THE BRONX — Two Bronx city councilmen will introduce a bill Wednesday seeking to create a hotline for bullied students, representatives for the officials said.
The move comes more than four months after a teenager was fatally stabbed, and another injured, allegedly at the hands of a fellow student at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation. The accused attacker was repeatedly bullied before using a 3-inch switchblade to harm the teens in front of fellow students in their third-period history class, defenders have said.
“The stabbing of the two students is an extreme example of what happens when bullying either goes unnoticed or is allowed to escalate. The consequences can be deadly,” Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), told the NY Daily News, which first broke Wednesday’s story.
Torres and fellow Councilman Rafael Salamanca confirm they plan to introduce legislation Wednesday that would create a hotline offering counseling to bullied teens and referrals for mediation. Complaints would also be collected anonymously and possibly passed on to school officials.
The Department of Youth and Community Development would run the hotline, officials said.
