Legislators from Washington state to West Virginia, hoping to stave off violence committed by students who have been picked on by their peers, are taking action this year on bills designed to prevent bullying in schools.
The Colorado legislature this spring passed a law mandating that every school district in the state have an anti-bullying policy in place. Lawmakers cited the deadly 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colo., as a major impetus for the measure.
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鈥淚 represent the Columbine community,鈥� Rep. Don Lee, a Republican who sponsored a version of the bill in the House, said last week. "[Bullying] was one of the factors cited as contributing to what happened at Columbine.鈥�
But Colorado is not alone. The New Hampshire legislature passed a law last May requiring its schools to have policies on bullying. The West Virginia legislature followed suit with a similar law earlier this spring. And anti-bully bills are pending in Illinois, New York, and Washington state.
The concept has been most controversial in Washington state, where a Christian Coalition group opposed the bully-prevention bill, contending that it was a cover for gay-rights efforts that could eventually force schools to teach about homosexuality in a positive light.
But the wave of anti-bullying legislation has raised other issues as well. While virtually everyone agrees it鈥檚 a good thing for schools to reduce bullying, some people question whether state laws that require policies on such behavior really will help schools achieve that goal.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the legal avenue has much promise,鈥� said Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a professor of public-health practice at Harvard University and an expert on violence prevention. 鈥淚 can see this becoming the zero-tolerance fad of today.鈥�
鈥淭o the extent that this pursuit of anti-bullying laws takes us further down the punishment track and distracts us from the true preventive activities,鈥� Ms. Prothrow-Stith said, 鈥渋t could hurt.鈥�
The prevention of bullying, she argues, requires a full set of activities that include improving the climate in schools, establishing conflict-resolution and peer-mediation programs, and training faculty and staff members to properly handle bullying incidents.
鈥業t鈥檚 Time鈥�
In Colorado, the anti-bullying bill stirred some controversy because a number of legislators feared it extended the hand of government into matters that should be handled on the local level.
鈥淭here were quite a few people who didn鈥檛 think that it was needed, and I鈥檓 not sure it鈥檚 going to do any good,鈥� said Rep. Ken Arnold, a Republican who voted for the bill.
But he added that he believes that 鈥渋t鈥檚 time we put an end to the bullying and the hating, the bigger kids picking on the little kids. It鈥檚 time the people in the schools鈥攖he teachers, the principals, the counselors鈥攄id something.鈥�
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Keith C. King, another Republican representative in Colorado who is the vice chairman of the House education committee, said he voted against the bill because he feared it would usurp the role of parents in teaching their children how to treat other people respectfully.
鈥淭he more government takes over the role of parenting,鈥� he said, 鈥渢he less people parent.鈥�
Some Colorado schools have taken on bullies on their own. After the killings at Columbine High two years ago the neighboring Cherry Creek district stepped up its efforts to 鈥渂ullyproof鈥� its schools.
鈥淥ur superintendent was very clear that things are not the same,鈥� said William Porter, Cherry Creek鈥檚 director of student-achievement services. The 42,000-student district is located 10 miles from Columbine High, where two students went on a shooting rampage on April 20, 1999, fatally wounding 12 other students and one teacher before taking their own lives.
Even before Columbine, some Cherry Creek schools had started to teach an anti-bullying curriculum, written by Mr. Porter. It aims to convert what he calls the 鈥渟ilent majority"鈥攖he student bystanders who witness bullying yet are neither bullies nor victims themselves鈥攖o what he refers to as the 鈥渃aring majority.鈥� The goal, he said, is to get students who see bullying to stick up for the victims or report incidents to adults.
After the Columbine shooting, Cherry Creek officials mandated that every school in the district have such a violence-prevention program that discouraged bullying. Mr. Porter said the requirement was a direct response to reports that the two boys who committed the Columbine killings may have been seeking revenge for having been mistreated at school. School officials reasoned that if schools could be rid of bullies, they would be made safer for all students.
Opponents鈥� Concerns
Proponents of the anti-bullying bill proposed in Washington state say it was derailed by members of the state鈥檚 chapter of the Christian Coalition, who contended that anti-bullying policies in schools could violate the free-speech rights of students who expressed opposition to homosexuality.
鈥淭he Christian Coalition and others involving evangelical churches were the only ones that opposed it,鈥� said Brian E. Smith, a spokesman for state Attorney General Christine Gregoire, a Democrat who helped to draft the bill. 鈥淚n a nutshell, they were concerned that somehow it would bring up a discussion of homosexuality in the schools.
鈥淲e鈥檝e said all along it has nothing to do with homosexuality,鈥� Mr. Smith said. 鈥淚t protects every kid鈥攖all, skinny, gay.鈥�
But Rick Forcier, the executive director of the Christian Coalition of Washington, counters that members of his group worry that the anti- bullying measure is only the beginning.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e concerned about it is that some states will follow the pattern of California in which they begin to mandate the teaching of homosexuality in a positive light,鈥� said Mr. Forcier, who testified against the proposed law. 鈥淲e think the [anti-bullying] bills could lead in that direction.
鈥淲e鈥檙e speaking as a Christian organization making sure we maintain the right to express our viewpoints and not have it muzzled.鈥�
Rep. Edward B. Murray, a Democrat who sponsored the House version of the bill, said he believes the Christian Coalition attacked the bill in part because he is gay and was a sponsor of the measure.
鈥淚鈥檓 sponsoring a bill that deals with school safety, and they think there鈥檚 some sort of hidden agenda here,鈥� Mr. Murray said. 鈥淪uddenly, it becomes my agenda.鈥�
He backed the bill, he said, because of calls he had received from students who stood out from their peers, either because of disabilities or physical differences or because they were lesbian or gay.
鈥淭hey weren鈥檛 just being harassed,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey were being insulted and beat up. Not all of our school districts were dealing with this.鈥�
Rep. Gigi Talcott, the Republican co-chairwoman of the House education committee, blocked the anti-bullying bill from coming up for a vote in April. She downplayed reports that she鈥檇 done so because of concerns over how the law would apply to homosexuality. She said she viewed the measure as unnecessary because schools could already put anti-bullying plans in place.
The Washington legislature has adjourned. But proponents of the anti- bullying measure said there is still a slim chance it would survive because the Senate plans to send the bill to the House one more time during a special session that ends May 24.
Implementation Challenges
Mark V. Joyce, the executive director of the New Hampshire School Administrators Association, said the anti-bullying mandate in his state got bogged down in the implementation stage.
New Hampshire came out with a technical advisory that said schools had to report every incident of bullying, which school administrators found unrealistic, according to Mr. Joyce.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost universal that people are concerned about safety,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut when we pass a piece of legislation, we have to think about how it will practically work in a school environment. If the solution is outside of reality, you鈥檙e going to build resistance.鈥�
Nicholas Donahue, the New Hampshire education commissioner, acknowledged that the state has had some challenges in implementing the law. But he added that he believes it has spurred most school districts to adopt anti-bullying policies.
鈥淲e talk with superintendents and school board members,鈥� Mr. Donahue said. 鈥淔or the most part, what we鈥檝e heard is that the law is cumbersome, that the technical advisory was good but raised some other questions, and 鈥榳e鈥檝e met the letter of the law, and our school board has adopted a policy.鈥� 鈥�
