USDE: Duncan Bullied Into Bullying Summit

You said beer summit.

No I didn't.  You must've heard wrong.  What a dummy.

Well I don't want to go.  It's my week off. Barack said I could.

It's just one event, you skinny punk.  And I don't care what Barack says -- he's not here, is he?

Two whole days in the middle of August?  That's crazy.  You can't make me do it.

Just show up and do your little speech, you crybaby.  The DCCC needs you the rest of the time, anyway.

EVENT DATE: Wednesday-Thursday, Aug. 11-12, 2010

CONTACT: Jo Ann Webb or Elaine Quesinberry, (202) 401-1576 or [email protected]

U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY TO KEYNOTE DEPARTMENT’S FIRST-EVER BULLYING SUMMIT

Partners Will Come Together to Develop a National Strategy for Reducing and Ending Bullying

When children feel threatened, they cannot learn—that’s the message U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will deliver at the Department’s first-ever bullying summit to be held Wednesday-Thursday, Aug. 11-12, at the Washington Hilton Hotel, 1919 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. The goal of the summit is to engage governmental and nongovernmental partners in crafting a national strategy to reduce and end bullying. The Department’s Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools Kevin Jennings and Assistant Secretary for the Office for Civil Rights Russlyn Ali will join the Secretary for this two-day summit.

Administrator Mary Wakefield of the Health Resources and Services Administration; Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin; Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli; other representatives from the U.S. departments of Justice (DOJ), Agriculture (USDA), Defense (DOD) and Interior (DOI); superintendents; researchers; corporate leaders; community partners; and students also will attend the summit.

Secretary Duncan will give remarks at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11, and Assistant Secretary Ali will give remarks on the civil rights issues surrounding bullying at 9:20 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 12. Later, at noon Thursday, Assistant Deputy Secretary Jennings will close out the summit with a call to action for a comprehensive national effort to address bullying during the 2010-2011 school year by all summit participants. Senior officials from other federal agencies are speaking as well (see below).

The summit is hosted by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools in conjunction with DOJ, HHS, USDA, DOD and DOI. It will focus on three areas: Research (what we know and additional gaps we need to fill); Programs (which programs work in combating bullying and areas where further programmatic development is needed); and Policy (how can policy at the local, state and federal levels help prevent bullying).

“Bullying behavior is not only troubling in and of itself but if left unaddressed, can quickly escalate into harassment, violence and tragedies,” Assistant Deputy Secretary Jennings says. “We hope this summit will help us get ahead of the game by focusing on prevention and doing everything we can to bring this plague to an end.”

Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Education has stepped up its efforts to address bullying to include a new Safe and Supportive Schools grant program, a pilot that will enable states to measure school safety at the building level and to provide federal funds for interventions in those schools with the greatest needs. In addition, the Department’s blueprint for reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act calls for a dramatic increase in funding for its Successful, Safe and Healthy Students grants program, which is an expansion of the Safe and Supportive Schools pilot.

WHO:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Administrator Mary Wakefield, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin

Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education

Russlyn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights, U.S. Department of Education

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli

WHAT:

Bullying summit

WHERE:

Washington Hilton Hotel

1919 Connecticut Avenue N.W.

Washington, D.C.

WHEN:

Aug. 11-12, 2010

SUMMIT HIGHLIGHTS:

Wednesday, Aug. 11

9 a.m. – U.S. Education Secretary Duncan speaks

1 p.m. – HRSA Administrator Wakefield speaks

1:15 p.m. – Surgeon General Benjamin speaks

Thursday, Aug. 12

8:40 a.m. – Associate Attorney General Perrelli speaks

9:20 a.m. – Assistant Secretary Ali speaks

Noon – Assistant Deputy Secretary Jennings speaks

Comments

[Joanne Jacobs]

Nine years ago, my daughter interned for the School Violence division of the California Education Department. I always thought they should be against school violence. She put links on the web showing anti-bullying programs and grants districts could apply for to fund these programs. When she finished that, she was asked to provide links to research on effectiveness for the programs. There was none, pro or con.

[Ken Trump]

Federal school safety funding and policy is being skewed in an imbalanced focus on “climate” (aka: “bullying”) without an incremental increase in attention to other areas and issues of school safety. See today's post from schoolsecurityblog.com entitled, "The U.S. Department of Bullying?" http://bit.ly/ahDKyF