Gov. Steve Beshear has announced the creation of a new task force to combat bullying in Kentucky’s schools.
Beshear announced the 22-member Kentucky Youth Bullying Prevention Task Force today in Frankfort.
He cited statistics from the Kentucky Department of Education that found over 15,000 reported incidents of bullying in the 2012-2013 school year, as well as research that links bullying with dropout rates and teen suicides.
“When you have these incidents of bullying contributing to teen suicides and attempted suicides, that’s a huge problem," Beshear said.
"So we’re going to take a comprehensive look at this, and hopefully come up with some other avenues and some other tools that will give us a comprehensive set of solutions.”
The task force will examine legislative approaches and school practices, and the link between cyber-bullying and teen suicide.
Task force member Morgan Guess, an 11-year-old enrolled at Paducah’s Lone Oak Middle School, says she was prescribed anti-depressants for the trauma of getting bullied.
“When I was just eight-years-old I was bullied by a classmate. She pulled my hair, pinched me on the back of the neck and even threw her shoulder into my back," Guess said.
"She isolated me from my all friends and I felt all alone. I experienced stomach spasms and panic attacks. My doctor diagnosed me as clinically depressed, and prescribed anti-depressants."
The group will provide a written report of its findings to the governor’s office in November 2015.
