At its first public business meeting of the new school year, the Falls Church Public School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to adopt a proclamation declaring October 2019 as “Bullying Prevention Month” with the intention that “the issue of bullying and its prevention be discussed in Falls Church City Public Schools and classrooms during that time.”   

The proclamation notes that “school bullying and become an increasingly significant problem in the U.S. and Virginia as “over 20 percent of the youth in the U.S. are estimated to be involved in bullying each year, either as a bully or as a victim.”

It adds that “an estimated 160,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade miss school every day due to a fear of being bullied” which can take many forms, including “verbal, physical and most recently cyberspace” and can happen in many places on and off school grounds.”