Oct 14, 2008 7:54 pm US/Eastern
New Online Service Helps Kids Being Bullied
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
School bullies have been around as long as there have been schools, but it's still tough to estimate how big the problem is since most of their victims suffer in silence.
That problem could be changing now.
Alexander Gonzales and Melissa Arroyo are high school seniors in Chelsea, and they say they have seen plenty of violent bullying.
"You see it in a video or you sometimes see it yourself. People just don't talk about it, just not to get in trouble," Arroyo says.
Adds Gonzales: "You say something to somebody, it can come back at you and something can happen to you."
Now there's a new Web site called SchoolTipLine.com, where students can report bullies anonymously.
"A student might submit a tip, maybe about bullying that's happening on a bus, the school administrator might follow back up [and say], 'Hey I'm sorry this is happening to you, let's talk about it more,' and then they resolve it back-and-forth either through text messaging or online," says Justin Bergener of the new site.
So far more than 50 schools in six states have subscribed to the service.
"Those reports are typically things that are heading off future trouble or violence early on, even if it's just dealing with cheating or bullying," says Bergener.
Child Psychologist Lawrence Balter says bullying can start with kids as young as 3-years-old, and parents need to teach their children early on to talk about it openly and to report it when they see it.
"Bullying really needs to be taken very seriously because it can result in kids feeling despondent and depressed, and even in severe cases some kids actually commit suicide," says Balter.
Just last month, New York City unveiled an anti-bullying campaign called "Respect For All." Now the program includes an e-mail address where students can report bullying, but the Department of Education says it's tough to thoroughly investigate the cases when the reports come in anonymously.
To learn more about the "Respect For All" campaign,
click here. For more information on the new School Tip Line site,
click here. So far no schools in our area have signed on for the new service.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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