Students cannot exercise their right to a free and appropriate public education if they don’t enjoy equal access to the educational environments required for success. Bullying may operate functionally much the same way as sexual harassment in preventing or curtailing legally mandated access to programs.

In this half-day session, John H. Hoover, Ph.D., Professor of Special Education, St. Cloud State University, Minn., argued that bullying can cause students to avoid school and perform less well academically, and that bullies and their victims are damaged longitudinally. The presentation ended with a brief summary of a well documented, easily adopted program to reduce bullying.