The Schoolyard Lawyer: Massachusetts Bullying Study

Posted on April 28, 2015

The Boston Globe reported that one in four students in Massachusetts schools are victims of bullying. A recent study conducted in middle schools and high schools across Massachusetts found a link between bullying and violence in the home. The study found that students who had been physically hurt by a family member...

Elder Bullying Happens Too

Posted on October 31, 2011

Imagine this scenario: you walk into a cafeteria filled with others who are giving you dirty looks, pointing and laughing at you, whispering things to their friends as you walk by, and not allowing you to sit with them. Am I talking about middle school? High school? Well, it certainly happens there,...

The Schoolyard Lawyer: Special Education Students and the Bullying Law

Posted on October 11, 2011

The Massachusetts Anti-Bullying law offers additional protections for students with disabilities because they are more susceptible to being “targets” of bullying. The law has two requirements for students with disabilities, both of which must occur simultaneously: (1) there must be school-wide response to prevent the bullying of students with disabilities; and (2) the student’s...

The Schoolyard Lawyer: An App Meant to Prevent Bullying

Posted on October 3, 2011

Cyber-bullying not only happens on the internet through social media websites or chat rooms, but it also happens through cell phones, either in the form of text messages or phone calls. There is now an App meant to protect children from cyber-bullying through text messages. Word Bully filters out...

The Schoolyard Lawyer: Summertime Bullies

Posted on July 18, 2011

Summer is sadly almost half way over and kids are off at summer camps throughout the state and country. It is important to remember that bullying can occur at camp just as easily as it can occur at school. If you are concerned that your child will be bullied while away at...

The Schoolyard Lawyer: The Bullying Law Protects Special Education Students

Posted on July 11, 2011

A recent Schoolyard Lawyer blog entry, Special Education Students and the Bullying Law, discussed how the Massachusetts bullying law provides additional protections to students with disabilities. The law defines bullying as: “The repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression or a physical...

The Schoolyard Lawyer: Protecting Those Unfairly Labeled as a Bully

Posted on June 20, 2011

It has been just over a year since Governor Patrick signed the Massachusetts law on bullying into effect, and now that the 2010-11 school year is coming to an end, it is appropriate timing to discuss what I believe to be a major issue with the law. The law was enacted to...

Bullying: It’s Not Just a Schoolyard Problem (2)

Posted on June 6, 2011

This is the second post in a three part series on bullying in the workplace. As you may recall, the previous post on workplace bullying provided a description of workplace bullying, gave some startling statistics regarding its frequency, and outlined the benefits of prevention. This post will focus on...

The Schoolyard Lawyer: What is Cyberbullying?

Posted on May 27, 2011

Cyberbullying, as defined in the Massachusetts Anti-Bullying Law, is “bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication.” The law sets forth many different means of cyberbullying, but the most common uses are via text messages, emails, phone calls, Social Media Websites such as Facebook, Formspring, and MySpace, or blog entries....

Bullying: It’s Not Just a Schoolyard Problem

Posted on April 21, 2011

Over the past couple of years, bullying in schools has received significant (and well deserved) attention; however, bullying is not limited solely to the schoolyard. Bullying in the workplace has increased steadily over the past decade, and researchers, legislatures and companies are taking note. So what is workplace bullying? According to Professor...

The Schoolyard Lawyer: Summary of the MA Anti-Bullying Law

Posted on March 17, 2011

The law defines bullying as unwelcome and repeated “written, verbal, or electronic expression or a physical act or gesture or any combination thereof, directed at a victim that (1) causes physical or emotional harm to the victim or damage to the victim’s property, (2) places the victim in reasonable fear of harm...