A proclamation in solidarity to stand against bullying in Denver Public Schools, organizations, and the community at large. A proclamation acknowledging the City's position on taking a stand against bullying.
Thank you. But we do have two proclamations this evening, and I would like to call on Councilwoman Kennish to read the first one. Councilwoman. Thank you. Madam President, I am pleased to introduce proclamation number 14, Dash 96 in solidarity to stand against bullying in Denver, public schools, organizations and the community at large. Whereas bullying is the most common form of violent act in our society and can have tremendous negative impacts on victims. Bullying is generally recognized as repeated abusive, offensive, malicious, intimidating and or insulting behaviors, or the abuse of power directed at an individual or a group. And. Whereas, as a result of increased bullying attacks on local refugee youth and adults and continuing threats to get high school students in Denver, the Getty Commission in 2011 began a policy review with other commissioners to address the growing societal problem. And. WHEREAS, in 2012, Denver Commissioners proposed that the Human Rights and Community Partnerships Advisory Board develop a citywide commission statement against bullying to encourage the city and community leaders to take action against these behaviors. And. Whereas, under the leadership of HRC Advisory Board co-chairs Jane Francis, Shazia and John Kelly, a committee of Advisory Board members was convened representing the Denver Women's Commission. Jill Beatty Commission. American Indian Commission. Latino Commission. African American Commission. Commission on Aging. Commission for People with Disabilities and the Denver Asian Pacific American Commission. The committee researched and drafted a position statement against bullying that integrated and reflect the existing City and Commission priorities to respect and value people from all walks of life and to mirror the city's vision that everyone matters. Whereas, on June 26, 2013, the Agency of HRC P and its Commission delegates under the Mayor from the Denver Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Commission, African-American Commission, Latino Commission, Women's Commission, Asian Pacific American Commission, Commission on Aging, American Indian Commission. Commission for People with Disabilities and Denver Office of Strategic Partnerships Commission and the Denver Immigrant and Refugee Commission voted to approve the position statement against bullying to represent a collaborative effort to partner against bullying and to promote educational awareness and intervention for the prevention of bullying in our schools and in our Denver communities. And. Whereas, all commissions have been encouraged to incorporate the anti-bullying statement and intent into their 2014 goals, the position statement has helped to encourage Denver Public Schools representatives to include anti-bullying and harassment policies in their parent student handbook and at the Agency of HRC and Commissions collaborate to develop a communication strategy that includes a training component or a public service announcement on Denver's Channel eight to encourage city residents to take a stand against bullying, now therefore be proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver that the Denver City Council honors and supports the work of the agency and the commissions to foster environments of safety free from bullying, and to advocate for people with no protection against intimidating and harassing environments. And Section two that the Clerk of the city and county of Denver Charlotte test and affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation, and that copies be transmitted to the mayor, to the agency of H.R. p to all the aphra named commissions, as well as to the Denver Public Schools. With that, madam, I move the adoption of this proclamation. I was just going to ask you about that. Okay. It's been moved and it has been seconded. Comments from Council Councilwoman Kennish. Thank you. Madam President, this proclamation today. Bullying in general. It's not really about a singular incident where someone makes someone else feel bad that occurs. And we've all committed such acts. But this is about repeated actions that really make someone intimidated with the goal of mistreating them. And I think that the definition is helpful in thinking about where this activity has been occurring in our community. In a 2010 report, it showed that it's not limited to a particular race. In fact, students of all races and backgrounds have been bullied. Denver Public Schools today was in committee and reported that they're proud of the fact that those reported incidents in Denver are lower than the state and national average, but they still impacts the lives of too many of our students. Approximately one in five students in Colorado experiences bullying, and that includes cyber bullying. Idea of sending messages that are harassing or offensive to. Folks posting offensive things about them. And I think that what's really important to understand about this issue is that it's not just about making people feel bad. It has horrific effects on academic performance. Kids miss school because of bullying. They have a lower grade point average is when they're bullied, they may experience physical violence. And the most sobering of all of the statistics, there are more than twice as likely to commit suicide, a student who has been bullied than a student who hasn't. Those are extraordinary impacts that require the attention of this council and of our entire community. In addition, we know that this has been particularly suffered not exclusively, but our job. Students report a much higher rate of harassment and bullying, as many as 70% of them reporting that they have felt unsafe at school. So imagine trying to learn at school why you feel unsafe, maybe because of your actual sexual orientation or maybe because of your perceived sexual orientation. Maybe you're a straight-A student, but you are perceived because you don't follow some gender norm to be different and so therefore you are targeted. I want to end, though, by taking the focus not just on the students that we care about and the impacts to them, but