Gov. Maggie Hassan’s decision to proclaim Nov. 18-33 as “anti-bullying week” in New Hampshire strikes us as a particularly creative and apt use of the “bully pulpit” that the governor has at her disposal.

Using the governor’s office to draw attention to the subject is laudable because, let’s be honest, it does happen here.

New Hampshire is fortunate, perhaps, in that we have yet to experience the worst consequences that bullying can bring about. None of our students – at least so far as we know – have taken their own lives after being repeatedly harassed, tormented and ostracized by their classmates.

But just because we haven’t experienced the worst of it doesn’t mean we don’t have a problem in our schools.

The harassment happens here. Kids know it, parents know it and teachers, staff and administrators know it.

The website www.stopbullying.gov defines bullying as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.” Bullying also can be exclusionary, as when a bully decides that they’re no longer going to let somebody be friends with the “cool kids” in their peer group.

Although the stereotypical bully is the big male on the playground who throws his weight around, girls engage in bullying, too. In fact, they can be particularly cruel about it, as was evident two weeks ago when a 12-year-old Florida girl, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, jumped to her death after she allegedly was cyberbullied repeatedly by two other girls who urged her to kill herself. The two girls have been charged with felonies related to the death.

The Florida case illustrates one of the biggest differences between bullying now and its 20th century incarnation: The Internet.

Whatever the form, bullying at its most extreme can have lasting, even tragic consequences for the students involved.

And it seems to be happening with disturbing regulatity. Just last week, 15-year-old high school sophomore Jordan Lewis shot and killed himself after being bullied. His father, Brad, took to the Internet with a series of videos to explain the circumstances surrounding his son’s death. “This bullying has to stop,” he said. “People have to stop treating other people the way they do.”

Bullying is hardly a new thing, but we’ve decided as a society that it’s no longer something to be tolerated, despite those who might take a “let-the-kids-work-it-out” viewpoint. Funny how the parents who take that position tend not to be those whose kids are on the receiving end of the bullying and intimidation.

While experts warn that it can be difficult to draw a direct cause-and-effect relationship between bullying and suicides. – there may be other factors in play, they say – it’s not something that’s pleasant to experience and school officials have a legal obligation to take it seriously.

Even taking out the suicide angle, bullying can be disruptive to the learning environment of a school, which is a place we need our kids to feel safe.

It’s clearly one of the issues of the day and Hassan has proclaimed Nov. 18-22 as “Anti-Bullying Week” in New Hampshire.

We’re glad she did. We’ll be even happier when we reach the point where she doesn’t have to.

Newsletter