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Boardman board discusses bullying issue
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
BOARDMAN
Schools Superintendent Frank Lazzeri advocated for a waiver day for teachers in all Mahoning County school districts to learn more about bullying prevention.
“And we’re going to have that,” he told a concerned parent at the board of education meeting Monday. “We’re sponsoring it. It’s going to be for every teacher in Mahoning County.”
Marie Fryda, parent of three children in the district, attended the meeting to ask about plans to prevent future bullying problems in the district.
In June, a former student of Boardman Local Schools filed suit through her parents against the district, alleging it failed to enforce its bullying policies.
“What I want to know specifically: Are there plans in place to be proactive to prevent future things from happening in the school district?” Fryda asked.
The district has been proactive, Lazzeri said.
Guidance counselors and principals have worked with students, and programs that address bullying issues have been implemented. The school resource officer also has met with classes for 10 years to address bullying and harassing issues.
“So this isn’t something that happened yesterday,” Lazzeri said.
Though Fryda would like to see restrictions on student use of social platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, Lazzeri said that is not feasible.
“We can’t control things that happen in the home, things that happen in the community, things that happen in the summer, things that happen in the evening. We’re not the policeman for the community,” he said.
Students cannot access sites such as Facebook at school, because those sites are blocked, he added.