'Bully' Movie Screening Hosted By Teachers Unions Stresses Need To Focus On Classroom

AFT President Randi Weingarten

WASHINGTON - The heads of the nation's two largest teachers' unions stressed Tuesday night the need for government leaders to continue to focus on bullying prevention in an era of school funding shortages.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, co-hosted a screening of the new documentary, "Bully," and used the event to continue a call for bullying prevention. Among the steps discussed during the event were providing a classroom environment conducive to civility, alerting students to adults whom they could trust to discuss bullying and peer leadership initiatives.

"You can't be against bullying without actually doing something about it," Weingarten told HuffPost during a press availability prior to the screening. "At the end of the day, we need to take concise, tangible steps."

Weingarten said that educators need to avoid cutting funds for guidance counselors and others who work to prevent bullying in order to make up budget cuts, while also continuing to enhance classroom environments. Weingarten said that while state and local education leaders have stressed the need for bullying prevention, they need to do more than talk about the issue.

Weingarten said that the AFT has been pushing the documentary out to its membership and parents by hosting screenings nationwide. She said the group's New York affiliate, the United Federation of Teachers, which she used to head, has been making a major push on the film.

Directed by filmmaker Lee Hirsch, "Bully" follows several middle school students from around the country during one school year and documents bullying and the middle school environment. One scene, shot in Sioux City, Iowa, shows middle school student Alex Libby being taunted by classmates on the school bus; another shows an LGBT teen in Oklahoma who faces bullying over her decision to come out. The film also follows the family of Georgia teen Tyler Long in the year following his suicide after he was bullied in middle school.

The film provoked controversy when the MPAA originally gave the movie an R rating, citing the language used in the film. That decision was overturned after a national letter-writing campaign.

Hirsch told HuffPost that while he wants to see more laws enacted at the state level to combat bullying, the main goal of the film is not just to get action by legislators in state capitols. He said he wants to see the film -- which opens in theaters around the country on Friday -- spur a grassroots movement to combat the issue.

"The power of people to make that choice to stand up is more important than any law," he said.

During the panel discussion, Weingarten continued to emphasize the need for school leaders to address the issue, part of which, she suggested, includes a move away from a reliance on test scores to determine school rankings.

"We have to make these kinds of issues real for people: It is okay to be out, it is okay to be different," she said. "One of the reasons that schools push this under the rug is: the thing that matters is test scores, not school climate."

Related on HuffPost:

Comments

[BuckfireLaw]

03:04 PM on 05/03/2012

The Michigan personal injury lawyers of Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. created a student bullying infographic and are re-releasing it in honor of International STAND UP to Bullying day. The graphic is a visual representation that quickly and clearly identifies facts and statistics of how serious and prevalent student bullying is in our U.S. school systems. To view the “Student Bullying in the United States Statistics and Facts” infographic visit http://www.BuckfireLaw.com

[AcademicFreedom]

10:09 PM on 04/22/2012

Rahm is one of the biggest bullies in the histroy of politics; let's make a true to life movie about him.

[yankhadenuf]

12:59 PM on 04/15/2012

When I saw "union" and "bully" in the same headline/taglines, I thought at long last, the unions are addressing Workplace Bullying against ADULTS. No such luck, the Workplace Bullying, while addressed in Europe, Australia, Canada, etc, continues to be ignored in America. Someone from Europe commented about adult George Zimmerman on the Trayvon Martin Tragedy:
"Bullying is as American as apple pie"

[murfiani39]

09:54 PM on 04/14/2012

How do you get to see this movie

[foresure]

05:39 PM on 04/14/2012

Sorry,

Have you ever had a discussion with a teacher, and realized you don't agree. Did you note what the teacher's default position is.

It is anger an bullying.

Now that teachers have been deprived of any real legitimacy and authority in the classroom, and all boundaries between the teacher and student have been dismantled.

Honestly what else can a teacher do but bully the student?

[yooperz michigan]

11:20 PM on 04/12/2012

unions and bullies used in the same sentence, how ironic..

[dknowles60]

12:28 PM on 04/13/2012

hear! hear!

[Espantapajaros]

05:08 PM on 04/12/2012

Unions against bullying. Now *that's* ironic.

[Endersdragon]

04:38 PM on 04/12/2012

In my experience, true bully prevention starts at the bottom, not at the top. I can't tell you how many teachers and administrators had to know I was being bullied at school, only to do nothing about it. Laws and regulations from the top do no good if the people at the ground level allow the bullying to continue.

[foresure]

05:40 PM on 04/14/2012

Endersdragon:

Teachers are the role model bullies. Try to talk to one, and have the temerity to disagree with one.

[eessydo]

04:12 PM on 04/12/2012

Yeah!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45302947/ns/today-parenting_and_family/t/teachers-caught-tape-bullying-special-needs-girl/

[Endersdragon]

04:39 PM on 04/12/2012

That isn't that rare. I can think of maybe a dozen or more teachers/coaches/administrators who bullied me at school. Asperger's here btw.

