Sunday, January 24, 2010

Lawmakers push anti-bullying bills (The Clarion-Ledger)

Lawmakers push anti-bullying bills (The Clarion-Ledger)

Lawmakers push anti-bullying bills (The Clarion-Ledger)

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 04:56 PM PST

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Mississippi has laws that address some types of harassment, but nothing that specifically defines and addresses bullying. The state laws on harassment include strict punishment such as prison time. Mississippi doesn't keep statistics on bullying.

Mississippi is one of 14 states with no anti-bullying law, said John Yu, youth programs coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.

ACLU of Mississippi officials were planning to approach legislators about an antibullying policy that doesn't criminalize bullying, then heard about the proposed bills, Yu said.

"It was a real shock to us that they got proposed," Yu said.

A good antibullying policy includes a "definition that explains the responsibilities of everyone - students, teachers, parents," Yu said.

"It also provides a list of consequences, and it also has a provision that prohibits retaliation for reporting bullying."

Those elements are in Senate Bill 2015 and to some extent in House Bill 570, he said.

There needs to be a uniform bullying policy for the state, Wilemon said.

"We have a high dropout rate, and I feel there's a possibility that that could help our dropout rate some," Wilemon said. "If you were going to school and someone was bullying you, I feel that there's some students that would want to drop out of school."

Wilemon said he has received several phone calls, e-mails and visits from people thanking him for writing the bill.

The ACLU is concerned that House Bill 570 could restrict free speech because it includes broad language, Yu said. The bill also criminalizes bullying and makes it a misdemeanor for parents to miss related disciplinary hearings, he said.

If any of the provisions of House Bill 570 are too steep, "They can be taken out during the committee process," Duvall said.

The main point of the bill was to bring awareness to the issue and start doing something about it, he said.

"We hope that we can do something about bullying this year," Duvall said. "If not, it has finally been put before the Legislature for something to discuss at least."

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