[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 25, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H7167-H7168]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SCHOOL SAFETY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Wenstrup) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about school safety. 
I present as a doctor, a healthcare professional, as a father, and as a 
Representative that is open to new ideas from people who are really 
attempting to do something to try to make our schools safer and better 
for our children.
  As a doctor, I see violence as a public health crisis which is 
multifaceted, with different contributing factors to consider and with 
preventive strategies to implement. That is why I want to share with 
you what a couple of organizations in my district are doing in an 
attempt to tackle some of the lesser explored potential factors 
contributing to violence within our schools, among our students, and 
growing in our society.
  It begins with an organization called Screen Education. Screen 
Education is a Cincinnati-based organization that seeks to understand, 
scientifically, how technology and social media impacts kids.
  Screen Education and EMI Research Solutions, which is an online 
market research supplier, also from Cincinnati, partnered with Stark 
Statistical Consulting of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to conduct a survey 
of students. While their full analysis contains much insight, I would 
like to share three statistics that I found particularly shocking:
  Sixty-eight percent of students said they witnessed someone being 
bullied online at least several times a year;
  Thirty-one percent of students said they had seen online bullying 
result in physical violence; and

[[Page H7168]]

  When asked if they felt that using social media will contribute to 
conditions that can result in school shootings, 73 percent of the 
students said ``yes.''
  Now, to be clear, I am not saying that social media is the sole cause 
of shootings or suicides, but these statistics are statistics that 
should shock everyone. Recent findings say revenge is a strong 
motivation for school shootings and that among students, homicide 
perpetrators were more than twice as likely as their victims to have 
been bullied by peers.
  These are more than just statistics. They are the reported 
experiences of our Nation's children on a daily basis, both in and 
outside of school. So this is an example of a problem that clearly 
could and should be addressed and that our society surely has the means 
to  deal with.

  Some organizations are stepping up to do just that. Bully Bully is a 
Cincinnati-based firm that was created out of a disconnect that the 
founder noticed between widespread bullying in our schools and the 
often reactive, largely ineffective ways of addressing that harassment.
  Bully Bully is developing an anonymous reporting app that not only 
allows students to provide information regarding antagonistic 
situations, but also assists school administrators in analyzing and 
addressing these incidents and supporting victims of harassment.
  Bully Bully's stated goal is to never allow another incident of 
intimidation or harassment lead to a school fatality or suicide. What 
they are saying is: Here is a problem. It might be a factor in 
violence, and I think we have the means to stop it. So here is a 
solution. Let's try it.
  In my experience, Mr. Speaker, there is rarely a simple solution to a 
public health crisis. You need to try multiple solutions across 
multiple fronts. Physical or verbal intimidation may be a facet of this 
public health crisis that we haven't paid enough attention to but ought 
to.
  I am glad we have Americans like those in my Ohio district who are 
willing to try and solve part of a large problem. Evidence has 
suggested that students who get harassed by their peers tend to grow up 
more socially anxious with less self-esteem and require more mental 
health services. Hundreds of thousands of students skip school each day 
out of fear and anxiety.
  It may be a more pervasive problem than we think, actually. Recent 
research by Screen Education on 12- to 16-year-olds at Camp Livingston 
in Bennington, Indiana, found that students were largely happier by 
being deprived of their smartphones. They were more engaged and 
connected to one another as people when removed from the cyber world of 
drama, gossip, and aggression.
  Instead of being forced to react to student violence when tragically 
necessary, perhaps we should focus on equipping the adult who spends 
all day with these students with the means to support and guide them.
  Let's keep looking for ways to make schools safer for our children 
and maybe, just maybe, we can make the school experience better and 
safer for our children as a result.

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