“What could make a child his age despair so much that he would take his own life?”

That was the question Sirdeaner Walker asked of the House of Representatives Education Committee yesterday in Washington, D.C.

The answer? Bullies. Three months ago, Mrs. Walker’s 11-year-old son, Carl Walker, hanged himself in his room after months of being pushed and teased with anti-gay taunts.

Walker was in D.C. alongside other parents, teachers, students, and psychologists to urge Congress to enforce strategies for better school safety and violence prevention.

After her emotional question, Walker touched on the new epidemic in the U.S.: “School bullying is a national crisis and we need a national solution to deal with it.”

Throughout the day, teachers and anti-bullying advocates agreed that it’s going to take more than security guards and metal detectors to get rid of violence in schools.

Some proposed using the economic stimulus money to put more protection in schools and others thought including more character building lesson plans into school curriculum would do the trick to decrease bullying.

But you’re the experts on school bullying. What do you think the solution is?

Don’t wait for Congress to pass laws or give money to anti-bullying programs. Start now, and see what you can do to put an end to school violence and bullying.