A story in the May 23 Butler Eagle gave all school officials and teachers an issue to ponder over the summer months. It is an issue many schools contend they already are addressing; however, it deals with a problem that nevertheless persists - in many places.

Headlined "Parents sue school district in kid's abuse," the story, while initially focusing on one student who dropped out of school at age 16 to escape persistent sexual harassment that had gone on since he was 12, also reported on several other cases where school districts were sued for failing to take a tough stance against those inflicting sexual harassment or bullying tactics.

Those who in the past considered verbal assaults or bullying a childhood right of passage were wrong. And, if it now takes some school districts to be hauled into court for allowing blatant conduct of that kind to exist - as an incentive to eradicate the problem - so be it.

Every child has a right to an education in a safe and respectful learning environment. No child should feel it is necessary to drop out of school, or be so adversely affected as to need anti-depressant medication, or even to contemplate suicide, because of constant taunting or threats by mean-spirited peers.

Lisa Soronen, a staff attorney for the National School Boards Association, said increased attention on sexual harassment in the workplace also may have made parents less likely to tolerate taunts directed at their children, especially those of a sexual nature.

In the case involving the 16-year-old boy, who attended school in Kansas, the suit alleges that the school enforced its sexual harassment policy when it involved male students harassing female students but did nothing when classmates began calling the boy offensive names.

Though straight, the boy was called gay, and girls who befriended him were teased.

The boy's parents talked with school officials about the problem, but the harassment continued until the boy dropped out of school and opted to earn a General Educational Development (GED) diploma. Prior to the boy's dropping out of school, his grades began to suffer and his family doctor prescribed anti-depressant medication.

A 1996 court ruling should have put all school districts on notice that they must not only say they will not tolerate such harassing or bullying conduct, but actually enforce that thinking. In that case, a gay student won a $900,000 settlement against a Wisconsin school district for not protecting him from harassment.

The summer months are a good time for school districts to evaluate the previous year's efforts in regard to this issue and implement changes where necessary for the school year to follow. Districts that have been lax on this matter, or which have detected problems with the policies they have in effect, should give the issue the attention it deserves before classes resume.

Today, more parents than ever are determined not to watch their child's educational experience be destroyed by the kind of conduct in question. They should be supported in that determination, even if, as a last resort, they find that court represents the only hope.

School is for learning, not for misery, embarrassment and hopelessness.

That must be made clear to every student who walks through a school entrance this fall.