To the Editor:

National PTA has launched "Connect for Respect," an initiative to prevent bullying in schools and communities across the country. Parents and PTA leaders play a critical role in ensuring that children grow up in safe environments free from bullying. Tip sheets are available that show how PTAs and parents can help prevent bullying.

Parents and caring adults can play pivotal roles in creating a healthy school and community climate that is free of bullying. By working together, educators, parents, concerned citizens, business leaders, advocates, and community members can support the implementation of bullying prevention programs, reinforce bullying prevention messages, and advocate for bullying policies to be implemented.

This collaboration is critical as bullying happens everywhere that young people gather, including online, via text, and in social networks. PTA leaders and parents can play an important role in convening community conversations to build awareness of this as an important issue and to take action to stop bullying in your communities.

Through the Connect for Respect initiative, PTAs encourage parents to talk to their children about bullying and to advocate for policies and practices that create a safe school climate for all children.

PTA provides resources for parents and PTA leaders to get involved. For more information, visit http://www.pta.org/bullying.asp.

There are five tip sheets is to increase parents' understanding of bullying, explain how to prevent it, and show how to recognize if their child is the bully. The topics include: Basic Information and Statistics on Bullying; Proactive Ways Parents Can Prevent Bullying; Six Tips to Instill Anti-bullying Behavior in Your Child; and Where to Find Anti-bullying Resources and Help.

Resources for PTA Leaders include How PTAs Can Host a Conversation on Bullying in Their Community; Three Ways PTA Leaders Can Prevent Bullying; Best Practices in School-Based Bullying Prevention; Best Practices in Community-Based Bullying Prevention; and Highlights of State and Local PTA Bullying Prevention Programs & Activities.

Given the financial constrains schools are now under with state and federal cutbacks to education, PTA and parent volunteers are needed more than ever to ensure our community's children get the best possible education.

Preventing bullying is essential to create a wholesome, positive learning environment for students. After all, school is where our children go to work.

Today, PTA is the largest volunteer child advocacy organization in the nation. PTA members represent the ethnic diversity of our nation, and they come from the ranks of traditional families, single-parent households, blended families, grandparents, and other caring adults. Together, we continue to serve as the conscience of the country for children and youth.

Membership in National PTA is open to anyone who is concerned with the education, health, and welfare of children and youth. For more information about National PTA, visit www.pta.org.

For more information about the North Country Region of NYS-PTA, linking Clinton, Essex, Franklin and St. Lawrence Counties, contact region director Ellen Galo at 315-265-4268 or e-mail northcountryRD@nyspta.org. You can also visit the North Country Region website for learn more about PTA, PTA programs, and parenting tips at www.northcountryregionpta.org.

Ellen Galo,  Potsdam