CAIRO — Egypt’s Parliament is looking into ways to regulate children’s use of social media platforms to combat what lawmakers called “digital choas,” following some western countries that are considering banning young teenagers from social media.
The House of Representatives said in a statement late Sunday that it will work on a legislation to regulate children’s use of social media and “put an end to the digital chaos our children are facing, and which negatively impacts their future.”
Legislators will consult with the government and expert bodies to draft a law to “protect Egyptian children from any risks that threaten its thoughts and behavior,” the statement said.
The statement came after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday urged his government and lawmakers to consider adopting legislation restricting children’s use of social media, “until they reach an age when they can handle it properly.”
The president’s televised comments urged his government to look at other countries including Australia and the United Kingdom that are working on legislations to “restrict or ban” children from social media.
About 50% of children under 18 in Egypt use social media platforms where they are likely exposed to harmful content, cyberbullying and abuse, according to a 2024 report by the National Center for Social and Criminological Research, a government-linked think tank.
In December, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children younger than 16. The move triggered fraught debates about technology use, privacy, child safety and mental health and has prompted other countries to consider similar measures.
The British government said it will consider banning young teenagers from social media while tightening laws designed to protect children from harmful content and excessive screen time.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged his government to fast-track the legal process to ensure a social media ban for children under 15 can be enforced at the start of the next school year in September.
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Parliament is looking into ways to regulate children’s use of social media platforms to combat what lawmakers called “digital choas,” following some western countries that are considering banning young teenagers from social media.
The House of Representatives said in a statement late Sunday that it will work on a legislation to regulate children’s use of social media and “put an end to the digital chaos our children are facing, and which negatively impacts their future.”
Legislators will consult with the government and expert bodies to draft a law to “protect Egyptian children from any risks that threaten its thoughts and behavior,” the statement said.
The statement came after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday urged his government and lawmakers to consider adopting legislation restricting children’s use of social media, “until they reach an age when they can handle it properly.”
The president’s televised comments urged his government to look at other countries including Australia and the United Kingdom that are working on legislations to “restrict or ban” children from social media.
About 50% of children under 18 in Egypt use social media platforms where they are likely exposed to harmful content, cyberbullying and abuse, according to a 2024 report by the National Center for Social and Criminological Research, a government-linked think tank.
In December, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children younger than 16. The move triggered fraught debates about technology use, privacy, child safety and mental health and has prompted other countries to consider similar measures.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged his government to fast-track the legal process to ensure a social media ban for children under 15 can be enforced at the start of the next school year in September.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PARIS — A Paris court is to rule on Monday in a case involving 10 people accused of cyberbullying French first lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false online claims about her gender and sexuality, allegations her daughter said damaged her health and family life.
The defendants, eight men and two women aged 41 to 65, are accused of posting “numerous malicious comments” falsely claiming that President Emmanuel Macron ’s wife was born a man and linking the 24-year age gap with her husband to pedophilia. Some of the posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.
Brigitte Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October.
Her daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, testified about what she described as the “deterioration” of her mother’s life since the online harassment intensified. “She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her,” Auzière told the court. She said the impact has extended to the entire family, including Macron’s grandchildren.
Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, who is known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered as having played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021.
The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations.
Other defendants include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist. Several told the court their comments were intended as humor or satire and said they did not understand why they were being prosecuted. They face up to two years in prison if convicted.
The case follows years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Brigitte Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually the name of her brother. The Macrons have also filed a defamation suit in the United States against conservative influencer Candace Owens.
The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband’s senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.
Emmanuel Macron, 48, has been France’s president since 2017.
PARIS (AP) — A Paris court is to rule on Monday in a case involving 10 people accused of cyberbullying French first lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false online claims about her gender and sexuality, allegations her daughter said damaged her health and family life.
The defendants, eight men and two women aged 41 to 60, are accused of posting “numerous malicious comments” falsely claiming that President Emmanuel Macron ’s wife was born a man and linking the 24-year age gap with her husband to pedophilia. Some of the posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.
Brigitte Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October.
Her daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, testified about what she described as the “deterioration” of her mother’s life since the online harassment intensified. “She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her,” Auzière told the court. She said the impact has extended to the entire family, including Macron’s grandchildren.
Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, who is known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered as having played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021.
The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations.
Other defendants include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist. Several told the court their comments were intended as humor or satire and said they did not understand why they were being prosecuted. They face up to two years in prison if convicted.
The case follows years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Brigitte Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually the name of her brother. The Macrons have also filed a defamation suit in the United States against conservative influencer Candace Owens.
The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband’s senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.
Emmanuel Macron, 48, has been France’s president since 2017.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia plans to ban social media accounts for people under 16 starting in 2026, joining Australia and a growing number of countries pushing tighter digital age limits for children.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said Sunday the Cabinet approved the move as part of a broader effort to shield young people from online harm like cyberbullying, scams and sexual exploitation. He said the government is studying approaches taken by Australia and other countries, and the potential use of electronic checks with identity cards or passports to verify users’ ages. He did not say when exactly the ban will be enforced.
“I believe that if the government, regulatory bodies, and parents all play their roles, we can ensure that the Internet in Malaysia is not only fast, widespread and affordable but most importantly, safe, especially for children and families,” he said.
Since January, major social media and messaging platforms with at least 8 million users in Malaysia are required to obtain a licence as part of a broader tightening of state oversight over digital platforms. Licensed platforms must implement age verification, content-safety measures and transparency rules, reflecting the government’s push for a safer digital space.
Australia’s parliament enacted the world’s first ban on social media for children that will begin Dec. 10, setting the minimum age at 16. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X and YouTube as well as message board Reddit and livestreaming service Kick face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.
Australia’s move is being closely watched by countries that share concerns about social media impacts on young children.
Denmark’s government also announced earlier this month plans to ban access to social media for anyone under 15, though details on how the measures would be enforced remain unclear. Norway is also moving forward with a proposed law that would set a minimum age limit of 15 for accessing social media platforms.
PEABODY — Many of 14-year-old Jason Bernard’s happiest memories were at the Captain Samuel Brown Elementary School down the street from his house. Now, a bench in his memory will forever sit outside of the school.
Jason’s family, friends, city officials and other community members dedicated the bench on Saturday morning—two days before he would have turned 15.
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BANGKOK — Fátima Bosch Fernández of Mexico was crowned Miss Universe 2025 on Friday, a dramatic victory for a 25-year-old at the center of the turbulent 74th staging of the popular beauty pageant in Bangkok who stood up to public bullying from one of the hosts.
The first runner-up was 29-year old Praveenar Singh of Thailand and 25-year-old Stephany Adriana Abasali Nasser of Venezuela placed third.
