By Udi Ofer New York State’s heralded anti-bullying law is about to go into effect July 1. But the state Board of Regents recently took some teeth out of the law, known as the Dignity Act, when it said that charter schools don’t have to provide in-class instruction to schoolchildren about the dangers of discrimination and harassment, leaving their students without a key protection from bullying.

By Udi Ofer Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative, which was announced in August, identifies problems afflicting too many young men of color: high suspension and arrest rates, and low graduation and employment rates. But the mayor’s proposed reforms ignore the fact that many of the challenges City Hall seeks to address are exacerbated — if not caused — by some of his own administration’s policing and education policies.

By John A. Curr III Days before taking his own life, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer described his sense of helplessness in an online post. “I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. . . . What do I have to do so people will listen to me?” he wrote. Jamey’s suicide demonstrates the devastating toll of bullying. Moreover, it indicates the challenges educators can face in identifying and effectively addressing bullying. In the wake of this tragedy, local school districts should take steps to ensure bullied students that somebody is ready to help.

By Gary Pudup Carlos was brought to the United States from Mexico when he was 11 years old. He quickly overcame the challenge of adjusting to a new country, learning English and flourishing in school. He graduated from a local high school in June, earning an Advanced Regents Diploma and several merit-based scholarships. Carlos, 18, plans to study criminal justice and hopes to become a police officer. He wants serve the community, but his future is uncertain.

By Donna Lieberman The recent suicide of a Massachusetts high school student and the subsequent indictment of nine teenagers who allegedly had relentlessly harassed her have thrust school bullying into the national spotlight. This tragic case, in which 15-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself after enduring vicious taunts and physical threats at school, demonstrates the devastating effect bullying has on children.

By Udi Ofer — While legislation giving the mayor control of the city schools had laudable goals, over the past seven years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein have demonstrated an alarmingly expansive interpretation of their own powers. Under mayoral control, government transparency has been a scarce commodity, and the Department of Education has operated like a tightly controlled bunker that excludes parents and lawmakers from most meaningful participation.

By Donna Lieberman — New York City students returned to their classrooms this month, and once again, more than 93,000 of them had to pass through a gauntlet of metal detectors, pat downs and bag searches to get there. Hallways are again patrolled by thousands of school safety agents who are trained to bring police tactics to school discipline and are not instructed to follow principals’ leadership.

By Donna Lieberman — Earlier this spring, a 12-year-old Brooklyn girl made a devastating decision – she took her own life. According to news reports, Maria Herrera, a sixth grader at Public School 72, was the subject of her classmates’ constant harassment. The little girl’s mother complained to the school, teachers and the Department of Education more than 20 times. Even after Maria’s classmates cut off her hair, nothing was ever done to protect her.

By John A. Curr III — Sheriff Timothy Howard correctly calls the state’s juvenile justice system a costly failure (Another Voice, March 14), yet he opposes cutting state funding for pretrial juvenile detention. He argues that doing so would threaten public safety. The sheriff should reconsider. The budget proposal, which legislators have since mostly gutted, was an important measure that would have strengthened public safety by decreasing recidivism among youthful offenders.

By Christopher Dunn and Donna Lieberman — An initiative by the New York Police Department to expand its control over the city's street life is scheduled for a public hearing on Aug. 23. Many groups are rightly upset because the proposal needlessly seeks to require police permits for a wide range of public events and protests that have never needed police permission. But the proposal does provide a welcome opportunity to reassess the department's permit authority. And if anything, the city should reduce, not increase, that authority.