Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Tampa Bay Times article on Anti-bullying town hall meeting:
Students, parents and educators take on the issue of bullying in Hillsborough schools
Monday, April 18, 2016 9:10pm
TAMPA — More than 100 people filled the auditorium of Blake High School on Monday night to hear a panel of community leaders, educators and students talk about bullying.
They spoke of ending bullying entirely. They spoke of the importance of students speaking up — to teachers, to school administrators, even to law enforcement — if they feel targeted.
But when the panel turned to the audience for questions, the complexity of solving this problem became apparent.
Christina Carter, an 18-year-old senior at Blake High, told the story of her experience as a target of “cyberbullying.” It happened last year, she said, and the harassment escalated when one girl threatened her life in a social media post. She filed a complaint in February and the case was recently reopened.
Yet, Carter said, she still attends classes with the same group of students.
“The bullying hasn’t stopped because people don’t realize they are bullies,” said Carter. “What is the solution?”
Hillsborough County school superintendent Jeff Eakins spoke of doing more to prevent such incidents. The school district should develop programs to focus on bullying, he said, the way it focuses on academics. Still, even he seemed stunned by Carter’s story.
“That’s horrible that you have to deal with that type of an issue,” he said.
Monday’s event was the second time the school has hosted a panel discussion on the issue of bullying. Branded an “antibullying town hall meeting” it brought together a panel that included Eakins, former Tampa police Chief Jane Castor, Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman, and actor Quinton Aaron, who portrayed NFL player Michael Oher in the 2009 movie The Blind Side.
Aaron, in particular, seemed taken aback by stories of students being harassed. The 31-year-old actor from New York City spoke of his own experiences of being bullied while growing up and of going to great lengths to make sure teachers knew about it.
The burden of dealing with such abuse lies not just with students, he said, but with school administrators, too.
“Adults, teachers, when someone comes to you with something like this, you have to do something,” he said. “We have to pay attention to these complaints and take action.”
The tone of the discussion started out with a pointed accusation from Christine Tollens, whose daughter is a seventh-grader at Monroe Middle School. The mother said she has complained repeatedly to district officials — and Eakins himself — about the bullying her daughter has experienced. But Tollens said she has received little help from the school district.
“You’re sitting there so cute and pretty, but you haven’t answered any of my emails or phone calls,” Tollens said. “What are you doing to fix it?”
Eakins said he would personally meet with Tollens after the discussion. Later, Tollens asked a second question about what should be done when teachers are the ones who bully students.
Larry Sykes, the district’s chief of schools, fired back.
“You have canceled every meeting I have asked for,” he said. But Sykes then added that he would still meet with Tollens to discuss her concerns.
The questions became less confrontational after that exchange, as students asked the panelists about problems such as what to do if their bullying concerns are not taken seriously?
Aaron hammered on this point: if one adult doesn’t take a student’s concerns about bullying seriously, then they need to keep complaining until they find an adult who will.
“There’s always someone you can talk to,” he said. “Speak up
