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Report finds room for improvement for anti-bullying efforts at Delaware schools

Delaware Public Media

A new report on anti-bullying efforts at First State schools says there is room for improvement in a number of areas.

The second annual report released by Attorney General Matt Denn’s office says the state’s evidence-gathering practices regarding bullying are in need of reform; while schools reported an 11 percent decrease in bullying incidents last school year, the statistics showed suspicious fluctuations from year to year.

Attorney General Denn (D) says wild fluctuations in stats at some schools drew the attention of the AG’s office.

“When we did some follow-up calls that was confirmed for us, some of the schools that had more dramatic changes in numbers checked and told us that yes, they were not the result necessarily in changes in student behavior, but changes or inconsistencies  in the way they did some of the reporting,” he says.

But Denn says schools need to improve in another important area: making resources regarding bullying for students and parents clearer and more easily accessible.

“I think the more urgent issue is having schools get this information up for parents about who to call if things aren’t working out well,” he says, “because parents need to know, and students need to know, what recourse they have if they’re talking to their school about a situation and it’s not being dealt with, they need to know what to do about that.”

Under legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2012 that updated the state’s anti-bullying policies, schools are required to make that information available online and elsewhere. Denn co-sponsored that legislation as lieutenant governor.

Denn adds that unlike in previous years, differences in stats on bullying between charter and public schools were minor in this year’s anti-bullying report.