Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, October 12, 2010,
Item 6
Number 6 is to approve proclamation designating the month of October 2010 as bullying prevention month in Travis County.
morning.
>> morning.
>> should I read it?
>> please do, yes.
>> it reads, whereas bullying is a serious problem in Travis County with the recent school district safe and drug-free schools report demonstrating that 56% of Austin school children were engaged in at least one bullying incident in the last school year.
whereas national research documented by noted criminallologist james allen fox and dellbert s.
elliott finds that 50% of middle school bullies can be found to have at least one criminal court conviction by age 24 and 40% of bullies can be expected to have three criminal court convictions by age 24.
whereas Travis County uniform crime report data demonstrate that local school age youth between 10 and 20 are responsible for 30% of the Travis County crime, including arrests for 103 murders, 81 forcible rapes, 1,251 aggravated robberies, 2,001 aggravated assaults and 15,763 other assaults during the last decade.
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners]
>> ...
as bullying prevention month in Travis County and encourage all of our citizens to increase awareness of bullying and youth aggression by engaging in activities and supporting programs designed to impact and reduce the effects of school based bullying and youth aggression in our community and I move approval.
>> second.
>> morning.
>> yes, judge Biscoe, Commissioners, thank you very much for that proclamation.
I think the significant point here is that we recognize who bullies are in our school system.
that's really an opportune time for us to become engaged in doing intensive programming to get these kids turned around.
otherwise they do indeed become perpetrators of very, very serious crime.
the research is on record as showing that.
so thank you for that recognition.
let me extend also on behalf of council and at risk youth carey that we're greatly appreciative of the subpoena --t from Travis County, city of Austin, from our board for providing support to 600 kids each year, the majority of whom are engaged in agrees I have, abusive acts on school grounds.
kids who would otherwise become serious perpetrators and get engaged in our juvenile and criminal justice system.
finally let me announce and invite you to attend October 20th at the hilton, carey is bringing in barbara colorosa, a national bullying prevention expert, to speak to our group at lunch.
that evening from 7:00 to 9:00 she is going to be staying with us and doing training for teachers, youth service workers, principals, parents and others, all on the topic of the bully -- the bullied, and the bystander.
so thank you once again for the recognition and we hope to see you October 20th.
>> thank you.
additional comments?
>> tiffany taylor, Travis County sheriff's department.
community outreach unit.
we saw your proclamation.
we wanted to thank you for all your efforts and we are committed to educating the students and teachers about bullying and those topics.
we go out and do presentations for schools, parents, teachers and community groups on request.
we're also doing -- we have a pilot program at pease elementary and we're really happy about how that's going at this time.
and recognition of bullying prevention month, we have a little contest we're doing, it's becoming a yearly contest.
this year the theme is bully free is the way to be and we have 800 submissions so far.
we'll have three winners for the whole Travis County area.
and submissions are open until October 15th.
and if you would like to participate, you can find our -- our poster at ww w.t csheriff.gov.
>> judge and Commissioners, gary brown and I appreciate the time to speak to you today.
now the names.
asher brown, age 13.
tyler clementi, age 18.
bill lee lucas, age 15.
seth walls, age 13.
each of these kids has recently committed suicide because of incest at any time bullying and oftentimes invehicle actives directed towards them.
many schools do not protect our children enough from these kinds of attacks and these kids are the ones that we know about, there are so many more that we don't.
the four boys that I mentioned before were perceived as gay.
maybe they are and maybe they weren't at all.
it doesn't matter.
bullying is in I form is wrong and all children should be protected from this inhumane treatment should end.
I want to tell all those kids who are made like me and who are the subject of demeaning remarks and abusive actions I'm here to tell you and to promise to you that it gets better and that you are never alone.
there are people in organizations here in Travis County that can help such as out youth and equality Texas.
there may be many dark hours right now.
there are that much more that have the brightness of a thousand sands suns where you can be the beautiful person that you are.
I want to thank these organizations for being proactive in this area.
I wish to thank the Commissioners court for taking this action today and showing your support for anti-bullying efforts.
I am so lucky to work with you and your staff and thank you, Karen, for letting me speak to this issue in this setting.
>> [applause]
>> thank you very much.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
see how your proclamation
>> [indiscernible], mr. Moore?
>> thank you very much.
>> we plan to see you on Wednesday.
>> okay.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 6:33 PM