Rounding up the finishers were Ahtisa Manalo, 28, of the Philippines, and 27-year-old Olivia Yacé of Ivory Coast who came fifth.
The bad vibes at this year’s event sprang from a sharp-tongued scolding of the Mexican contestant, Bosch, which sparked a controversy marked by a walkout, feminist solidarity and a teary melodramatic apology from the local organizer who set it all off.
At the livestreamed sashing ceremony for virtually all 130 contestants on Nov. 4, Thai national director Nawat Itsaragrisil hectored Bosch for allegedly not following his guidelines for taking part in local promotional activities. He called security when she spoke up to defend herself.
Bosch walked out of the room, joined by several others in a show of solidarity, including Miss Universe 2024, Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark.
“What your director did is not respectful: he called me dumb,” an unbowed Bosch told Thai reporters. “If it takes away your dignity, you need to go.”
The Miss Universe Organization president, Mexican businessman Raúl Rocha Cantú, released a statement condemning Nawat’s conduct as “public aggression” and “serious abuse.”
Even Mexico’s first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum, piled on, saying at a news conference in her country’s capital that she wanted to give “recognition” to Miss Mexico for voicing her disagreement in a “dignified” way.
“It seems to me that it is an example of how women should raise our voices,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum recalled being told in the past a common phrase that “women look more beautiful when they keep quiet.”
“We women look more beautiful when we raise our voice and participate, because that has to do with the recognition of our rights,” she said.
Nawat later made apologies for his actions, appearing both tearful and defiant at the same time .
“If anyone (was) affected and not comfortable it happened, I am so sorry,” he said in front of the contestants. He then turned to them and said “It’s passed. OK? Are you happy?”
Bosch’s official Miss Universe biography says she studied fashion in Mexico and Italy and has focused on creating sustainable designs and working with discarded materials. It says she has volunteered with sick children, promoted environmental awareness, and engaged in supported migrants and mental health issues.
This year’s competition also saw a report that two judges had quit, with one of them suggesting that there was an element of rigging to the contest. The allegation was denied. Separately, Thai police investigated the alleged illegal promotion of online casinos as part of the event’s publicity, a turn of events that may have been connected with the organizers’ feud.
Mishaps and controversies are not rare for the pageant. The 2021 event attracted criticism because it was held in Israel, to the dismay of supporters of the Palestinian cause.
An example of a minor misstep — literally — occurred Wednesday when Miss Universe Jamaica, Gabrielle Henry, fell off the stage during the evening gown competition. She was not badly hurt.
BANGKOK (AP) — Fátima Bosch Fernández of Mexico was crowned Miss Universe 2025 on Friday, a dramatic victory for a 25-year-old at the center of the turbulent 74th staging of the popular beauty pageant in Bangkok who stood up to public bullying from one of the hosts.
The first runner-up was 29-year old Praveenar Singh of Thailand and 25-year-old Stephany Adriana Abasali Nasser of Venezuela placed third.
Rounding up the finishers were Ahtisa Manalo, 28, of the Philippines, and 27-year-old Olivia Yacé of Ivory Coast who came fifth.
The bad vibes at this year’s event sprang from a sharp-tongued scolding of the Mexican contestant, Bosch, which sparked a controversy marked by a walkout, feminist solidarity and a teary melodramatic apology from the local organizer who set it all off.
At the livestreamed sashing ceremony for virtually all 130 contestants on Nov. 4, Thai national director Nawat Itsaragrisil hectored Bosch for allegedly not following his guidelines for taking part in local promotional activities. He called security when she spoke up to defend herself.
Bosch walked out of the room, joined by several others in a show of solidarity, including Miss Universe 2024, Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark.
“What your director did is not respectful: he called me dumb,” an unbowed Bosch told Thai reporters. “If it takes away your dignity, you need to go.”
The Miss Universe Organization president, Mexican businessman Raúl Rocha Cantú, released a statement condemning Nawat’s conduct as “public aggression” and “serious abuse.”
Even Mexico’s first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum, piled on, saying at a news conference in her country’s capital that she wanted to give “recognition” to Miss Mexico for voicing her disagreement in a “dignified” way.
“It seems to me that it is an example of how women should raise our voices,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum recalled being told in the past a common phrase that “women look more beautiful when they keep quiet.”
“We women look more beautiful when we raise our voice and participate, because that has to do with the recognition of our rights,” she said.
Nawat later made apologies for his actions, appearing both tearful and defiant at the same time .
“If anyone (was) affected and not comfortable it happened, I am so sorry,” he said in front of the contestants. He then turned to them and said “It’s passed. OK? Are you happy?”
Bosch’s official Miss Universe biography says she studied fashion in Mexico and Italy and has focused on creating sustainable designs and working with discarded materials. It says she has volunteered with sick children, promoted environmental awareness, and engaged in supported migrants and mental health issues.
This year’s competition also saw a report that two judges had quit, with one of them suggesting that there was an element of rigging to the contest. The allegation was denied. Separately, Thai police investigated the alleged illegal promotion of online casinos as part of the event’s publicity, a turn of events that may have been connected with the organizers’ feud.
Mishaps and controversies are not rare for the pageant. The 2021 event attracted criticism because it was held in Israel, to the dismay of supporters of the Palestinian cause.
An example of a minor misstep — literally — occurred Wednesday when Miss Universe Jamaica, Gabrielle Henry, fell off the stage during the evening gown competition. She was not badly hurt.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Fairfax County, Virginia, private school agreed to overhaul its policies, undergo five years of external monitoring, and issue a public apology after expelling three Jewish siblings whose family reported severe antisemitic bullying.
A Fairfax County, Virginia, private school agreed to overhaul its policies, undergo five years of external monitoring, and issue a public apology after expelling three Jewish siblings whose family reported severe antisemitic bullying.
The Nysmith School in Herndon will also pay the family nearly $150,000 to cover attorneys fees and other costs associated with the incident as part of a settlement.
The settlement, announced Tuesday by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, follows a discrimination complaint alleging the Nysmith School ignored escalating harassment, and then removed the victims from the school entirely.
Jeffrey Lang with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law,oversaw the case.
Lang said the family’s ordeal began when one of their sixth-grade daughters, age 11, became the target of a group of students who he said repeatedly harassed the girl because she is Jewish.
“She was being called a baby-killer,” Lang said. “She was told that Jews and Israelis are all baby-killers, that they were glad about what happened on Oct. 7. Just really awful things.”
The student was too afraid to tell anyone, until, according to Lang, a classmate became so disturbed by the bullying that he reported it to the girl’s parents.
In February, the parents met with the head of the Nysmith School and asked for an intervention. The headmaster promised to “investigate and take action, but nothing happened,” Lang told WTOP.
Over the next three weeks, the harassment reportedly escalated. The parents met with the headmaster again for help, and this time, he allegedly told the parents that their daughter “needed to toughen up.”
Two days later, all three siblings, two sixth-grade twins and their 8-year-old brother, were expelled from the school.
“Not only was that daughter expelled,” Lang said, “but their other two children, who had no idea what was even going on, were also expelled that same day.”
The family had attended Nysmith for four years.
“It was their world,” Lang said. “And in a day, it was taken away.”
A statement from the Brandeis Center said “The school fostered an environment that allowed anti-Semitic harassment.”
Earlier this year and before the alleged bullying, the daughter’s teacher asked the class to work together on a drawing depicting what makes “strong historical leaders.”
“The students produced a picture that featured the portrait of Adolf Hitler, and the Nysmith School posted a photo of the children showing off their drawing to the school community,” the Brandeis Center said.
In addition to name-calling, Lang said there was a group that launched a campaign to isolate the middle-school student socially.
“They were shunning her and saying, ‘We hate you.’ For an 11-year old in sixth grade, it was just crushing,” Lang said.
Kenneth L. Marcus, the chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center, wrote in a statement, “Justice has been served” for the family.
As part of the settlement agreement, the Nysmith School will “adopt new nondiscrimination polices,” including clearly defining what antisemitism means, establishing a committee to investigate discrimination complaints, hiring an independent monitor and providing antisemitism training to administrators.
The school will also reimburse the family for expenses incurred because of the expulsion, and the school’s headmaster, Ken Nysmith, will also issue a public statement, expressing “regret for expelling the children,” the Brandeis statement said.
“These steps are critical as antisemitism in K-12 education continues to rise,” Marcus said.
The family will not be returning to the Nysmith School.
WTOP has reached out to the school for comment.
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The top leader of the Anglican Church in North America — a conservative denomination that broke away from the more liberal Episcopal Church about 15 years ago — has taken a leave of absence after facing allegations of sexual and other misconduct, which he denies.
Archbishop Stephen Wood announced the leave Monday while he awaits the outcome of a church disciplinary process triggered by a formal complaint, called a presentment, of alleged misconduct against him.
The presentment has not yet been made public, but an investigative report by The Washington Post said it alleged Wood tried to kiss a former children’s ministry director at his parish in 2024, shortly before he was elected archbishop. The presentment alleged Wood made other comments and acted in ways that made her uncomfortable since 2021, and made thousands of dollars in payments to her from church funds, the Post said. The presentment also includes allegations that he bullied staffers and plagiarized sermons, the Post reported.
Wood, 62, a married father of four, has denied the allegations.
“I believe the charges against me lack merit, and I categorically and emphatically deny the particular accusation of attempted physical contact made against me by a former St. Andrew’s employee,” Wood said in a statement announcing his leave, during which he will still be paid.
Wood also took leave as bishop of the Diocese of the Carolinas and retired as rector of his parish, St. Andrew’s in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina — roles he had been serving in addition to being archbishop.
The accusations against Wood center on alleged actions while he was bishop but before he also became archbishop, according to the ACNA.
Under the denomination’s rules, when someone submits a presentment, a board of inquiry is appointed to determine whether to send the matter to an ecclesiastical trial. No decision on that has been announced yet. The process typically takes from a few weeks to about three months, the denomination says.
The case is the most high-profile yet for the small denomination, which has had ongoing leadership turmoil in recent years.
Another bishop, Stewart Ruch III of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest, has just undergone a church trial on charges that include alleged abuse of ecclesiastical power, according to the ACNA website. A verdict is pending in the case, which stemmed from scrutiny over how the diocese handled the case of a lay teacher convicted of child sexual abuse. The trial itself saw delays and controversies over procedures and the resignations of two church prosecutors.
A bishop heading the denomination’s military chaplains recently broke with the church after it pursued disciplinary proceedings against him over complaints of alleged “abuse of ecclesiastical power,” the ACNA said.
Last year, a former bishop overseeing a Canadian missionary district was removed from ministry for alleged abuse of power and inappropriate relationships and interactions, the ACNA announced.
In 2020, a bishop of Pittsburgh resigned after his diocese’s governing committee faulted his handling of a case in which a clergy member was accused of sexual misconduct. The ACNA also reported in 2020 it had removed yet another bishop from ministry after it said he admitted to long-term use of pornography.
Wood was installed last year as the third archbishop to lead the ACNA. The denomination was formed in 2009 by conservatives who split from the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the Anglican Church of Canada. The long-building schism came in the wake of the Episcopal Church’s election of an openly gay bishop in 2003 and others since then. It is part of a wider, ongoing controversy in the global Anglican Communion, which is rooted in the Church of England.
The ACNA reports that it has about 130,000 members in about 1,000 congregations.
Wood recused himself from appointing the board in his own case, delegating it to the dean of the denomination, Bishop Ray Sutton, according to an ACNA statement. Sutton has also been named to assume Wood’s duties as archbishop during his leave.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Fewer Fairfax County students have reported mental health concerns since the peak of the pandemic, but there are still lingering worries about student wellness and bullying.
Fewer Fairfax County students in Virginia have reported mental health concerns since the peak of the pandemic — but there are still lingering worries about student wellness and bullying.
For one, mental health indicators, such as levels of stress, prolonged feelings of sadness or hopelessness and suicidal ideation and attempts improved among eighth, 10th and 12th graders last year. Those factors have continued to improve since 2021, Reid said, and reached their lowest levels in the last decade.
Seventeen percent of eighth, 10th and 12th graders reported constant stress, according to survey data, and 22% reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row, which is down from 25% in 2023, 29% in 2022 and 38% in 2021.
“This is full of very, very good news,” Board member Robyn Lady said. “It’s post-COVID. Our kids are, I’m hoping, learning to live in discomfort a little better and understand that … we don’t get up every morning and we’re jazzed about everything that’s going to happen in that day.”
However, Reid said, female students, nonbinary students, LGBTQ students and those who are from food-insecure homes reported higher rates of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts compared to other students.
“We still have work to do in providing that safe space for many of our students,” Reid said.
Counseling staff and school leaders are working on making sure school environments are safe, supportive and welcoming, Reid said, but “there’s a great deal of external rhetoric right now around topics that create feelings of a lack of safety, particularly for our transgender and nonbinary students.”
Because mental health concerns are often reported in middle school, Reid said the district has tried to be proactive, by offering things like new middle school sports teams. Staff members also get trained in recognizing the signs of suicidal ideation and risky behavior.
Reported rates of students using alcohol and substances was the lowest since 2018, Reid said, including for use of alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and vaping.
One out of 10 eighth, 10th and 12th graders reported getting bullied on a school campus in the last year, similar to the rate reported in 2023, Reid said. Younger students were more likely to report being bullied than older kids.
“We have work to do in this area,” Reid said.
