"Bully Free: It Starts With Me!"

We are extremely excited to share with you a groundbreaking new initiative of the NEA Human and Civil Rights Department, “Bully Free: It Starts with Me!” We launched this campaign in an effort to address the epidemic of bullying and the consequences that go along with it. 

As we have seen stories of bullying play out in the media, it can no longer be seen as a rite of passage.  The NEA must stand up and support our members with information and resources to stop bullying in their schools and communities. Not only does bullying negatively impact a student’s physical and social well-being, it also negatively impacts academic achievement, school attendance, and graduation rates.

The Bully Free Campaign aims to identify caring adults in our schools and communities who are willing to stand out as someone pledged to help bullied students. These caring adults will agree to listen carefully to the bullied student who comes to them. They will also agree to take action to stop the bullying. NEA, in turn, promises to provide those caring adults with the resources they need to provide solace and support for the bullied student, ask the right questions, and take the appropriate actions needed to stop the bullying.

The primary purpose of this initiative is to connect the bullied student with a caring adult—one on one. But it is our most profound hope that the caring adults who volunteer for “Bully Free: It Starts with Me!” will also become part of a larger effort to bully-proof our schools. We encourage these caring adults to speak up for the bullied students and advocate for measures that will stop bullying in the school. In other words, when it comes to bullying in our schools, the adults can stop it, fix it, and prevent it from happening again—and NEA wholeheartedly embraces this challenge. It starts with one caring adult and stops with all of us creating safe learning environments and supportive communities for our students.

We encourage you to share this information on the new campaign with your membership and share this website link widely through your communications vehicles: www.nea.org/bullyfree.