“We continue our efforts to
ensure that students have safe and healthy learning environments,”
Duncan said. “But we have a long way to go and need the help of our
federal partners,
education leaders, schools, communities and legislators to assist in
these efforts.”
U.S. Secretary of Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will give remarks on Monday,
Aug. 6, and Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West will speak on
Aug 7.
Other keynotes include First Lady of Maryland Katie O’Malley and
Special Assistant to the President for Education Roberto Rodriguez, who
will give opening remarks at the summit. There will be a special
discussion between White House Senior Advisor Valerie
Jarrett and Cynthia Germanotta, mother of musician Lady Gaga.
This
year’s summit will kick off with discussions on “Bully,” a documentary
by filmmaker Lee Hirsch that looks at the effects of bullying on five
students and their families;
the launch of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation; and the U.S.
Departments of Education and Justice’s settlement in the Anoka-Hennepin
School District in Minnesota where several students faced harassment
based on their sexual orientation and gender expression.
In addition, the summit will focus on ensuring that bullying prevention
efforts are coordinated and based on the best available research. There
will be panel discussions on the connection between bullying and
suicide, and on finding ways to help students who
bully others.
Since the Department’s
first-ever bullying summit in 2010, considerable effort has been made by
both the public and private sectors to bring attention to bullying and
the challenges
of addressing it. The U.S. Department of Education, its federal
partners, and the AD Council will release several new tools and
initiatives at the summit.
This
year’s summit will expand on previous years’ goals of crafting a
national strategy to prevent bullying, and will work toward engaging
private and public organizations
committed to providing needed tools and resources to ensure the safety
of students. The summit’s complete agenda can be found at
http://stopbullying.gov/live/summitagenda/Summit_Agenda.pdf.