Punishment of Tenafly, East Brunswick School Bullies Upheld

New Jersey's education commissioner has upheld the punishments against the first two students whose parents challenged the state's tough new anti-bullying law.

In a pair of rulings in January, Commissioner Christopher Cerf agreed with administrative law decisions that found that school officials in Tenafly and East Brunswick were within their rights to punish students for bullying.

Under a law that took effect in 2011, New Jersey mandated anti-bullying programs for schools.

Both cases were based in incidents in the fall of 2011.

A Tenafly fourth-grader told others that a child dyed her hair because she had head lice. And an East Brunswick sixth-grader said another student "danced like a girl" and was "gay."

The decisions were first reported by The Star-Ledger of Newark.

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