Dive Brief:

• School and community safety solution provider Bridg-it on Tuesday unveiled its Bridg-it School anti-bullying solution.
• With Bridg-it School, the company is aiming to address the entire lifecycle of a situation with confidential reporting, simplified compliance requirements that adhere to state and federal laws, real-time data that can be used to spotlight problems and trends, and a comprehensive resource center featuring a variety of curricula and activities.
• Bridg-it School can be accessed via tablet, smartphone, or desktop.

Dive Insight:

With all of the focus on top-level issues like standards and curriculum or funding, it can be easy for bullying to be pushed to the back. But it remains arguably as big an issue as anything else in K-12.

Take, for example, the Kentucky Supreme Court case over a student's suicide stemming from bullying. That case is set to decide a school's responsibility when it comes to ending a bullying situation. As pointed out there, there's a need for additional professional development when it comes to addressing bullying, and if a platform like Bridg-it Schools simplifies that, it can only be for the better.

According to a press release, the new tool was piloted in New York City-area schools for the last year, though no stats are provided regarding its effectiveness. However, Dominick D’Angelo, Principal of Brooklyn's I.S. 228 David A. Boody Junior High School, praised the solution in the release, saying it helped the school quickly handle harmful situations, particularly now that many of those issues are occurring through the use of smartphones and social media and might not be as easily seen.