[eessydo]

06:25 PM on 04/12/2012

I am aware, hence my post.

[ilysaportax3]

11:34 AM on 04/12/2012

I was so into that article until I saw Weingartens face.

Anyways...yes, something does need to be done about bullying.

The magic question: What exactly?

[Allthosewhowander]

12:24 AM on 04/13/2012

Perhaps when society stops glorifying and giving press/media attention to bullying and disrespectful behavior toward our fellow man in pop culture, politics, and society in general, then some people may just begin to see that symbiotic relationships are beneficial for everybody. Humans are a product of their environments, even more so when they are young kids just learning who they are. I teach in an urban public schools and I see a lot of bullying behaviors that are a direct reflection of the students' influences. I feel like a lot of people are too wrapped up in themselves to remember that we are all in this together.

[hmcnulty802]

10:30 AM on 04/12/2012

As a guidance counselor I’m troubled by the increase in bullying I’ve seen in my school. The principal, teachers, and I continue to fight against it, but it’s difficult to reach out to all the students with only our words. But I found the answer to my problem when I saw “Bully” this past weekend. I’ve finally found a way to reach out to my students in a way they can all understand. That is the power of this movie! Bullying must end immediately and with the help of the “Bully” movie we can move forward.

[foresure]

07:15 PM on 04/14/2012

hmnutty802

Aside from watching the movie. Have you ever watched a teacher in an unruly classroom.

S/he has all legitimate authority taken away. S/he demands that there be nothing but equality between teacher and student.

Remember that the St. Louis teachers sued in Federal Court to be able to "friend their students on Facebook"

Just recently the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that a teacher could have relations with a student, so long as the student is over 18.

S/he has to bully to bring about order.

This is not an issue about sex. Teenagers really manage without adults.

Now, I know, that structure, boundaries and authority are bad, bad, bad in progressive mental health circles.

But without some sort of structure there is chaos.

[RossEllis]

08:12 PM on 04/11/2012

As the leading national anti-bullynig organization in the U.S. I agree with everything in this article. But what is key that everyone has left out is that schools must enforce the legislation and it must be mandatory. Not only must they enforce the legislation, but we need to find ways to help the bullies so they stop their cruel behavior and grow up to be respectful adults. In states that have strong anti-bullying legilsation there are schools sweeping the issue under the rug. Too many kids are being harmed, too many are doing the harm and too many are taking their lives. It's time to end the drama and the bad behavior. It's time our kids feel safe going to school where they go to learn.

Ross Ellis
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
STOMP Out Bullying
www.stompoutbullying.org

[celticmaiden7475]

12:01 AM on 04/12/2012

I think it's more then schools. The parents of the bullies need to enforce at home it's not ok to do this to kids. I know many people that do not think its wrong to bully someone if they are gay. I think the kids are the tip of the iceberg so to speak.

[dknowles60]

12:29 PM on 04/13/2012

to enforce at home you need to get the gov off your back

[XV8 Crisis Suit]

06:23 AM on 04/12/2012

Do you have any evidence that enforcing the legislation stops the bullying?

[albert smith2]

07:48 PM on 04/11/2012

Sad, really sad. This just confirms the many stereotypes regarding teachers, their unions, and what they really care about.

[10YearTeacher]

11:05 PM on 04/11/2012

That they care about the lives of students? That they care about fighting bullying?
Guilty as charged!

[alastingwill]

05:24 PM on 04/11/2012

I agree that we need to focus on school culture. I am not sure that sparing funding for guidance counselors, the solution presented in this article, is a long-term or influential solution to such a deep-rooted problem. What are parents doing to teach students values at home? What kind of life skills and character building classes do we have in our schools, or do we not have any because we need to focus on reading and math for standardized tests?! http://www.lulu.com/alastingwill - Read. Grow. Thrive. Resources For Teachers.

[slymoo2]

06:03 AM on 04/12/2012

When the value based system was removed from schools in the 60's, no prayer and no God so to speak, it created a hole in the curriculum. Teaching students it's wrong to hurt someone else has no backbone without teaching the inherent dignity we all have because we are created in God's image. The parents at home now are a product of the school system which lacked a solid value system. I pulled my children out of public school in the 80's because it lacked the integrity of the public school system that I had grown up in the 60's and 70's. Both my children were subject to bullying and the school's stand was, "that's what happens in school, they're only children." We have a very aggressive anti-bullying law in this state and I'm happy to report that the Catholic school I work for has taken it very seriously and have a task force set up to raise awareness. We have training in place for all staff and have a special committee for HIB which oversees all activities and incidents of bullying. Parents are on board too which makes it so much easier. Teachers are on the front line to prevent bullying but like I find so often, unless you are fully engaged in all the aspects of being a teacher, you don't recognize the signs.

[gaydood]

05:18 PM on 04/11/2012

EVERYDAY, UNION YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!