Greater Brandon Resident Helps Drive County's Push Against Bullying

One year after the first meeting of the Hillsborough County Anti-Bullying Advisory Committee and Carol Michel is nothing but proud of the group’s work to protect people — and especially school-aged children — from all forms of teasing, intimidation and cyberbullying.

“I love the project, it’s a great project, and there’s still so much more we can do with it," said Michel, a resident of Greater Brandon who helped launch the program and serves now as community relations coordinator for the county’s criminal justice liaison office.

“We eventually would like to come up with some curriculum that we can use in afterschool programs to help people understand what bullying really is, what to do about it and who to contact,” Michel added.

According to Michel, the initiative started in September 2009, after the case of a student bullied at Walker Middle School struck the public’s consciousness. Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita spearheaded the program.

Michel designed the Web site for the Bully Busters program, a joint effort of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, the county’s criminal justice liaison offices and children’s services, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay.

The anti-bullying effort includes a 13-member task force, plus three non-voting members, which meets the fourth Wednesday of the month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Jan. 26 meeting is scheduled to convene at the Florida Department of Children and Families offices, at 9393 North Florida Avenue in Tampa.

The next meeting of a youth council, which represents students in neighborhoods throughout the county, meets Jan. 18 from 6 to 9 p.m., at the Fred B. Karl County Center on Kennedy Boulevard.

The aim is for a “bully-free Hillsborough County,” Michel said. “When I went to school it wasn’t called bullying but there were kids who were teased and who were picked on,” Michel said. “It’s not that bullying was accepted but it was something a lot of kids put up with because they didn’t know what to do about it."

Now, she added, “it’s in the news almost every day from somewhere in the world and part of that is here in Hillsborough County we’re calling more attention to it because kids don’t have to take that.”

The Hillsborough County School District has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against bullying and has an online form parents and students can use to report incidents of harassment. Michel said residents also can call Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay to report incidents of bullying.

“You don’t have to be picked on,” Michel said. “You don’t have to have your things taken, you don’t have to put up with name-calling, you don’t have to be attacked. And you should be able to go online and participate with your friends on Facebook and not have to read mean things said about you or have threats sent your way.”

Call Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 1-800-873-TIPS. Report bullying tips online at WebTips.