School districts in California and Iowa are working on policies that will tackle bullying issues not only affecting student-on-student bullying, but teacher-on-student, administrator-on-student, administrator-on-teacher and teacher-on-teacher bullying.
In April 2009, the Sioux City Community School District approved a policy that tackles the bullying for all persons on campus, not just students. The La Quinta, Calif.-based Desert Sands Unified School District hopes to approve a similar policy later this month, reports USA Today.
Gary Namie, founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), helped the schools come up with anti-bullying policies that apply to administrators, certificated and classified staff, and students. Namie says that it undermines the anti-bullying message if students see administrators bullying teachers in front of students and vice versa.
There are 41 states that have anti-bullying laws affecting schools, per the Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, the Illinois state Senate passed the Abusive Work Environment Act in March, which provides protection from workplace bullying for public workers.
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