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Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Getting Tough On Bullying
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Columbus lawmaker wants to toughen the state’s anti-bullying law by expanding the definition of bullying, extending the policy from middle and high school all the way down to kindergarten, and requiring that administrators be trained in spotting bullying behavior, among other measures.
Public school systems in Georgia have had policies that prohibit and punish bullying since at least 1999. But, according to the current law, those policies only have to apply to sixth through 12th-graders.
Now state Rep. Carolyn Hugley, a Democrat, wants to make all public schools follow more detailed procedures when dealing with bullies in the classroom, on the playground, at the bus stop — even on school computer networks. Interestingly, Hugley’s legislation would mandate that school officials refer bullies to counseling.
After reading the bill and thinking about all the media coverage on childhood bullying in recent years, I can’t help but wonder: Don’t teachers and principals take bullying seriously enough or does the law really need to be rewritten?
