Local students packed the Montgomery County Council’s hearing room on Wednesday night for the governing board’s Youth Town Hall and implored the council to help them find solutions to bullying in the county school district.
A handful of topics were brought forward by students from around the county including providing funding for more after-school programs and civic engagement. But bullying, discrimination and racism dominated the conversation, with many students recounting instances of harassment and asking the council to help find solutions.
After several questions on the subject, At-Large council member George Leventhal urged parents and students in attendance to recognize what he feels is the role that President Donald Trump’s actions have played in increasing people’s willingness to bully others. Leventhal highlighted controversial social media posts and insults from Trump in the three years since he took office, saying they could validate and encourage school-aged bullies.
“We have a bully in the White House, the most prominent politician, the most significant leader in our country,” Leventhal said. “My hope from all of this is it will inspire better behavior from all of us. We don’t necessarily know what we want to be when we grow up, but we do know what we don’t want to be is the example we’re seeing every day from the White House.”
Council member Roger Berliner, who represents District 1, asked students in attendance who had experienced bullying to raise their hands, at which time almost every student in the room did.
Council members thanked students for coming forward with concerns, and urged anyone who is struggling to reach out to a teacher, school administrator or the county school board.
But many students said those officials don’t listen or take action when a student tells them about an instance of bullying.
District 2 council member Craig Rice reminded attendees of “Grace’s Law,” a bipartisan state bill passed in 2013 that made it a misdemeanor to repeatedly bully someone via a phone or the internet.
The Maryland General Assembly passed Senate bill 725 this year, allowing school principals the authority to report cyberbullying issues directly to law enforcement without having to go through school officials first.
Rice, the chair of the council’s Education Committee, told students to come to him if nobody else will listen to their bullying complaints.
“Make sure your voice is heard in your school first, then if they’re not listening, go to the next person,” Rice said. “If you go to an administrator or a teacher and they won’t listen, tell them, ‘I heard from council member Rice an anti-bullying law is being violated, should I call him?’ … The law is there. Make sure that they’re held accountable and they use it.”
One student asked council members how to help students struggling with mental illness as a result of bullying, and Rice said the council is working with MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith to have “mental health triage” at every school in the district.
Staff would be able to evaluate a student with a mental health issue and refer the student for treatment, if needed, Rice said, and he hopes funding for the proposal will be included in next year’s school budget.
