We try to protect our kids from falling into harm's way through good parenting and by educating our kids to prepare them for the future. Parents do their best to instill values in their kids while the law does its best to keep kids in school. Both of these are important ways to ensure the safety of our youth. However, the consequences can be devastating when despite all our efforts children are made to feel unsafe at school due to bullying.
There are students in our schools whose mental and physical safety are under siege every day because of the bullying they endure. Even with the best work of students, teachers and administrators bullying remains a daily threat that diminishes our students' safety at school. This in turn decreases their willingness to attend school and their success at school.
While Longmont is a wonderful place to raise kids it is not immune from the issues that are being confronted by youth all over the country. This is shown by responses given by St. Vrain Valley high school students in 2011 to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The YRBS was developed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as a way for local governments to receive reliable data about risks being faced by local youth. In part, the 2011 St. Vrain Valley YRBS tells us that in the 12 months prior to the survey 28 percent of surveyed students admitted to being harassed at school and 3.6 percent of the students surveyed admitted to not going to school on one or more of the previous 30 days because they felt they would be unsafe.
Find the St. Vrain Valley Safe Schools Coalition on Facebook to learn more about what you can do to support our schools in the fight against bullying.
Reverend, First Congregational United Church of Christ; Chair, St. Vrain Valley Safe Schools Coalition, Longmont