Bullying Follow Up: Are We Riding on a Runaway Bus?

Karen Klein Bus Monitor  Bullying Victim AP File

Thought for the day: Sometimes good things happen in reaction to negative experiences. Near the end of the school year, I posted a blog: Bullying Part V: Are We Riding on a Runaway Bus? Bullying Is the Symptom, Society is the Patient. It reported about the bullying of a 68 year old bus monitor, Karen Klein, from Greece NY. She was bullied by 4 students who videotaped the incident. The video went viral & a campaign was started online to send Karen on a vacation. The donations exploded and close to $700,000 was raised. This week Karen used part of the money to start an anti-bullying foundation.

It is good to see that the outpouring of support for Karen has led to an organization that will help bring the problem to the forefront of people's attention.  The Karen Klein Anti-Bullying Foundation will serve four purposes: 1) to provide funds for anti-bullying counseling internationally,  2) to create anti-bullying courses for schools, 3) to fund existing organizations that increase awareness to the anti-bullying movement, & 4) to support media outlets to get their message out. One project the foundation will help is the No Bully 2012 Music Tour which is sponsoring a concert in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

I hope that they will investigate programs that work with children, parents, teachers, schools & the entire community. I'd love to hear your ideas for creative programs to help fight bullying.