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Friday, June 29, 2018
Vol. 78, No. 26
Legislator fights school bullying
Syosset facility houses migrant children separated from families
Website to provide resources for parents and kids BY GARY SIMEONE Nassau County Legislator and Syosset resident Joshua Lafazan has recently introduced a bill to fight bullying in our school system. The bill, which was introduced this past Monday in Congress, would come in the form of an online website to help promote anti-bullying efforts. "We've seen a precipitous rise in the amount of bullying in our schools with the advent of social media," said the 24-year-old politician. "Being the age that I am, I'm in tune with what's going on with our youth and I'm empathetic towards their plight." He said that a lot of middle school and high school-aged kids reach out to him on a regular basis about what's going on in their lives. "This is no longer the kind of bullying that ends at 3pm at the end of the school day. With social media, this is a 24/7 thing." Lafazan said he got the idea for the website after members of the Long Island Coalition Against Bullying came to him seeking ideas about bullying prevention.
"They helped launch something similar in Suffolk County, and I'm hoping to institute a much more up-todate website here in Nassau," said Lafazan. The website will offer tips on how to deal with bullying, have information for LBGT youth, and will also have a separate page for the Nassau County Police Department. There will also be a list of DASA coordinates for each school district in the county. "The website will offer information to kids and parents of kids being bullied and to community members who want to help. It will have unified resources and be a place to go for those seeking help." If the bill is approved by the Rules Committee in Congress, it will be brought before the full legislature on July 9th. The final step would than be getting the bill signed by Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. "This is something we need to have because it breaks my heart to see kids not want to go to school because they're being bullied," said Lafazan.
Congressman Tom Suozzi and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran at MercyFirst in Syosset In what has become an international scandal, President Donald Trump's "Zero Tolerance" immigration policy has separated migrant children from their families. Ten of those children are now currently housed at the MercyFirst group home in Syosset. The facility, which works with troubled and at-risk children, is one of the many facilities across the country that is housing the migrant children who have been separated from their families at the US-Mexico border. Early last week, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Republican party members, as well as Congressman Tom Suozzi and Congresswoman Kathleen
Rice, toured the facility. "MercyFirst is providing excellent care and resources to all of the children currently in the facility," said Curran in a statement. "This is an issue that goes far beyond politics. It is a human issue. We must ensure that these children are well cared for, and more importantly reunited with their parents." She said that the children are being well fed and getting the proper rest, education, and exercise they need. "The thing we're most concerned about is the psychological and physical toll on these children after being separated from their families," said Curran. "The damage can be very hard to over-
come." Suozzi said in a statement that after meeting with the children, he didn't notice any obvious signs of distress and that they exhibited an overall positive attitude. "MercyFirst is a very professionally run environment and they're professionally trained in child welfare issues," said Suozzi. The migrant children first began arriving at the group home in late May. Two of the ten children were brought to the facility this past weekend. The children range in age from 4-17 and come from the countries of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Brazil.
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