also to the adults. What we know is that bullying isn't limited to youth. It's important with youth because behaviors that are developed and because we have a role to protect them as adults, right. We have a little more influence over them. But even in the reaches of the NFL, we have seen the impacts that bullying can have. And so this is something that whether it's a workplace or a school, we all have an obligation. And so I want to leave folks with two directives. One is don't tolerate it if it's your child. You need to set a line in the sand and make sure they know it's not acceptable. If it's a worker, coworker, or someone in a workplace, you've got to speak up and say something. We need to really speak up and hold bullies accountable. But secondly, if you're someone who's experiencing this, our mayor has participated in a really empowering campaign called It Gets Better. And I think that probably you could interview a few of the council members up here. And it's probably true that the geeks do sometimes inherit the earth or if not the earth, perhaps the city council. It gets better. Hang in there. You are not alone. Reach out and tell someone and you're not alone. So with that, I think I appreciate the time that all of the commissioners have spent. They will get a minute to accept. But we have representatives of all of those commissions here today, including Deborah Wilson, who is both a staff member to the city council and a leader in this community working on this issue. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilwoman CORNISH. Councilman Ortega. Thank you, Madam President. First of all, I want to thank my colleague for bringing this forward on behalf of the HRC commissions. I do want to ask, just to clarify, has DPS not in fact adopted a formal policy on this issue? Their report today, Madam President. Yes, currently said council on. Their report today was that they had taken numerous efforts. They had put it into their student handbook. They had done a community meeting with parents that was led by the superintendent. So I think we could defer future questions to our next meeting with the school board members. But they reported today in committee numerous steps that they had taken. I think that's a good suggestion now that we're trying to get on at least a quarterly basis in meeting with the school board members and the superintendent. I know this is an issue that was brought to my office's attention about a year and a half ago, and we did make some follow up calls to DPS asking that they address this issue and have some very clearly adopted policies so that when certain behaviors were occurring in the schools, they would take swift and immediate action to try to prevent these kinds of things from happening. The other thing I think is really important for parents who are not aware, there is an organization called the Second Wind Fund that does work in all of our public schools, not just in Denver County, but actually throughout the front range. And as of the last conversations I had with them, they have 100% success rate in working with young people who have been identified as somebody that might be thinking about committing suicide. They immediately step in. They provide counseling, whether a student has the ability to pay or not. And they have been successful in preventing any young people from committing suicide. The problem is they don't always get to hear about all those potential cases. So I think continuing to draw attention to this issue. Is absolutely important. And by bringing this forward tonight and continuing to have conversations with Denver public schools about ensuring that they do have clearly adopted policy becomes an important part of this bigger picture conversation. So and I'd like to have my name added to the proclamation. Thank you. Certainly. Councilman Ortega. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to thank Councilwoman Kim each for bringing this proclamation forward. We all know the the environment that bullies thrive in. We all know the impact on folks who are bullied. We tend to think of this as just a Denver public schools or a schoolyard fight kind of thing, when in fact this happens all over the place. And that puts us, all of us in a in a very special position, those of those of us who are around kids, who are around young people, but also those of us who work on our everyday lives and our own offices and our own environments. It's incumbent upon us to destroy that culture, right? We have to act in a way that is is dignified and respectful. Even if we get along, even if we don't get along at the end of the day after a hot debate, there should be a handshake. Right. And so that is from primarily I've seen it. That is way more effective. It begins at home and begins in how you deal with family members during a conflict. And I think those are the kind of traits. Those are the kind of activities. Those are the kind of behaviors. We got to we got to be mindful of. Right, because there's little eyes watching us all the time. Thank you. Councilman Lopez, Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Madam President. And I want to thank Councilman Kenneth for for bringing this important proclamation forward. I guess the first thing, I just want to make sure my name is added to this list of supporters. You know, I think this is critical and I think it's important and incumbent upon, first of all, us up here as council folks, but all those folks who are listening as well to to not only say that bullying is important, but to make sure that we're form a relationship with some of these kids who are in Denver public schools. And, you know, I know in my district, one of the things that we're trying to do is make sure that we're speaking to every school and getting in contact with some of these community groups who are working with these young folks to make sure that this is not an issue. And, you know, even if you know, if you have kids at home, you know, my son is six and he's in the first grade and he's been having actually a rough time with a couple of kids at school. And it is so sad. I mean, I think Councilman Kenneth articulately just put out all the issues that these kids deal with. But to see how a young kids spirit can be broken just because of constant bullying and people being mean, you know, over and over again. So I just think this is this is critical and it's great that we're doing a proclamation, but we need to take to action. And I hope that this will be on the agenda when we talk to DPS, because they're at the forefront of this issue and they need to be leading the way. