Interesting new bullying prevention law in MA

In response to several high-profile bullying incidents, the state of Massachusetts has passed a tough new law on how schools should handle incidents of bullying. the new law "requires teachers and other school staff to report bullying to the principal or another administrator picked to handle reports when they see or become aware of it. It mandates training for teachers and staff, every year, on prevention and intervention. It calls for instruction on heading off bullying for students in every grade level as part of the curriculum."

There is an excellent write up of the law here: http://www.slate.com/id/2252543/

No mention in the article of who falls into the "other school staff" category, but it may include in-school volunteers, such as mentors.

I'm happy to see them taking a "whole school" approach to the problem, loosely basing the law on the highly-regarded Olweus program. If you are interested in how mentoring can fit into bullying prevention work, we did a case study a few years back on a program in Nebraska who is focused on bullying:

http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/297