Posts Tagged Antibullying

Since the various school shootings in the 1990’s, state anti-bullying legislation has flooded the nation. BullyPolice.org reports that 32 states have passed sufficient legislation, and 7 other states are headed in the same direction. Bullying has been a constant problem that not only touches the student being bullied, but their family and the surrounding community. With this in mind, many states are aiming to pass, or have passed legislation that implements an anti-bullying policy in public schools.

The Education Commission of the States issued a report in 2005 detailing anti-bullying statutes. This report highlighted the need for anti-bullying statutes and the necessary components for an effective statute. Some recommended components included the need for a school to define bullying, prohibit student bullying, enable students to report incidents, provide immunity to those reporting bullying, and require bullying prevention education in schools.

Many states have included all or some of the components mentioned above. The state legislature in Pennsylvania has been working to pass an anti-bullying bill, and most of the surrounding states have already done so. Ohio recently passed anti-bullying legislation in 2006. All have included at least some of the components above in their statutes. One of the most common provisions in the legislation has been the education of students and staff through some sort of training program.

In 2005, there were only 17 states that had anti-bullying statutes; however now there are 32 states that have passed effective anti-bullying legislation. Seven more states are on their way to passing anti-bullying statutes by the end of this year. With such a strong push in only two years, it will not be a long time before all 50 states have adopted anti-bullying statutes.