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Reports of student-on-student bullying and harassment over sexual identity at a Jackson Township, Ocean County, New Jersey public school are appalling. (See below for link to full article)
They are especially troubling because a nearby school in Toms River, Ocean County, New Jersey was found at-fault and liable in a separate case of gay bullying and harassment that reached the New Jersey Supreme Court.
The obvious question: what are Ocean County school district administrators doing to correct this situation and to rectify apparently deficient education policies that continue to allow these types of incidents to occur in the first place?
And what's more, Ocean County, New Jersey is not alone in its negligence in addressing these issues involving violence, intolerance, harassment, and lack of understanding.
Clearly, the message is not getting through. And that is the fault of administrators, educators, and staff. Explicit limits and clear, concise policies need to be formulated, communicated, and enforced.
And the notion that school officials may have permitted such harassment is criminal.
No wonder the message of tolerance is not getting through; when schools permit such behavior they are essentially teaching hatred and violence.
Until adults figure out that there is no place for such behavior in our schools---institutions that ought to serve as safe places for the facility of learning, then what would we expect of children?
Ocean County school administrators, staff, and teachers: WAKE UP!