The youth survey is voluntary and given to eighth, 10th and 12th graders. Last year, almost 30,000 students took it. A different version that’s also optional is given to sixth grade students.
“This is always a bittersweet report to read, because there’s positive movement in many directions,” Board member Kyle McDaniel said. “But until we get to zero, it’s not enough.”
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In January of this year, however, shortly after Trump was sworn into office, the D.O.E. abruptly froze investigations into thousands of cases of alleged race and sex discrimination, including the case involving Blunt’s son. Linda McMahon, Trump’s Secretary of Education, lifted the freeze in March. A week later, the D.O.E. announced that it was closing seven of the O.C.R.’s twelve regional offices and firing around half of its roughly five hundred and fifty employees, as part of a broader “reduction in force” at the agency. In response, Public Justice, a nonprofit legal organization based in Washington, and attorneys at Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes sued the D.O.E., claiming that the drastic cuts would make it impossible for the agency to fulfill its statutory obligation to enforce civil-rights laws and would deprive children across the country who had been subjected to discrimination of a “meaningful path to relief.” One of the plaintiffs in the case was Tara Blunt, who, by this point, had withdrawn her son from public school and enrolled him at a private academy, despite the financial strain this imposed on her family. “I felt we didn’t have a choice—for his physical safety and his mental health,” she told me recently. “Every day, he would come home and say, ‘They made fun of my hair,’ ‘they called me this,’ ‘they called me that.’ He would say, ‘My heart hurts,’ or ‘I can’t take this anymore.’ ”
Victims of racist bullying are not the only children whom the evisceration of the O.C.R. has harmed. Another plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by Public Justice is Karen Josefosky, a resident of Troy, Michigan, whose ten-year-old son has a severe, potentially life-threatening allergy to dairy products. In 2023, this condition, which qualified as a disability, turned him into the target of abuse and ridicule. “Allergies are dumb!” one student exclaimed while pouring milk on Josefosky’s son’s lunch. On another occasion, a group of students tripped him to the ground, put a cheese crown made of paper on his head, and then taunted him with actual cheese. Because her son’s allergy could be triggered by mere contact with dairy products and because the harassment continued despite her complaints, a pediatrician advised Josefosky to keep him home. She decided to pull him out of school—and then filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, which handles thousands of disability cases every year. After reviewing the evidence, a thick binder of documents that Josefosky had collected, O.C.R. investigators told her that her son’s case was a slam dunk. “They said, ‘Your case is so clear—this is one of the easiest cases we’ve ever seen,’ ” she recalled.
After the O.C.R. got involved, the school agreed to enter a facilitated mediation. But, after Trump was elected, the agency stopped responding to Josefosky’s e-mails, and the mediation effort stalled. Josefosky and her husband, Glenn, consulted a private attorney, who confirmed what they’d feared, which is that the shuttering of the O.C.R.’s regional offices had caused their son’s case to be set aside. (The lawyer, Elizabeth Abdnour, told me that an O.C.R. official informed her that, essentially, “nothing is happening right now—we’re shut down.”) Last spring, Karen Josefosky, who is a teacher, started homeschooling her son, which she said has prevented him from falling behind academically but which she knows cannot furnish him with the social benefits that attending school can provide. “He doesn’t have community,” she said, through tears. Her son, she added, was so shaken by the harassment that he had started trying to hide his allergies, which could put his safety at risk. “He’s been traumatized,” she said.
In May and June, a U.S. district court issued overlapping injunctions staying the D.O.E.’s reduction in force and directing it to return the O.C.R. employees who had been fired to work. But the Trump Administration delayed complying with the orders, reinstating only eighty-five of the dismissed workers while appealing the decisions. On September 29th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit paused the injunction pertaining specifically to the O.C.R., citing an emergency order issued by the Supreme Court that granted the Trump Administration permission to proceed with large-scale dismissals at the D.O.E. Two weeks ago, the eighty-five O.C.R. investigators who had been reinstated were laid off again, among them the senior manager who described that second firing as a gut punch. (On Tuesday, a judge issued a preliminary injunction in a related case, though it remains unclear how the decision will affect the latest wave of O.C.R. terminations.) Like Karen Josefosky, the senior manager has a son with a disability, and she expressed concern that parents of children like her own may now have no way to protect them from mistreatment. “My child has been harassed on the basis of his disability in the past,” she said. “I think about what it would have been like for him if I had not had the expertise that I have. That’s what parents are going to be left with, especially people who don’t have the resources to file a lawsuit. The most vulnerable are going to suffer the most.”
Until recently, the complaints that the D.O.E.’s Office for Civil Rights investigated came primarily from students and families who contacted the agency at their own volition, reporting the harm they’d experienced—people like Karen Josefosky and Tara Blunt. Under Trump, the focus has shifted to investigations that have been generated internally, such as the announcement, in March, that forty-five universities across the country were being targeted for their “race-exclusionary” graduate programs. All the universities on the list—Duke, Cornell, Emory, George Mason—were being investigated for discrimination allegedly experienced by white students because of D.E.I. efforts. More recently, the O.C.R. threatened to cut federal funding to public schools in New York, Chicago, and Northern Virginia unless they stopped giving transgender and nonbinary students access to bathrooms and athletic programs consistent with their identity, which the Administration argues is a violation of Title IX, the law that bars sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational programs. (The Fairfax and Arlington County School Boards sued the Department of Education in August, noting that several courts have ruled that Title IX requires granting transgender students such access. A district judge dismissed their cases, but the school districts have since appealed the decision.) The Administration has also launched an unprecedented campaign to punish universities for allegedly failing to combat antisemitism on campuses where protests against the war in Gaza took place—charging them with compromising the safety of Jewish students, who have been singled out for protection that the members of other groups apparently don’t merit.
The directed investigations that now dominate the O.C.R.’s agenda are “purely political,” the senior manager who’d been fired told me. Some conservatives would argue that this agenda has always been partisan, shaped by the woke ideology of the Democrats. But is protecting children with disabilities from discrimination really a partisan cause? Or investigating schools that have failed to protect teen-age girls from abuse? “Access to feeling safe in an educational setting is not a partisan issue,” said Amanda Walsh, the deputy director of external affairs at the Victim Rights Law Center, a nonprofit that represents victims of sexual assault, including students who have been subjected to Title IX violations such as sexual harassment and violence. (The center is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by Public Justice against the D.O.E.) “Sexual assault is not a partisan issue,” Walsh continued. “The clients that we serve are both Democrats and Republicans, and most of them are kids and students. I think the safety of our kids in K-12 schools and of students in university settings is one of the few values a lot of people can agree on.”
