Dear Mr. or Mrs. President,

Bullying occurs once in every 7 minutes and 1 in 3 students report being bullied. This is extremely scary. These statistics scream out that action needs to be taken on bullying in schools.  

When a student reports being bullied in school, it should be dealt with right then and there. The answer should NEVER be,"Oh, we'll see what we can do." That just makes the student seem like their issue is getting thrown under a rug and is not actually being dealt with. The staff members in schools should be trained a lot better to deal with bullying, since it does happen so much.  Teachers and guidance counselors should pay more attention to the world around them, and not just be focused on academics. In all reality, a student who is being bullied and tormented every day in school probably isn't as motivated to do well in school, let alone even show up. Then, there's a downward cycle of failing grades, and having to stay in school longer because of them. There should be state-wide and nationwide training for teachers in public schools. Bullying is getting out of control, and the students bullying others need some kind of consequence for their actions. Seeing bullies walk away like nothing occurred, while some victims contemplate taking their own lives is very bothersome to me. Suicide remains one of the top leading causes of death of children 14 and under. This statistic is another one that really bothers me. No child should have to suffer from suicidal thoughts.

Even though children get to go home at night, that doesn't always mean the torment stops.  Cyber bullying is a very common type of bullying these days, due to the up rise of  social media sites.  Cyber bullying is harder for people/adults to take action to stop it from happening. In this case, I think that when cyber bullying is reported, there should  be a specific protocol taken to deal with it; it would be up to parents, schools authority figures, and if necessary, police. 

As president of the United States, you have the power to give funding to schools to have training for teachers and other authority figures. Bullying needs to stop, so let's start the process to stop it. 

Sincerely, 

Paulina Wagner