Re-printed from the Minneapolis Star Tribune

March 7, 2011
By Kelly Smith
612-673-4141

 School incidents last fall prompted Monday's event, which drew twice as many signups as expected.

Bullying is attracting more attention than expected in Minnesota.

After a flurry of news about school bullying incidents last fall, state school leaders organized the first statewide bullying summit, to be held Monday. Organizers expected that it would draw 200 people from the ranks of teachers, principals, social workers and law enforcement.

When 400 people signed up, organizers relocated the event to a bigger site at a Minneapolis hotel.

"I wish we had a bigger venue, because I bet we'd have 500, 600 people," said P. Fred Storti of the Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association. "This is such an important issue in schools today."

Speakers such as children's safety advocate Patty Wetterling will give seminars on how to prevent school bullying and other topics. The event is sponsored by Storti's group, several other state school groups, the education department, the health department and the Hazelden Foundation.

The overwhelming response has sparked organizers to plan another school bullying summit this fall.

"There is a real energy here to rally around this initiative together," said Sue Thomas, an anti-bullying expert with Hazelden, a Minnesota treatment center that also publishes bullying-prevention materials for schools.

Two years ago, Hazelden worked with elementary principals to form the Minnesota Bullying Prevention Initiative, hosting webinars for schools on bullying issues and organizing events such as Monday's summit.

Thomas said the seriousness of bullying has increased, particularly through cyber-bullying via texting or social media. Culture has also changed, she said, from accepting bullying as a kids' rite of passage to acknowledging it as a serious problem with lasting effects.

Bullying also has become a potential liability for schools, which have been sued in other states for not dealing with it, Thomas said.

"We're starting to see a shift," she said. "We're getting to the point where we're really recognizing that kids have a fundamental right to feel safe at school."

The Columbine school shooting in 1999 sparked a spike in research on bullying and more schoolwide programs to curb bullying.

Minnesota's Department of Education has several initiatives for school safety, and oversaw four focus groups in the past two years with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and American Indian youth to explore how to better help them feel safe at school.

"In order to create a safe environment, children need to be recognized, they need to be heard," said state violence prevention specialist Nancy Riestenberg. "You can't eliminate all bullying, but adults can maybe do a better job in reducing it."

Thomas said public attention on bullying is "causing our society to wake up. It's a topic affecting a lot of kids. Schools have an important role in addressing this."

Kelly Smith • 612-673-4141