Social-emotional skills like identifying and regulating feelings, kindness, sharing, and empathy are all skills that kids learn in early childhood, and they have a huge impact on later success. In fact, one study found that the social-emotional skills that kids display in kindergarten correlate with success in early adulthood, making SEL activities worth including in every classroom. Here are some of our favorite social-emotional learning activities to use with your preschool and kindergarten students.
SEL Activities for Self-Awareness and Self-Management
These SEL activities are all about learning to recognize, understand, and manage feelings, emotions, and behaviors. This is a major SEL focus for preschool and kindergarten, helping kids learn to understand how they’re feeling, why they’re feeling that way, and how to cope with those big feelings. When you teach self-awareness and self-management at this age, kids get better at responding to challenging situations, now and in the future. Try some of these activities with your preschoolers and kindergartners.
1. Post a feelings chart
Naomi Meredith for We Are Teachers
Start your day with a morning meeting. When you talk about the weather and schedule for the day, also include a few minutes to talk about how everyone is feeling or explore a specific emotion in more detail. Kids can also refer to these charts when they’re struggling.
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2. Use real faces to learn emotions
Create a slideshow with faces of your students showing different emotions or of photos of kids making feelings faces. Kids will get a kick out of seeing their classmates making different faces, but it also gives them practice recognizing emotion in real humans.
3. Make affirmation bracelets
Set out cups of colored beads. In front of each cup of beads, add a sticky note with a positive affirmation. For example, red may be “I can do this,” orange is “I am smart,” yellow “I am special.” Have each student make a rainbow bracelet with pipe cleaners and beads. Remind them to use their positive affirmations throughout the day when they touch the red bead and tell themselves they can do it!
4. Teach feelings vocabulary words
Naomi Meredith for We Are Teachers
Talking about big feelings takes a big vocabulary! Our free printable chart is a terrific tool for helping kids find the words they need to make their feelings clear (to themselves and others). You can also use the words to create a word wall in your calm-down corner.
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5. Sort emotions pictures
Print out pictures of emotions, either the basic emotions or the basics plus more (anxious, disgusted, afraid, etc.). Print images that could go with each emotion. You could print a picture of a spider to go with “afraid” or a birthday cake to go with “happy.” Have students sort the pictures with the emotions. How does each picture make them feel? (Note that not all students may have the same reaction to each picture.)
6. Play a game of musical feelings
Draw feelings faces on paper plates and lay them out on the ground in a circle. Play music and have students move around the circle until the music stops. Students look at the card closest to them and hold a pose that demonstrates that feeling until the music starts again.
7. Hang an emotions bulletin board
Naomi Meredith for We Are Teachers
Teach emotions using our free printable bulletin board set! Kids can move their names to the appropriate place on the board to share how they’re feeling each day. This can be easier for some kids than talking out loud, especially in front of the whole class.
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8. Make a feelings collage
Collect magazines or old books for this group project. Start by choosing one feeling, like “happy.” Ask kids to tear or cut out images from the materials that represent that emotion for them. Write the emotion in the middle of a piece of chart paper, and attach the pictures they find to create a collage. Continue with other emotions to make a whole set of collage posters. (This is another activity that shows that people can have different emotions about the same thing. For instance, one student might say pickles make them happy, while another finds them disgusting.)
9. Encourage “I” statements
Encourage students to be mindful about how they’re feeling by helping them practice how to articulate their thoughts without lashing out at others. Give them starters such as “I feel angry when …,” “I feel happy when …,” “I feel frustrated when …,” etc. Once they are able to articulate their feelings, help them strategize ways to handle those emotions.
10. Match emotion cards
Print two sets of our free “Today I Feel …” cards. Cut them apart, mix them up, and lay them face down on the table or floor. Kids take turns turning over two cards to see if they match. If they do, the player keeps the cards. If not, the next player takes a turn. Be sure to name each emotion as you turn it over to give kids practice recognizing feelings.
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11. Make emotion masks
Make emotion masks using paper plates, markers, and other art supplies. Then, have kids sit in a circle, and invite one student into the middle. They call out an emotion, and the other students hold up the appropriate masks to match. Verify everyone has chosen the correct mask, then pick another student for the next round.
12. Paint gratitude rocks
Use river rocks and paint markers, and ask students to paint the rocks to express what they’re thankful for or something they care about. Create a jar or garden display using their finished rocks, and encourage others to check out the display and add their own rocks to the collection!
13. Teach the characteristics of feelings
This easy (and free!) lesson plan helps kids recognize what feelings and emotions look like, both in themselves and in others. Kids will have a great time adding play dough features to their face work mat to represent the different emotions.
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14. Play with a feelings tower
Pick up a set of colorful Jenga-style blocks and assign an emotion to each color (red = happy, blue = sad, orange = angry, etc.). As kids pull the blocks to play the game, they name something that evokes that feeling for them. For example, if a student pulls a blue block, they might say that they’re sad when their grandparents go home after a visit. SEL activities like this not only help kids identify feelings, they help them become more comfortable talking about them with others.
15. Try a Zones of Regulation activity
This simple concept assigns colors to emotions: red (angry), orange (overwhelmed, frustrated), yellow (worried, anxious, confused), blue (sad, disappointed), and green (calm, content, happy). Once students have identified which zone they’re in, they can learn the appropriate strategies to manage their feelings.
Deep breathing reduces stress and anxiety—it’s an incredible tool for managing emotions at any age. The concepts are simple and can become automatic when you practice them early and often. Check out our collection of five breathing exercises that are perfect for preschool and kindergarten, like Bunny Breathing and Box Breathing. Be sure to print and share our free posters too!
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17. Sing feelings songs
Songs can help teach emotional vocabulary in a fun and relatable way. You’ll find all sorts of songs for kids about emotions and feelings on sites like YouTube. Put together a playlist to share with your class with picks like the “Feelings Song” by The Singing Walrus on YouTube
18. Keep a feelings journal
Most preschoolers and kindergartners aren’t able to do a lot of writing on their own, but they can draw pictures to illustrate their feelings each day. Teachers can add a few emotion words to each page for kids not old enough to write on their own yet.
19. Create a cozy calm-down corner
Naomi Meredith for We Are Teachers
Set aside a separate cozy space where kids can go when they’re having trouble handling big feelings of any kind. Make it comfy and calming with beanbag chairs or a soft rug, and include tools and toys to help kids find their inner calm. Hang a feelings chart, provide stuffed animals for hugs, stock up on fidget toys, and don’t forget noise-cancelling headphones to help them block out distractions.
Kids are never too young to try some yoga poses! They can help kids find their inner calm when they’re upset or overexcited. Teach and practice a new pose each day during your morning meeting, or use them for brain breaks or transition times.