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Brooks. Councilwoman. Thank you. Madam President, I also wanted to thank my colleague, Councilwoman Kennish, for this important proclamation. I think as you grow up and you talk to other people, you'll find that being bullied has strengthened us. But that doesn't mean that it's a good way to to grow up. I was bullied every day walking to school when I was little. And, you know, I was able to to thrive. But I've also found that some of the adults that demonstrated bullying behavior as young kids have sometimes grown up to be bullies. And so that's not a good world for any of us to grow up in. My hope is that in folks that are listening to this proclamation tonight, that if there are if there are opportunities for children and families to learn better communication for children and families to learn better conflict and problem solving, that would really, really be good. I just want to say that schoolyard bullying is is a very negative thing and it's something that kids learn really early. I think the teachers do their best to try to intervene, but I think that there is a level of training that needs to go with that as well to support our. Teachers and principals in the school. But schoolyard bullying can grow as people mature. And as if schoolyard bullies are allowed to to thrive in that behavior, they can all it can also increase and escalate problems in the in the schoolyard. So I just want to thank you again. And if there are any organizations out there that can that we can put in our newsletter and be able to get out the information about conflict resolution and all of those other kind of things. It's another skill that as growing and thriving kids, it's something that we all should know. And even when kids come home and they say, you know, I'm being mistreated here and there, that even for them to be able to say I'm being bullied and I don't like it, can you help me is a really, really big step . So thank you again, Councilman Kennish and I support your proclamation. Thank you, Councilwoman Monteiro. I'd just like to add a few words to I'm one of those geeks that Councilwoman Kennish referred to, and I. I regale my fellow council people with geekiness every day. There's a lot of literature in social psych that says that behavior can come before attitude. And that's why we should never let anybody mistreat another person or never let anyone mistreat you. Because if they mistreat you, they will begin to dislike you. Because we often, when we make decisions about whether we like somebody or not, we think about how have we treated them. And if we have treated them badly, it must be because I don't like them. And if I'm young and I'm following a crowd and I'm mistreating somebody, I'm not quite sure I will say, Oh, it's because I don't like him or people like him. And it's a phenomenon in our culture that we that behavior can come before attitude. Conversely, if you want somebody like you, ask them to do a favor for you, just a small one. And then they'll ask themselves, Why did I do a favor for them? It must be because I like them. So there is a lot of literature out there that says that allowing the mistreatment can cause the attitude. And so it's really important for us to get a handle on this and make it so that it doesn't happen. Thank you, Councilwoman Kennish, for your proclamation. I think we're ready for roll call. Can each. Hi. Hi. Lopez Hi. Montero Hi. Nevitt Hi. Ortega I. Sheppard I thought i. Herndon, i. Madam President. I. Mr. Secretary, please close the voting. Announce the results. 11 eyes, no, nays 11. As the proclamation is adopted. Councilwoman Kennish, is there somebody you'd like to bring up to the podium? Yes, I'd like to ask John Kelly. And John, can you please identify your affiliations? Yes. Thank you very much. And I sincerely appreciate your support. Bullying is a problem across the board and affects a lot of communities, which we've seen in the proclamation. A lot of commissions have been behind this unanimously. I want the commissions have already been named, but I have a number of those people here in solidarity with us tonight, and I'd like them to stand and remain standing. The executive director of H.R., C.P. Derek Alberto, the deputy director, Jamie Torres there. They're the current chair of HRC, Maria Lopez, vice chair, Jennifer Williams, Jane Frances Fairuza as well run. I hope I got that right. Curtis Garrett, Deborah Bartlett and Olga Garcia. Dana Right. Couch right in part. Jeffrey Hoyle. Chris Connor. Sean Davis. Don Crosswhite. Eddie Cohen, Michelle Murphy from the Colorado High School Athletic Association. And John Henry, president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, American Veterans for Equal Rights. This is a sample of the community that you're supporting with this proclamation. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And then, Madam President, Mary. I'm sorry, Jane Francis wanted to just say a word as well. Yes, Jane, welcome. To the podium. Thank you. Council member Commish. I am very excited to be here. Actually, this is the first time I'm meeting all of you in this kind of event. I will say that last year was very epic for the commissioners. We came together to have a bold statement against bullying. And apparently it has really got to this point that all of us are here looking at to. I am extremely excited. And I want to say thank you to all the commissioners that put their own time to make this a great success. Thank you once again. And I hope you all support us as we go ahead to implement the recommendations that followed. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Francis. Is there anybody else? That's all. Thank you, Mike. I thank all of you for coming here and taking. It's a pleasure to have had you here. Now we will move on to our second proclamation. And Councilwoman Robb was going to read this proclamation, but she's very much under the weather this evening.