LOGAN, Utah -- Food insecurity among rural Utah children, already a problem prior to the pandemic, has grown worse in the past 15 months.

Children's advocates said while free and low-cost school lunch programs help feed thousands of Utah kids each year, a Biden administration proposal could permanently expand these nutrition programs, particularly outside of Utah's urban school districts.

The multi-billion-dollar American Families Plan would provide direct payments to families to cover kids' meals during the summer break.

Neal Rickard, child nutrition advocate for Utahns Against Hunger, said the plan would close a major gap in current food programs.

"The thing about summer meals in Utah is that we are a fairly rural state, most of the state is not an urban area," Rickard explained. "And while districts do a great job of providing summer meals while they're available, there are still a lot of places that are just never going to be fully accessible for summer meals."

The program would provide eligible families $300 or more a month during summer break for groceries. It also includes tax credits and improvements to education, childcare, jobless benefits and paid leave, but many Republicans oppose the plan's hefty price tag.

Rickard noted in more than 60% of rural Utah households, both parents work, meaning their kids can't always participate in summer meal programs.

"A lot of the time, there are limited time frames where the summer meal sites can be accessible, and also, just because you're in a rural area, a significant distance away from where parents might be and a place to access them," Rickard pointed out. "We love the Summer Meals Program; it just doesn't fully address some of the needs that we have here in Utah."

Rickard predicted in Utah, childhood hunger will still be a problem in the coming years.

"I would love dearly to see our recovery, a bounce-back after the pandemic, that even ate into these existing rates of food insecurity," Rickard remarked. "But frankly, this was a problem prior to the pandemic, and will continue to be one."

The Biden administration touts the American Families Plan, paired with the American Jobs Plan, as a post-pandemic effort to rebuild the country's physical infrastructure and workforce. Congress has not begun to debate the plans.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and a recent study showed teens bullied in high school tend to become pessimistic about life prospects.

The study, published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence found students who experienced relational bullying were more likely to develop depressive symptoms and over time became more pessimistic about both academics and career prospects beyond high school. Relational bullying includes things like starting rumors, being deliberately ignored and exclusion from group activities.

Hannah L. Schacter, assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, said a student's perception of social inadequacy can spread into other parts of life.

"You're receiving a message from your peers that you are someone who doesn't deserve positive treatment, and that may then generalize to these other life domains," Schacter explained. "Now you expect that you're not going to be able to do well academically, or perhaps you won't be able to achieve what you wanted in terms of your work or kind of life plans."

Maryland requires county boards of education to track and report on bullying. This year's report showed there were more than 7,800 incidences of bullying reported during the 2022-23 school year, an increase of 25% over the year prior.

Researchers found students who experienced overt victimization such as direct verbal or physical attacks did not report lower future expectations. Earlier research showed relational victimization had negative effects on elementary students' academic performance and standardized test scores over time. Schacter argued schools need to see the effects of bullying not just as a challenging social issue but also an educational priority.

"As there's been increased recognition of how it can negatively impact teens, more and more schools have, at the very least, adopted anti bullying policies," Schacter acknowledged. "Unfortunately, it's very time intensive, and can be quite costly to implement evidence based large scale school interventions for bullying."

Maryland's State Department of Education adopted a model policy to address bullying, harassment and intimidation in 2009 and has updated it in the years since. Last year the department began offering an online introduction to bullying prevention for educators.


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October is National Bullying Prevention Month and a new study showed teens bullied in high school tend to become pessimistic about their future.

Researchers found adolescents who experienced relational bullying were more likely to develop depressive symptoms and over time became more pessimistic about academics and career prospects beyond high school. Relational bullying includes things like starting rumors, being deliberately ignored and exclusion from group activities.

Hannah L. Schacter, assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, said a student's perception of social inadequacy can spread into other parts of life.

"You're receiving a message from your peers that you are someone who doesn't deserve positive treatment, and that may then generalize to these other life domains," Schacter explained. "Now you expect that you're not going to be able to do well academically, or perhaps you won't be able to achieve what you wanted in terms of your work or kind of life plans."

The study began with more than 300 9th graders at 38 different high schools across Michigan. Students completed online surveys multiple times per year over three years.

Researchers found students who experienced overt victimization such as direct verbal or physical attacks did not report lower future expectations. Prior research established relational victimization affected elementary students' academic performance and standardized test scores over time. Schacter argued schools need to see the effects of bullying not just as a challenging social issue but also as an educational priority.

"As there's been increased recognition of how it can negatively impact teens, more and more schools have, at the very least, adopted anti-bullying policies," Schacter acknowledged. "Unfortunately, it's very time intensive, and can be quite costly to implement evidence-based large-scale school interventions for bullying."

She added it is important to have strong communication between researchers, policymakers and administrators to address bullying so it is not too burdensome for schools and is backed by what researchers have learned.

The biannual Pro-Kid Scorecard from the Children Now Action Fund was released today.

In it, 12 state Assembly members and seven state Senators earned a 100% rating.

Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health and research at the nonprofit Children Now Action Fund, said the scoring reflects more than how lawmakers vote.

"They voted the right way on health and child welfare, child care, education," Hardy outlined. "They also supported kids in the budget, which is not always an easy thing to do when we've got budget deficits."

The lowest scores hovered around 48%, awarded to lawmakers who voted against certain bills but also voted for proposals like forced outing policies for LGBTQ+ students in schools.

Hardy noted the report is intended to inform voters as they head to the ballot box next month.

"Kids may not vote but we want to elect legislators who do their best to support kids," Hardy explained.

California ranks 35th in the nation for child well-being, according to the latest Annie E. Casey Foundation report and is just above the national average for per-pupil spending on K-12 education.