Stop school violence! Read about Anthony Vargas's work and consider signing his petition!

Stop School Violence



The following petition is to raise awareness about the collective worry that New York City students, parents, and families face everyday about the possibility of violence in schools. We, the undersigned, believe that another tragedy should not happen.


School violence ranges from bullying, harassment to school shootings. The method of ending violence is by urging our local and state legislatures to implement a mentoring program in our schools. These types of programs such as the Big Brother Big Sister Mentoring program have been proven to decrease the rate of violence within our schools along with providing a mentoring program for our youth.


SCHOOLS SHOULD BE A SECOND HOME FOR ALL


We, the undersigned, seek to end all violence in our schools.http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-gun-violence

Teen calls on lawmakers to help prevent school bullying
Officials should be paying closer attention to these trends, and do whatever they can to implement programs that target the root causes of bullying and have been proven effective as an antidote. They are out there.
BY ANTHONY VARGAS 

MICHAEL SCHWARTZ/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSAnthony Vargas, 16, has a petition to stop school violence and is urging legislators to make a law saying all schools must have mentoring programs.

Imagine walking into your first day of middle school with your mother. You are 11 years old, and it is a new school, with a new environment and new friends just waiting to meet you.
Your mother is on crutches because of the car accident she endured about two years earlier. At 8 a.m., the teacher begins the class; the parents are told they cannot be in the class anymore.

“Goodbye, Ma. Love you,” you say. “I love you more,” she responds, “Have a great day at school.”

The hands on the clock are only approaching 8:15, and already one of the students says, “Haha, look at the lady on the crutches!”

It is the first of many, many remarks your peers will make, on an everyday basis, over the upcoming years.

“Hey, how can she run after you?”

“Haha, your mother’s handicapped.”

Until eventually, what begins as a verbal and emotional form of bullying turns into something physical.

At this point I will confess — this is my story, and all of this happened to me.
One day, while walking with my mother (no longer on crutches) into a room, a student shoved me in the back with a few textbooks. It’s not a coincidence that the same kid is one of the individuals who participated in the verbal form of bullying.

Thankfully, I was able to get rid of this awful virus known as bullying through the guidance of my mother and by transferring to another school. I was fortunate; many kids don’t have this opportunity.

This opportunity of having someone to “lean on” or someone that you can rely on is something that is attainable through a mentoring program. My mother served as my mentoring program and many kids in our schools need a type of mentoring program in their lives.

Bullying remains prevalent, and take it from me: Too little is being done to combat it.
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Vargas and his mother Belkis Delacruz.

According to a city Health Department report released in December, 20% of the students who attend city high schools — one in five kids — are the victim of bullying, and the problem is on the rise, according to bullyingstatistic.org, a group that tracks the epidemic nationally.
So what can be done?

Officials should be paying closer attention to these trends, and do whatever they can to implement programs that target the root causes of bullying and have been proven effective as an antidote. They are out there.

One such effort, the Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring Program, has had a documented effect in countering a laundry list of problem behaviors including bullying.
The organization has peer-to-peer programs in which older students serve as a “mentor” to a younger student, which encourages students to open up more to one another than they might if they spoke to an adult.

According to the organization, 46% of students who get mentored are less likely to begin using drugs; 27% are less likely to begin using alcohol; 52% are less likely to skip school, 37% are less likely to skip a class, and 33% are less likely to hit someone.
Last year, I launched an online campaign, called “Stop School Violence” .

To cut down on bullying, I am urging our local and state legislators to do whatever they can to bring the Big Brothers Big Sisters program — or one like it — into our schools.
I believe this would decrease the rate of violence in our schools and help resolve many of the issues that inner-city kids face on daily basis.

Many kids need someone to talk to; they need a helping hand. Having a mentor would go a long way.

Anthony Vargas is a member of the class of 2015 at Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/teen-calls-lawmakers-prevent-school-bullying-article-1.1769222#ixzz30IqmTAjo