Parents Call For Stricter Bullying Policies

Some parents want school officials to institute more clearly-defined, stringent policies on bullying after a member of the Long Beach High School varsity swim team in November was nearly denied the opportunity to swim in a state championship meet when she was suspended for self-defense against an alleged bully.

Resident Heidi Harris-Weitz told the Board of Education at its Jan. 10 meeting that two days before her niece was set to swim in the meet she was verbally intimidated by a girl at school, that her niece tried to walk away from her several times but was slapped in the face, and when her niece fought back by pulling the other girls’ hair and reported the incident, both girls were given comparable five-day suspensions—on top of which her niece was not permitted to compete in the state championship, according to the Long Beach Herald. 

Harris-Weitz contacted her lawyer and school officials agreed to an emergency session, and although the board allowed her niece to attend the state meet she was still suspended for three days. After listening to parents calls for stricter bullying policies, Superintendent David Weiss said that the district awaits more specific policies that the state is formulation on harassment and bullying before the district puts them into a board policy. Weiss said:

“Bullying is an issue we’re addressing through a number of different means … The next area we will deal with, policy-wise, is our code of conduct and discipline. We’re going to be working on that publicly.”