Rise in school bullying reports attributed to awareness, enforcement

Reports of bullying in Nevada’s schools nearly doubled during the 2015-16 school year before dipping last year, a byproduct of stronger reporting and better investigations, according to a state official.

The state passed an anti-bullying law during the 2015 legislative session, a few months before the 2015-16 school year began. New measures were added in 2017.

“As schools become aware of the process, they’ll see more bullying,” Christy McGill, the head of the state Department of Education’s safe and respectful learning environment office, said of the increase. “As kids, students and families see that schools are serious about bullying and they’re going to be stopped, the incidents of bullying start to recede.” 

Reports of school bullying jumped from 5,158 incidents in 2014-15 to 9,468 incidents in the 2015-16 school year. During the 2016-17 year, the number dipped to 8,387 reports.

McGill presented the data to the state board last week, about midway through the year. The meeting occurred just days after the anniversary of the death of Hailee Lamberth, a Clark County School District middle school student who took her life in 2013.

The state’s 2015 anti-bullying law is named after Hailee, whose family says the bullying she endured in school contributed to her death. The Lamberth family has an ongoing lawsuit against the Clark County School District, alleging that employees failed to help Hailee.

“There’s limited resources and limited staff and unfortunately there’s still administrators who don’t get it, who don’t realize the dire consequences that families can suffer of them failing to do the right thing, failing to follow the laws,” Jason Lamberth, her father, said during the board meeting.

Quarterly data from the current school year have been reported to the state, but McGill said her staff hadn’t had time to analyze trends or patterns so far this year.

‘We need help’

Despite the advances, concerned parents testified there’s still more work needed to train administrators on the new laws, passed in 2015 and 2017.

“We need help,” said parent Khana King, a Clark County resident who said her daughter in middle school has been bullied repeatedly.“She should not have to go to school looking over her shoulder.”

If the bullying doesn’t stop, King predicted online schools will soar in popularity because they provide parents with assurance that their children are safe.

McGill said the new law and growing awareness of the problem are having an impact. She said administrators now know that creating and implementing a safety plan for students who report bullying is the top priority.

“Our position in the office is that kids are most safe when they’re a student in the school,” she said.

The anti-bullying laws also lay out processes for parental notification, timelines for investigation and an appeals process.

But parent Aimee Hairr said her son had to create his own safety plan when administrators failed to take action to prevent his bullying. Hairr was part of a group of parents who successfully sued the school district over her son’s case at Greenspun Junior High School in 2014. The district is still appealing the decision.

“I am fully aware we’ve made strides,” she said. “But it’s still unacceptable with all the changes we’ve made.”

Cyberbullying

One particular area of concern is the prevalence of cyberbullying, McGill said. For years, schools wrote off incidents that happened off campus or after hours.

That’s changed, as more schools started to see the effects of the cyberbullying transfer to campuses. And while the overall bullying numbers dropped in 2016-17, cyberbullying incidents continued to climb.

In 2014-15, the state reported 480 incidents, rising to 544 the next year and 621 last year.

“Many of the effects of cyberbullying were pushing into schools,” she said. “It’s great to get as far upstream on the issues as we can.”

Cyberbullying is also a criminal offense, Jason Lamberth pointed out. If schools are substantiating incidents of cyberbullying, students can face charges.

“What are these school districts doing then with these confirmed incidents of cyberbullying? Where’s the follow-up?” he said. “That needs to keep going.”

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.