Gottheimer Unveils Anti-Bullying Plan, Task Force

RIDGEWOOD, NJ – A new task force is in the works to help address the problem of bullying in northern New Jersey schools.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer announced several anti-bullying initiatives, including the creation of a task force chaired by Jane Clementi, Co-Founder of the Tyler Clementi Foundation and mother of late Rutgers student and cyberbullying victim Tyler Clementi.

During a press conference in Ridgewood, Gottheimer said, “Here in the Garden State, where we have the best schools and educators in the country, we have taken important steps, but there are still improvements to be made and I want to hear from our local experts about what exactly we should fix.”

Gottheimer also unveiled a five-point anti-bullying action plan to improve data and incident reporting, increase conversations between schools and parents, help schools take more proactive steps with policies and to share best practices on the local level. His plan also seeks to ensure social media companies are “properly combating cyberbullying,” according to Gottheimer.

“One in five children in America will be bullied either at school or online, and of all children who are bullied, most don’t feel comfortable speaking up. In the worst cases, some feel like there’s no escape. That’s why we need new tools, especially when children are at their most vulnerable ages — but also when young adults are still trying to figure out who they are throughout college. With my Five-Point Anti-Bullying Action Plan and with a new North Jersey Anti-Bullying Task Force, we can attack this issue at every angle,” he said.

Clementi, Gottheimer said, is a “nationwide expert” and “incredible leader” who “knows all too well the terrible consequences bullying can have on the life of a student.”

Clementi said, “I’m happy to always add my voice to this issue of offline and online bullying and to share Tyler’s story.”

After thanking Gottheimer for his efforts, Clementi said, “Our advocacy is about changing hearts and minds and raising awareness, but we need clear legislation and tools to change behavior.”

Gottheimer's plan includes:

• Creating a new North Jersey Anti-Bullying Task Force, chaired by Jane Clementi, to include a cross-section of community stakeholders, including parents, teachers, students, administrators, child advocates, and experts. The Task Force will be able to study issues on the local level, find loopholes that need to be filled, and identify ways to make New Jersey and federal anti-bullying laws even stronger.
• Sharing best practices from around the country by establishing a national-level Anti-Bullying Roundtable, which will be created by the bipartisan Danny’s Law, named after Daniel Fitzpatrick, a 13-year-old from Brooklyn who committed suicide in 2016 because of the bullying he was facing in middle school.
• Ensuring schools nationwide are taking proactive steps to put anti-bullying policies in place, to publicize those policies to students, faculty, and parents, and to include bullying data in their school assessment reporting. The bipartisan Safe Schools Improvement Act will require states, districts, and schools -- as a condition of receiving federal funding -- to ensure their codes of conduct specifically prohibit bullying and harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and religion.
• Helping stop bullying and harassment on college and university campuses, especially towards LGBTQ students. The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act, named after late Rutgers student and cyberbullying victim Tyler Clementi, will require colleges and universities receiving federal student aid to enact policies that prohibit the harassment of students by other students, faculty, and staff based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion, as well as explicitly prohibiting cyberbullying. The Tyler Clementi Act will also create a competitive grant program to help institutions invest in initiating, expanding, and improving programs that prevent bullying, that provide counseling to students, and that educate students and faculty on ways to prevent and address harassment.
• Calling on social media companies to redouble their efforts to protect children from cyberbullying on their platforms. Continued advancement and development of machine learning will give us the opportunity to better identify online bullies and aggressors. Social media platforms must continue developing their technology to stay up-to-date to combat harassment online.