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21. Use a feelings spinner
Hand out white paper plates, and have students draw eight circles representing faces around the edge. Then, they give each face a feeling (happy, sad, angry, tired, surprised, afraid, hungry, excited, calm). Once the faces are complete, create a spinner using a brad and arrow. Students point the arrow at the face that represents how they’re feeling today. This is also a good social-emotional learning activity to do with students who would rather point to how they feel than talk about it.
22. Try emotions charades
Here’s another fun way to use our free printable emotions cards! Kids draw an emotion card from the pile, then act it out for others to guess. For example, if they draw “angry,” they could stomp around with a mean face, pretending to yell. This one is great for encouraging the imagination too!
23. Make calm-down jars
Tom DIttl for We Are Teachers
Make these mesmerizing calm-down jars for your classroom using just water, oil, and food coloring. Add glitter for a little extra pizzazz. When students are feeling overwhelmed or upset, give them a few minutes to focus on the jar as they turn it upside down and back. Focusing on the movement and colors will help students calm down so they can get back to work.
Take social-emotional learning activities outside with a nature walk that uses students’ five senses. Explore the changing color of leaves, different leaf shapes, pine cones, and more. Listen for birds and other critters. Lie down on the grass and feel the earth beneath you as you look up at the blue sky. These mindfulness activities remind kids of the emotional importance of getting outside to “touch grass” on a regular basis.
25. Set up sensory stations
Sensory bins or tables engage the senses, giving students something to focus on besides their roiling emotions. Teach students that they can spend time at the sensory station any time they feel overwhelmed and need to calm down. Switch out your stations regularly to stimulate new feelings, physically and emotionally.
SEL Activities for Social Awareness and Relationship Skills
At this age, kids are just learning how to navigate social relationships and becoming more aware of the differences and similarities between themselves and their peers. SEL activities for preschool and kindergarten emphasize the need for empathy, kindness, and cooperation with those around us. Teachers and parents should model good behaviors, as well as teach them directly and indirectly with social-emotional learning activities like these.
26. Choose your daily greetings
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Daily greeting routines build community and confidence. They can also be used as a social-emotional learning check-in. Use this daily greeting printable to give students ideas for how they can greet you. You can use the ideas on the printable or create your own with your class.
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27. Draw helping hands
Talk about how our hands can help others. Then, students trace their own hands and reflect on what their helpful hands can do. You can create a class bulletin board using the students’ drawings. Over the next weeks, take photos of students helping and add them to the bulletin board.
28. Plant seeds of kindness
Have students write or draw one kind act they can do today on a paper “seed,” then hang it in a kindness garden bulletin board or place it in jar.
29. Hang leaves on a kindness tree
Naomi Meredith for We Are Teachers
Draw a large tree trunk on a sheet of chart paper. Then pass out different-colored leaves made from construction paper (or use our printable leaf template linked below) and ask each student to write or draw an act of kindness they can do on their leaf. After they’ve finished, help them tape their leaf to the tree trunk as reminders of how they can show kindness and respect for others. Add more leaves to the tree as you notice students being kind.
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30. Play Kindness Bingo
Create bingo cards showing different ways to be kind or show kindness, and use them to give an SEL twist to the classic game. Have students help you brainstorm the various squares on the card and come up with pictures that represent the actions.
31. Hold a compliment circle
Have students sit in a circle with their legs out so that everyone’s feet are in the circle. Ask for a volunteer or start the circle. The first person says a compliment for a peer. The peer says “Thank you!” and pulls their legs in so they are sitting crisscross-applesauce. Then, they give the next compliment. The compliment circle continues until everyone has received a compliment and is sitting crisscross-applesauce.
32. Use conversation starters
Learning to talk to others, especially new people, is vital for developing healthy friendships. Get the conversation started with questions like “What is your favorite thing to eat at lunch?” or “What was the funniest thing that happened to you today?” Pair students up and have them take turns asking the questions and giving answers to start a conversation.
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33. Practice sharing with ice cream cones
Sharing is one of those skills that can be really hard for kids to develop. Practice the idea of sharing by making paper ice cream “cones” and passing the “ice cream” (a lightweight ball that will fit in the cone) from one person to another. As students share their ice cream, have them practice saying please and thank you.
34. Teach whole body listening
Naomi Meredith for We Are Teachers
Teach students what their bodies should look like when they are listening. Use these whole body listening posters to reinforce this skill. Note you can always make accommodations for students since kids with ADHD, autism, and sensory-processing challenges may not be able to perform whole body listening in the same way other students do.
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35. Practice listening daily
Learning to listen, not only to themselves but to one another, is a critical skill for preschoolers. Set aside time each day to sit quietly with your students and listen for sounds in and around the classroom for increasing lengths of time. Or ring a chime and ask students to see how long they can hear the sound it makes. Intentional listening exercises like these give kids practice with this sometimes-challenging skill in a low-risk setting.
36. Play listening games
Practice listening skills with a game like Simon Says, Telephone, Freeze Dance, or Musical Chairs. Players must listen closely and pay attention if they want to win!
37. Watch friendship videos
Learning to get along with others takes a lot of practice. A video can be a conversation starter for students or a way to talk about how to handle tough friendship situations.
As young children learn about different ways we express ourselves, use poetry to talk about friendship. After you’ve read poems about friendship together, write a class poem or challenge older kindergartners to write their own friendship poems.
Listen to friendship songs with your students and talk about the lyrics. What does it mean when Woody sings “you’ve got a friend in me?” or when the Beatles sing they “get by” with a little help from their friends?
Have students think about what kind of friend they want and want to be by creating friend paper dolls. Draw an outline of a person on paper and give one to each student. Students decorate their “friend” and then share what they included. Does their friend have a pet to take care of together? Does their friend like gymnastics, just like them?
41. Fill buckets with positivity
The book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? has become a hit in preschool and elementary school classrooms, teaching kids how their words and actions affect others. Read this book, then give each student buckets and pom-poms representing positive comments. Encourage students to fill each others’ buckets with kind words and deeds!
Social stories are simple narratives that teach rules, expected behaviors, and how to handle various situations. For example, you may use a social story with students to teach them what to expect and how to behave during a fire drill. Or you may use a social story with a student who wants to learn how to make a friend or handle a social situation. The goal of social stories is that students learn clear actions they can take to solve common social situations.
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43. Let kids work out their own problems
As your students engage in play and collaboration, conflict will occur. When it does, help them solve their problems by observing and modeling rather than solving their problems for them.
Role-play is a wonderful way to teach your preschoolers and kindergartners social behaviors, rules, and expectations. Rehearsing these skills in a safe space, with a teacher’s guidance, helps them learn social norms. Pretend how to act in a restaurant, assembly, or in other spaces they’ll need practice with. Or practice how to handle situations that kindergartners will come across, like not wanting to share a toy or asking someone for help.
