Bullying a single significant act or a pattern of acts by one or more students directed at another student that exploits an imbalance of power and involves engaging in written or verbal expression, expression through electronic means, or physical conduct that satisfies the applicability requirements provided by Subsection (a-1) of the Texas Educational Code. 

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology, such as chat rooms, instant messaging, social media, or other forms of digital electronic communication. With apps and technology changing all the time, unfortunately some use them as new ways to bully.

Did you know?

• 3% of students in Houston did not go to school at least one day because they felt unsafe (CDC 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey)
• 7% of tweens and 82.0% of teens experienced bullying as a bully, victim, or witness. (BARK Annual Report, 2020)
• Even when a bullying victim had suffered injury, 40 percent of the time the students said the bullying was not reported (safeschools.info, 2019)
• David’s Law makes cyberbullying a punishable offense.

Partners and Resources

• Davidslegacy.org – a non-profit organization whose mission is to eliminate cyber and other bullying, of children and teens, through education, legislation, and legal action.
• Stopbullying.gov – provides information from various government agencies on what bullying is, what cyberbullying is, who is at risk, and how you can prevent and respond to bullying.
• Safeschools.info – The Center for Safe Schools is committed to preventing and reducing the incidents of bullying in schools through technical assistance, training, evaluation, and research.

Where to Report 

• Explicit Content being shared online – Cyber Tipline – 1-800-843-5678
• Crime Stoppers of Houston – 713-222-TIPS(8477)
• Monitoring tool – Bark.us