Anti-bullying Bill Passes Into Law

Georgia Equality has an update on the anti-bullying legislation that passed...

 

From the inbox:

Highlights of the new law include:

• Sets a January 2011 deadline for the state Department of Education to develop an anti-bullying policy that can be a model for local school systems
• Requires age-appropriate consequences for bullying from kindergarten through 12th grade - current policies only deal with bullying in sixth through 12th grades
• Requires school staff to report suspected incidents, and instructs school boards to punish and work to prevent bullying
• Provides that a student can be reassigned to another school for the purpose of separating the student from his or her bullying victim
• Provides for immediate notification of law enforcement when a student commits an alleged physical assault or battery on another student, teacher or other school employee
• Defines bullying as threats of injury, displays of force used to intimidate a victim, or written, verbal and physical acts which a reasonable person would perceive as being intended to threaten, harass or intimidate

In 2008 and 2009 Georgia Equality worked with lawmakers to pass anti-bullying legislation, but while it had considerable support, it failed to pass into law.  The suicide last year of Jaheem Herrera, an 11-year-old DeKalb County boy who was reportedly bullied by his classmates calling him gay, and the suicide of a 17-year-old autistic teenager in northwest Georgia helped build support for a tougher law in 2010.

Posted via email from Jim Nichols