South Pasadena School Board:

On January 1st, 2008, The Safe Place to Learn Act became law. This requires the California Department of Education to monitor school compliance with the state's existing anti-bias law, the Student Safety and Violence Protection Act of 2000. However, in a communication written on March 18th, 2008, Superintendent Bristol stated, we do not have a formal training for our teachers and/or administrators regarding bullying, etc.

As concerned residents, we find this lack of training inadvisable. In a 2005 study titled From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America (conducted by Harris Interactive for GLSEN,) 47 percent of junior/middle high school students identified bullying, name-calling or harassment as somewhat serious or very serious problems at their school. Additionally, 69 percent of junior/middle high school students reported being assaulted or harassed in the previous year and only 41 percent said they felt very safe at school.

With this in mind, we the undersigned request that the Board and the SPUSD work with parent volunteers to help develop an anti-bullying program for South Pasadena schools by exploring available programs as well as best practices enacted in other districts that would be effective in our schools. This process would enable the SPUSD to meet the standards set by the Student Safety and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and, more importantly, support our children and teachers.

Sincerely,

Concerned Residents of South Pasadena