Bullying Listening Sessions

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) is one of the organizations appointed to the Task Force on the Prevention of School Bullying. We are encouraging our colleagues and community partners to become engaged in the work of the task force.

The Task Force on the Prevention of School Bullying was created by executive order in February 2012. The task force will examine current trends in bullying, intimidation and harassment in Minnesota schools and will review existing related laws and regulations.  From this review and input from experts on the topic, the task force will define bullying, harassment and intimidation and then provide policy recommendations to the Governor and Legislature.  The task force is scheduled to meet through July 2012.

Here’s how you can engage with the work of the task force:

·         Provide public comments to the task force on the issue of school bullying.

·         Encourage others to provide their comments to the task force.

·         Attend task force meetings. Meetings are open to the public and tentatively scheduled to be held at the MN Department of Education (MDE).

·         Help turn out community members to listening sessions. The MDE is tentatively planning to host a few listening sessions in different communities across the state. These sessions will be open to the public.

We want to make sure that at minimum you know how you or your colleagues can provide comments, suggestions or ideas to the task force. You can provide your comments by:

1.       Speaking at a task force meeting: The last 15 minutes of the task force’s meetings on April 16^th, May 21^st, and June 18^th, will be set aside for public comments.  You can provide your comments during this time.

2.       Speaking at listening sessions: Listening sessions are tentatively planned for Bemidji, Rochester, and St. Cloud. Additional communities are being considered. There will be a time set aside during these sessions when participants can provide their comments. (Note: The location of the listening sessions is one of the agenda items for the task force’s April 16^th meeting.)

3.       Submit comments in writing: Written comments can be submitted to the task force co-chairs or the lead MDE staff person, Rose Hermodson, at rose.hermodson@state.mn.us.

We hope to provide a couple more updates to you on the work of this task force. You are highly encouraged to bookmark the Task Force on Prevention of School Bullying web page on MDE’s web site and use that web page as your source for updates on meeting agendas, handouts, task force meeting times, and other relevant information.

The next meeting of the task force is scheduled for April 16, 2012, at the MDE, Conference Center A, Room 13, 1500 Highway 36 West, Roseville, MN.  If you are interested in attending any of the meetings or providing public comments at the meetings, please contact Rose Hermodson at rose.hermodson@state.mn.us.