News

November 17, 2009

Duo on mission to stop school bullying

No doubt, Monica Thomas and Todd Thorne wish that they had never met, or at least not through the issue that brought them together.

Thomas’ son was bullied throughout school, a situation that Thorne is not experiencing with one of his sons.

But the meeting has sparked them to action that’s taking them to Harrisburg to change laws that they believe don’t adequately address school bullying.

“My son’s out of school, but I’m still fighting for stricter laws because I have grandchildren, and I’m not going to let that happen to them,” Thomas said.

Monica Thomas and Thorne, who both live in the Pittston area, have written up sample legislation and are making visits to state lawmakers until they find a sponsor in the General Assembly.

In fact, they’re meeting with four today. Thomas’ goal is to meet every member of the two legislative bodies’ education committees, plus Secretary of Education Gerald L. Zahorchak.

The legislation would call for mandatory bullying incident reporting, which Thomas said is too inconsistent.

When her son was assaulted, suffering a cracked jaw and a concussion, it went unreported.

To the best of their knowledge, four other incidents occurred at the Wilkes-Barre vo-tech school that year, none of which were reported.

The need is evident, Thomas said.

Their group, Parents Advocating for Safe Schools, is working with about a dozen situations through Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

Part of the solution, Thomas said, is counseling the bully, which she said would be in the legislation.

Research shows that almost all bullies were themselves bullied previously, Thomas said, so “they start to act out and become the bully.” But curbing that cycle, students can learn to coexist.

“Our differences are what makes the country. It’s OK to be different,” she said.

In the visits to state lawmakers, the Thornes bring their two sons, who have been granted leave from school in exchange for academic work on the topics.

One son has to write a report on how bills are transformed into laws, and the other is making a video on the experience.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

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