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45. Get a classroom pet
This is definitely a lot of work for teachers, but the benefits for students can be unbelievable. Even students who are uncomfortable around other children can often empathize with animals, helping them develop a better understanding of humans too. When kids help take care of a class pet, they have to make good decisions and demonstrate responsibility too. Not ready for the commitment in your classroom? Consider bringing in your own dog from time to time for students to play with.
In any social situation, conflict will happen. Teach students what to do beforehand with strategies like saying “stop,” ignoring the behavior, walking away, and getting help.
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47. Play with dolls
Imaginative play with dolls helps develop social-emotional relationship skills in every child, regardless of gender. Be sure to provide dolls that ensure every student sees themselves represented in your classroom, and include different styles and sizes too. As kids play, praise them for good social skills (“You did a good job helping your doll get dressed”) and guide them to kinder, more responsible behaviors (“How do you think the doll feels when you throw it down and step on it?”).
When kids play games that require them to work together to win, they build all sorts of SEL skills. They need to make smart decisions and think ahead to plan their strategy. Plus, they need to cooperate and function as a team to decide what to do next. Keep some of our favorites on hand in your classroom for quick and easy SEL activities!
Thoughtful book choices turn story time into learning time! Many books for kids are written with social-emotional learning in mind. Look for relatable characters that kids enjoy to help make the messages more meaningful to your audience. Here are some of our top picks for SEL books for preschool and kindergarten.
49. Mindfulness books for kids
Naomi Meredith for We Are Teachers
Mindfulness can be an abstract concept. Teach students what mindfulness is and what it looks like in our lives through read-alouds.
First lady Melania Trump hosted a meeting on Tuesday of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education and urged public and private leaders to help protect children from the dangers of the burgeoning technology.
“We are living in a moment of wonder, and it is our responsibility to prepare children in America,” declared the first lady. “Cars now steer themselves through our cities, robots hold steady hands in the operating room and drones are redefining the future of war.”
“Innovations of first-generation humanoids, factory automation and autonomous vehicles have surged from private sector investment,” she said. “Every one of these advancements, it’s powered by AI. The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction.”
The first lady appeared with various federal and private officials, including White House science and technology director Michael Kratsios, billionaire “crypto czar” David Sacks, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna.
“I predict AI will represent the single largest growth category in our nation during this administration,” said Melania Trump.“I won’t be surprised if AI becomes known as the greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America.”
“But as leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she continued.
She also made headlines last year after controversially opting to use AI to mimic her own voice to narrate the audiobook version of her memoir. The first lady announced on social media at the time, “Let the future of publishing begin.”
She said Thursday, “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance.”
President Donald Trump made a troubling joke Tuesday that clashed with that ethos entirely, however.
“If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll just have to blame AI,” he mused.
The event with the first lady was held amid Federal Trade Commission investigations into OpenAI, Meta and other tech companies over the impact their chatbots have had on children’s mental health. On Thursday, McMahon said her department is eager to bring AI into classrooms across the country.
Bullying is one of those tough topics that can feel challenging for teachers and parents to address. But when we highlight and bring attention to the issue, we have a better chance at preventing bully behavior and helping the victims of bullying. National Bullying Prevention Month 2025 is an ideal time for anti-bullying activities like those found here.
National Bullying Prevention Month takes place each year in October to bring global awareness to the issue. October 6, 2025, is the 19th annual World Day of Bullying Prevention. Organizations like Stomp Out Bullying sponsor special events on this day to help spread the word. October 22, 2025, is Unity Day, a time to unite for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.
What is Bullying Prevention Month?
Though schools should focus on creating an anti-bullying culture year-round, October has been set aside as a time to draw special attention to this important issue. A variety of organizations come together to support schools as they work to create a safer, kinder environment for all students.
Bullying can include in-person or online behavior (known as cyberbullying). It’s become a major issue in schools, where 1 in 5 students now report experiencing bullying behavior. Students might be bullied for their physical appearance, race or ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, or sexual orientation, among other reasons.
In 2006, PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center declared the first week of October a time to educate and raise awareness about bullying prevention. Their goal was to change the prevalent view that bullying was just a childhood rite of passage, something every kid had to go through. They pointed out that bullying raises school absentee rates, decreases student performance, and increases physical and mental stress. The center argued that teachers and families needed to work together to create a climate where bullying was not tolerated.
After much success, the event was expanded to the entire month of October starting in 2010. Since then, bullying prevention events during October have included fundraisers, Disney-produced public service announcements, celebrity partnerships, and much more. The month also includes Unity Day, a time to send a visible message that no child should ever have to endure bullying. In 2025, Unity Day will be held on October 22.
2025 Bullying Prevention Month Activities and Ideas
Try these methods to reach students, families, and the wider community.
Read an anti-bullying book
We Are Teachers; Amazon
Kids in any grade or reading level can learn more about bullying and prevention by reading. Share a picture book during story time, or urge older kids to read a novel with an anti-bullying message and share their thoughts.
Share these videos during an assembly, followed by in-class conversations about the points they raise. We’ve got a big selection of videos appropriate for kids in grades pre-K through high school.
Look for student leaders who can take active roles in creating a positive and supportive culture at your school. They can help others learn to become upstanders: people who not only avoid bullying others but know when and how to stand up for victims safely.
Decorate your classroom with anti-bullying decor, such as our collection of free printable kindness posters. Even better, encourage students to create their own posters, banners, and other artwork to send a strong message about your school’s anti-bullying culture. Try holding an anti-bullying poster contest!
Give each student in your school a strip of colorful paper, and ask them to write a message of encouragement or kindness on it. Then, link all the strips together to make a giant paper chain. Hang it in the cafeteria or along the halls to show that you’re all in this together!
In a hallway or a classroom, an anti-bullying bulletin board keeps your message front and center for all to see. Kids can write pledges to be kind written in their own personal handprint, for example.
Grab the National Bullying Prevention Month student activity kit
PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center has created a whole month-long anti-bullying unit you can use with kids in any grade. This free printable kit includes lesson plans and activity ideas, differentiated for students at all levels.
Join the nationwide movement on October 16 to show the world that your school is a place for acceptance, kindness, and inclusion. Encourage all students to wear orange that day, and plan lots of bullying prevention activities for all.
Start by asking students to help brainstorm an enormous list of ways they can show kindness to others, in and out of school. Then, challenge them to spend a week achieving as many acts of kindness as possible. Each student should document their act and keep track of the total. Hold an assembly at the end of the week to celebrate your final tally!
Share quotes about kindness
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Collect quotes about kindness and post them on sticky notes around your school for students to find and share. Encourage students to write their own favorite quotes or inspirational sayings on the topic and post them too.
Paint quotes or supportive messages on smooth river rocks, then hide them around the school grounds. Kids will have fun finding, collecting, trading, and sharing them. Such a fun way to show that kindness rocks!
