Teach Anti-Bullying, National Non-profit Dedicated to Guiding Parents & Educators on Bullying Issues, Speaks in Support of Pennsylvania Safe Schools Act in Harrisburg Today
Harrisburg,
PA – January 23, 2013 – Teach
Anti-Bullying, the Philadelphia-based national non-profit organization
dedicated to working with educators and parents on the bullying crisis in our
communities, will speak out on behalf of the PASS
(Pennsylvania Safe Schools) Act at a
press conference today (Wednesday, January 23rd) in the Capitol
Media Center in the Capitol Complex in Harrisburg at 10 a.m.
Rep. Dan Truitt (R-Chester) will be joined in the Capitol by concerned Pennsylvania students and
teachers, including Teach
Anti-Bullying’s founder and President, Claudio Cerullo, Ph.D.
Truitt’s bill, introduced this morning, would create an online database run by
the Department of Education, where school districts would report incidents of
bullying. The database would create a deadline for investigations and would
generate reports and send email updates to school and state officials. Known as
the PASS
(Pennsylvania Safe Schools) Act, the bill would also mandate all
teachers take an online bullying prevention training program every five
years.
“Bullying should never be considered a normal
part of childhood,” Truitt said. “Bullies rob their victims of some of the joys of
childhood. Years later, the bullies look back and recall ‘youthful
indiscretions’ with a little laugh and maybe a little remorse. Their victims
look back with pain, sadness, and sometimes a bit of anger.”
In support of Truitt’s bill, Cerullo
will be joined by Jason Goodman, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Student
Equality Coalition, and Barbara Whitman, Customer Relations Director of
Bullying Prevention Training Masters.
“The PASS Act is critical in
that it fosters continuing education in a specific area of need which will give
rise to a better understanding of the current epidemic, which is bullying,”
said Cerullo. “Secondly,
teachers will have professional educational development, which is critical to
the knowledge base of the topic of bullying.
“All of us have become acutely aware of violence in
schools in the very recent past, and we believe that the PASS Act will bring
greater accountability, reporting, awareness and education to the Commonwealth,
as together we work towards ending the bullying epidemic locally, regionally,
and nationally,” Cerullo said.
Launched in November 2011 by Cerullo
and a group of concerned parents and educators, Teach Anti-Bullying works to raise awareness and support, while
encouraging the collaboration of all stakeholders – children, educators,
parents, community leaders, law enforcement, and local, state and federal
legislators – in the pro-active intervention against bullying as well as the
prevention of bullying.
Cerullo brings over 20 years of professional
experience in education to Teach Anti-Bullying. He has been extremely active in addressing
the great need for anti-bullying awareness, and prevention, nationwide, as a result
of parents asking him to help students that are being impacted academically,
socially and emotionally by this silent threat.
Prior to founding Teach
Anti-Bullying, Cerullo began his career in education with six
years of teaching in Social Science Education.
His career has included positions as a school principal (kindergarten
through eighth grade); Director of Early Childhood Education; Assistant Middle
School Academic vice Principal; Assistant High School vice Principal and
Director of Athletics; and Interim Secondary Charter School
Principal. Internationally recognized as
an expert on the subject of Anti-Bullying, Cerullo has provided many workshops
on issues regarding Classroom Management, Student Behavior Modification,
Character Education, and School Violence Prevention programs K-12. He is interviewed regularly by media outlets
on the subject of Bullying and Anti-Bullying, and is a gifted public speaker on
this topic of extreme interest to parents, educators and legislators. He has written numerous articles and books on
the subject, and has lectured at many local, state, and regional education
forums and conferences. Cerullo
delivered the keynote address at the State of Louisiana’s first Anti-Bullying
Conference in 2012.
Additional information about Teach Anti-Bullying is available at http://www.TeachAntiBullying.com.
Additional information about the PASS Act is available at http://pasafeschoolsact.com.
Media Contacts:
Jim DeLorenzo (Teach Anti-Bullying),
215-266-5943, jim@jhdenterprises.com