Tyler, Texas (KYTX) -- Teachers at Tyler ISD want to set the record straight from the first day of school that bullying will not be tolerated.
Anti-bullying legislation recently passed in Texas, helped shape TISD's policies. "It addresses the definition of bullying and gives us some guidelines for school response," Marty Barbieri, Director of Guidance and Counseling at TISD, said.
Teachers need to be able to spot repeated offenses. And in some cases, the child comes to them. "They might say, I'm scared because I'm afraid that kids going to hurt me," Barbieri said.
Barbieri explains it's not always physical. She says they're seeing a rise in girls bullying over social media. "That's a difficult issue to deal with especially for schools, because some of that happens off school property, and then it's brought back to school," she said.
Phones, social media, and email make it harder for a victims to escape after the bell rings. "We talk about bullying a lot and we use our own perspective of bullying and 'give me your lunch money', but bullying has progressed way past that. Our students can't escape," Misti Rasure, Boulter Middle School Principal, said.
She adds students on their campuses, are at a crucial age."We develop a very structured plan that will help students build empathy and confidence," Rasure said.
They say parents need to use avenues available to report a case of bullying, because it can't be stopped unless educators know about it. It can be anonymous and quick. One way is an icon on every TISD campus web site, and another is a new hotline available for tips.
TISD just unveiled a phone number that you can call to report bullying, or any suspicious activity. We have the number posted under the "hot button" on our front page.
