Bullying bill puts
heat on schools
By ERICA HARBATKIN,
thnt.com Online December 18, 2007
School bullying policies in New
Jersey could come under increased scrutiny if the state Legislature passes a
hate-crime and bullying bill introduced in the Senate earlier this month.
Five years after the state's first anti-bullying legislation was signed into
law, the Senate is expected to vote on another anti-bullying bill early next
year. The bill takes a two-pronged approach to discrimination by
addressing both school bullying and hate crimes.
The component of the bill dealing with hate crimes would require police to
report all bias crimes to the attorney general. The attorney general would
then maintain a public database listing those crimes.
On the bullying end of the legislation, a 13-member commission would oversee the
effectiveness of each school district's anti-bullying policy.
"This carries over into adulthood, and that's why it's in the same bill," said
Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, who is a co-sponsor of the bill with Loretta
Weinberg, D-Bergen.
The commission would be responsible for analyzing and making recommendations
regarding the effectiveness of school bullying laws while training school
officials in investigating and reporting bullying incidents.
"We really wanted to assess how the anti-bullying law was working, to what
extent it was being enforced and whether it was effective in curtailing bullying
and harassment in schools," Buono said.
The anti-bullying law, which was signed into law September 2002, requires all
school districts to adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation or
bullying.
Since it passed in 2002, Buono said, parents contend that school officials still
fail to address bullying complaints.
"I've had a number of phone calls to my office where individuals were
complaining that they went to the school principal or administration, and their
concerns fell on deaf ears," she said. "We want to assess whether or not
the remedies available to students are effective and are doing the job they were
intended to do."
Current law stipulates that each school district must define its own procedure
for both reporting and investigating an act of bullying. Each district
must also define a range of ways a school will respond to an incident.
Under the new legislation, the commission would take those consequences a step
further by studying the adequacy of legal remedies available to victims of
bullying.
The bill, introduced in the Senate on Dec. 3, was the second piece of
anti-bullying legislation introduced this year. Gov. Jon S. Corzine in
August signed legislation expanding the definition of bullying to include
electronic communication such as e-mail and text-messaging. That bill was
also sponsored by Buono.
eharbatkin@thnt.com
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