Wayne County Sheriff Thomas G. Maurer was recently invited to participate at a national conference in Washington, DC, where he was a speaker on the topic of bullying. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention coordinated speakers from across the U.S. to cover topics of bullying, cyber-bullying, sexting and other related topics. The two-day conference held more than 1,500 participants.

“I was honored to have been called to talk about what our tri-county school districts are doing in regards to the problem of bullying. With a solid program initiated within our schools, we can now more competently address issues such as cyber-bullying and sexting. Our teachers, parents and children have a firm anti-bullying foundation on which to identify wrong behavior in the schools, whereas in the past, this wrong behavior was not identified and created problems at home and within our communities,” Maurer stated. “I commend our educators, students, and their parents for what seems to be a fantastic overview of the newly established program for bullying. The students (third through eighth grades) feel better about their fears of bullying because they know the boundaries and the consequences of such behavior. Common rules, common expectations, and common responses are now the norm in daily conversations.

“Technology is racing ahead on a super highway without too many barriers,” Maurer quoted. Where television and radio were standard 20 years ago, now iPads, iPods, and video phones have now replaced our children’s communications throughout the world. But, he added, “Parents are still the responsible factor in their children’s behavior.”