About Cyberbullying,” on January 27 sponsored by the Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force.

“When we see something, we have to do something, when it’s around the Dignity Act work,” Verba explained. “Kids do have an opportunity to work it out. When they run out of skills, when it really looks like it’s creating this threshold of harm, that’s when we need to say something. Everyone has a right to not just be welcomed, but to belong. We want to be in a community with one another.”

In a presentation titled “Creating Safe and Caring Schools via the Dignity Act,” Verba reviewed the purpose, definition, and operation of DASA, as the law is known.

The goal of DASA, she said, “is to create a safe and supportive school climate where students can learn and focus, rather than fear being discriminated against, harassed, or bullied.” She noted that the act took effect in 2012, and was amended in 2013 to include cyberbullying and again in 2018 to include gender identity and expression.

She said DASA protects against discrimination based on race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender, and “other.”

Harassment is defined as the “creation of a hostile environment by conduct or by verbal and non-verbal threats, intimidation, or abuse,” she said. More specifically, she added, the behavior qualifies as harassment if it interferes with a student’s educational performance, opportunities, or benefits, or mental, emotional, and/or physical well being; causes fear for personal safety or may cause physical or emotional injury; or risks disruption of the school environment.

Bullying, Verba said, is defined as using an imbalance of power, involving the use of physical strength, popularity, or access to embarrassing information, to hurt or control another person; occurring or having the potential to occur more than once; with the intent to cause harm. Cyberbullying is simply bullying that occurs through any form of electronic communication, she said.

WATCH: “Dignity for All Students Act (DASA)”

Verba explained that under DASA school staff have a responsibility to provide instruction to students on civility, citizenship, and character to address the prohibition against harassment, discrimination, and bullying and cyberbullying. School staff must orally report incidents within one school day, and follow up with a written report within two school days, she added.

As for school administrators, they must provide students, staff, and families with information about DASA and how to contact the school’s DASA coordinator, Verba explained. She said administrators lead or supervise investigations into all reports of DASA violations.

A case rises to the level of a “material incident” that is reported to the state, Verba explained, if  it is a single or series of related incidents involving harassment, discrimination, or bullying that created a hostile environment to interfere with education, well being, or physical safety.

Verba acknowledged that school personnel sometimes grapple with the line between bullying by an aggressor against a victim, and conflict where all parties are affected. And, she added, there is a line between bullying and behavior that, though unfortunate and needs to be addressed, is rude or mean.

She said that when school personnel interpret incidents of rudeness or meanness as bullying, they may fail to give students the space to work out the issues on their own. “Many of us have done some self-reflection on that,” she said. “I probably called things or misdiagnosed things because of my urgency to make something right.”

Another struggle Verba described is when parents and school personnel disagree about the seriousness of an incident affecting their child. “Parents will respond often in a way of, ‘You don’t care about my child, you’re not going to do anything,’” Verba said. “It does not build the bridge of relationship and parent as partner.”

She stressed that it is important for schools to respect the lived experience of the child and parents. “I really need these parents as my partners,” she said. “If they’re telling me that this met the threshold of something that created a hostile environment for their young person, am I really going to tell them that they’re wrong?”

The 2022 United in Kindness Symposium was made possible in part through grants from the Tompkins County Youth Services Department and The Sophie Fund.

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