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January 19, 2010

Anti-bullying vigil spotlights a growing trend in many schools

Parents Advocating for Safe Schools group leads rally attended by elected officials and volunteers.

PITTSTON – On the day reserved to honor Martin Luther King Jr., members of a local anti-bullying group, community safety volunteers and elected officials invoked his vision of societal unity to highlight concerns about how school violence can carry over into the community.

About 30 people gathered on Main Street in the growing dark around 6 p.m. Monday for a candlelight vigil to advocate for school safety.

Monsignor John Bendik of St. John the Evangelist Parish on William Street provided an invocation. “Everyone has a right for a safe environment in which to live and learn,” he said.

The event was organized by the Parents Advocating for Safe Schools group. Todd Thorne, the group’s co-director and co-founder, appealed for students to expose bullying incidents.

“We can’t help unless people come to us,” he said. “We need to gain their trust again by getting rid of the bullies.”

Monica Thomas, the group’s other co-director and co-founder, asked people to make “a light of hope” by raising their candles.

“Our children are our future,” she said. “Let’s make it bright for them.”

In attendance was a contingent of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit community safety watch group.

Thomas noted her group has offered two school districts free presentations for students on the consequences of bullying, and a pair of school board members from Pittston Area School District said they would discuss it at their meeting.

Thorne was impressed with the turnout. “I expected a handful of people,” he said, but added that there were still obstacles for his group to overcome.

“A lot of people who didn’t show but know about it are too afraid to admit a problem exists.”

Nancy Smith and her son Zach aren’t among them. In fact, they’ve created a Web site to help victimized children be more outspoken about their abuse.

Zach, a senior at Pittston Area, has been bullied since second grade, he said. “It’s gotten more physical, (getting) shoved into lockers,” he said.

“His way out was through doing poetry to deal with it,” his mother said. He said it calms him down.

Their site, Students Posting Our Thoughts, allows children to express their emotions without resorting to violence themselves.

Thorne said his group is looking for more members to help with advocacy and treatment for bullies and the bullied.

He said school districts tend to ignore bullying incidents because it could affect their state funding. Legislative relief could soon be in sight, though.

A bill in the state Senate would create more legal repercussions for bullies. “What needs to be done is the parents need to be more responsible for their child’s actions,” Thorne said.

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