Take an anti-bullying pledge
Encourage all students to sign a declaration like the Kids Against Bullying pledge. Make it meaningful by talking about what it means to be a bully vs. an upstander, and encourage kids to live their pledge daily.
Send home a flyer
Help families get involved with a ready-to-go flyer from the National Bullying Prevention Center. Include it in your school newsletter, post it on your website, and/or send copies home with students.
Let others know that October is a time to raise awareness of bullying prevention. Post concrete actions people can take to help stop bullying in their schools and communities.
PEABODY — The city is partnering with a mental health app to support all residents and their families, especially students of Peabody Public Schools.
Bloom is a mental health and wellness platform that can be accessed on desktop computers and as a mobile app on a smartphone. Developed by Gloucester-based Bloom-Ed Inc., the app provides local resources on topics ranging from mental health, parenting, financial wellness, end of life care and in a special section for teens, support for kids experiencing bullying.
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PEABODY — Dozens of people gathered at Higgins Middle School on Wednesday night for the first of what Mayor Ted Bettencourt said would be many community discussions on youth bullying and mental health.
The community meeting was one of the many anti-bullying initiatives introduced by Bettencourt following the suicide of 14-year-old Jason Bernard, who died May 17 after being bullied at Higgins Middle School.
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PARIS (AP) — Seven people have been charged in connection with cyberbullying targeting Thomas Jolly, the artistic mastermind behind the Paris Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies, French authorities announced Friday.
The online attacks erupted after Jolly’s acclaimed but controversial opening July spectacle on the Seine — a queer-inclusive, high-energy fusion of tradition and modernity that, for some, was too bold to ignore.
The abuse quickly escalated, laced with homophobic and antisemitic slurs, and reportedly aimed to silence the artistic intent behind the show. Jolly responded by filing a formal complaint with the Paris prosecutor’s office on July 31, prompting an investigation that led to the “first wave” of arrests, with more expected as the probe unfolds.
The seven people charged, ranging in age from 22 to 79, face counts of death threats, aggravated insults, and cyberbullying — serious allegations carrying the weight of potential prison time and heavy fines.
Jolly, a theatrical maverick known for blending bold cultural themes with LGBTQ+ celebration, had intended his production that lit up the City of Light as a vibrant, inclusive portrayal of French diversity. Jolly’s star-studded opening ceremony, featuring queer community luminaries like Celine Dion and Lady Gaga. However, drag performers, high-energy runway walks, and — in particular — a scene some interpreted as the “Last Supper” drew ire from far-right politicians and religious figures across the world.
Hungary’s ambassador to the Vatican, Eduard Habsburg, denounced the scene as disrespectful, noting wryly that “decapitating Habsburgs and ridiculizing central Christian events are really the FIRST two things that spring to mind when you think of #OlympicGames.” U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump went even further, calling the scene “a disgrace.”
Though Jolly clarified afterward that any resemblance to the “Last Supper” was unintentional, the backlash continued to ripple, drawing both criticism and support for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ elements.
Amid the uproar, Jolly told French lawmakers last month that there was a distinction between constructive criticism and the discriminatory attacks he received.
“Critique, that’s my life… but when it involves discrimination, it becomes criminal,” he said.
Stressing that the show’s intent was neither offensive nor religious, he defended his vision, expressing disbelief that anyone could interpret his work as disrespectful.
“I didn’t set out to mock any religion,” he emphasized, reflecting that he incorporated references to Notre Dame cathedral as a homage to France’s cultural heritage, not as a religious statement.
Support for Jolly has come from within the artistic community, including fellow performers who were also subjected to online abuse. Barbara Butch, an LGBTQ+ advocate and DJ, and Drag Race France host Nicky Doll, who both performed in the Olympic ceremony, were among those harassed. Although only Jolly was named in the prosecutor’s official statement, the wave of hostility extended to others involved in the production.
Among the performers, Hugo Bardin, known as drag queen Paloma, expressed pride in the event’s bold message of inclusion and called it “a really important moment for the French people and the representation of France around the world.”
Drag Race France winner Le Filip echoed this sentiment, describing the ceremony as a “crowning moment” for the LGBTQ+ community and a “postcard for France” that showcased a modern, inclusive nation. He also expressed shock at the backlash against Jolly’s event.
The prosecutor’s office Friday emphasized the seriousness of the charges and arrests, noting that the case reflects a troubling pattern of cyberbullying and hate speech directed at prominent figures.
It said the suspects sought to “intimidate and silence expressions of inclusivity” and diversity in a highly public and symbolic event.
The arrests are seen as a first step in France’s fight against cyberbullying, which authorities note has become increasingly sophisticated. In Jolly’s case, prosecutors pointed to the disturbing “pack behavior” of attackers acting independently to escalate the harassment, a pattern seen in other online hate campaigns.
The seven accused are set to appear in court on March 5.
That’s up from 9.9% in 2022 and 8.9% in 2021. The figure hasn’t surpassed 10% since before the pandemic, in 2019. The survey wasn’t conducted in 2020.
The county uses the annual survey results to create programs to support students who need it most, according to Daryl Washington, executive director at the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board.
Despite the small increase in bullying, the data suggests students’ mental health is improving, Washington said.
“It’s showing improvement in mental health, almost across the board, with our young folks,” Washington said. “It’s also showing low uses of substance use amongst our school-age population of students.”
About 28,000 eighth, 10th and 12th graders took the survey, which is anonymous and optional. Another 11,000 sixth graders took a shortened version of it, the county said.
In 2023, the percentages of students reporting they’ve been bullied was highest among eighth graders, at 16.7%, and lowest among high school seniors, at 5.7%.
The survey defines bullying as what happens when “one or more students repeatedly tease, threaten, spread rumors about, hit, shove, or hurt another student.”
“We’ve been really pushing the importance of speaking up if you feel bullied, also speaking up if you see a fellow student being bullied as well,” Washington said. “So with these numbers, some of it could be we’re bringing attention to the issue.”
Social media could also play a role, Washington said, particularly as it relates to bullying and a student’s self-esteem, “and really the impact that is having on this next generation of folks that really was not an issue that previous generations had to deal with as a stressor.”
The county, he said, uses the data to determine where its resources will have the most significant impact.
Last year, the county focused on the high percentage of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts reported by LGBTQ+ students, hosting a community day to offer support, Washington said.
Meanwhile, one-fourth of eighth, 10th and 12th graders reported feeling so hopeless or sad that they stopped regular activities for two weeks or more. This year’s rate was the lowest to be reported in the last decade, the county said.
“We’ve tried to really make the bar for any youth’s family that needs access to mental health services, being able to get access to them,” Washington said.
Rates of substance use, including alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and vaping, were also the lowest in the last decade for most substances, the county said.
