School Bullying Must Be Dealt With, New Oregon Task Force Says

PORTLAND, OR – Students in Oregon are struggling with an unacceptable number of significant challenges such as bullying and harassment, suicide and self-harm, and threats of violence. That's the conclusion of the state's Task Force on School Safety.

The task force sent a report to the state legislature on Tuesday.

Not only did it highlight the challenges facing students, it calls on the legislature to fully fund the Oregon Safe to Learn Act, which would hire 15 people to work on preventing bullying, harassment, and suicide for the next two years.

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"Oregon schools need assistance to address these challenges in order to best support their students," Superintendent of the Willamette Education Service District and Co-Chair of the Oregon Task Force on School Safety, Dave Novotney, says.

Novotney's co-chair, Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts, says the goal of the report was to "develop strategies to promote school safety and student wellness.

"All Oregon students deserve to feel safe in school so they can learn and thrive."

The task force, which was formed in 2014, used data from the Safe Oregon Tip Line to determine that students who reported considering suicide or using a controlled substance had been the victim of bullying and/or harassment.

Based on the data, the report finds that LGBTQ youth are twice as likely to experience bullying and harassment at school.

The report also says that the number of suicides among people ages 10 to 24 jumped to 107 in 2017 from 97 the year before.

The legislature is expected to consider the legislation later this session.

Photo via Oregon Task Force on School Safety.