On June 30, New York City Asian advocacy groups, including Koreans, demonstrated in front of the Department of Education headquarters to demand increased protection against student mobbing, bullying and bias crimes in the City's public schools.

The campaign and demonstration included: the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CAACF), a pan-Asian children's advocacy organization in New York City; the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), which advocates on behalf of the 10 million Asian Pacific Americans in the United States; New York City's American Immigration Lawyers Association; the United Sikh Association; the New York Civil Liberties Union; New York City Councilman Robert Jackson (D); as well as students and teachers in the City's public school system. [pic]

The groups asked the City government and the DOE to enforce or step up existing regulations to protection students who, they alleged, are currently being harassed and even assaulted, based on their "actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnic group, religion, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, sex and gender – including their gender identity or gender expression. On-going, widespread harassment" they stated, "puts students in an atmosphere of fear that undermines their academic potential. It can cause students to skip school, engage in high-risk behavior, such as drug or alcohol abuse, or even contemplate suicide."

The groups pointed out that New York City already has laws that demand respect for every student's dignity, and regulations on the books protecting schoolchildren from forms of mobbing and ostracizing, bullying and bias crimes; however, the problem lies in enforcement. The laws are not enacted strongly and schools report an increased number of victims; therefore, they demonstrators feel priority should be given to rooting out the problem and taking action to enforce existing laws.

Results of a recent survey of 1,100 NYC teachers and students, the groups reported, indicate that few of those surveyed were aware of the existence of any laws protecting students from mobbing, bullying or bias crimes; it also confirmed what the groups already knew: that such crimes are frequent. Seventy-six percent of students surveyed answered that although they had witnessed individual cases of discrimination, they did not know where to report such crimes. Few knew of the existence of the website: [pic]respectforall@schools.nyc.gov. Seventy-three percent of students had not seen a "Respect for All" poster in their schools, while 80 percent had not attended a training or presentation of "Respect for All: Or Diversity." In fact, NYC law stipulates that such training and education must be made available to City public school students as well as teachers.

Perhaps most shocking was the finding that in cases where victims reported abuse to their school, only 34 percent of victims' parents received notification of the situation, and only 15.8 percent of alleged victims received a written report with the results of the investigation from school officials.

New York City has modeled its bill addressing the pervasive problem of bias-based harassment in New York City's public schools in full support of the "Dignity in All Schools Act" (DASA), and the Chancellor's Regulation (A-832), adopted by the Department of Education in September, 2008. A-832 prohibits all forms of bullying and harassment in the City's public schools. The regulation is a good first step, but "much more must be done to create respectful, inclusive and safe learning environments in all city schools" stated the groups.

The Asian advocacy groups condemned the fact that in the survey, the enactment of the existing regulations was given failing grades; the groups take this to mean that the government is still too lax in treating cases of bullying, mobbing, and bias.

The groups also were rather vocal in one demand: the survey indicates that in 16 percent of the cases, the victims reported teachers, staff member, or security officers – and not students – as assailants. There was a call for the City to broaden the scope of its laws to include and address the issue of the teacher as assailant.