WILLIAMS CHAMPIONS STUDENT BULLYING PREVENTION

HARRISBURG, SEPT. 26 – State Sen. Connie Williams stood up for student safety today when she successfully amended a bill to strengthen the way Pennsylvania school districts deal with student bullying and intimidation.

Williams amended legislation (SB 71) during a meeting of the Senate Education Committee. The amended bill was unanimously reported out of committee.

"The original language of this bill did not go far enough to protect students," Williams said. "My amendment ensures that all public schools will write, adopt and educate students about student bullying and intimidation prevention policies. Children deserve to feel safe when they are in school. Preventing bullying and intimidation will go a long way toward elevating the level of student safety."

As amended, the legislation draws upon the current school code and state regulations for education, to require public school districts to draft and adopt anti-bullying and anti-intimidation policies, including bullying and intimidation that takes place on the Internet. Schools will be required to regularly revisit the policies every three years to ensure that they are up-to-date and meet the needs of the student population. Under the school code, the Department of Education already has the authority to withhold funds from any Commonwealth appropriation to a school district that fails to file required reports or to abide by rules that relate to student health and safety.

"It is not enough to simply have an anti-bullying policy at a school district," Williams said. "To make a real difference, students, teachers and staff must also be educated about the policy and about the issue of bullying and intimidation and how to prevent it."

Since Williams began efforts to move student bullying and intimidation prevention legislation, she has heard from numerous students and parents who talked about the immediate need for these types of policies and student education requirements in school districts.

"The stories illustrate that student bullying is much more than name calling – it leads to physical violence, truancy and even suicide," Williams said. "Bullying is not a rite of passage – it is a bad behavior that should be stopped. And it is only going to be stopped when school districts work with students and staff to make prevention a priority.

"Rather than simply calling the local police to come to the school for bullying or intimidation that has escalated to a fight or safety threat, wouldn't it be better to recognize that these are children and that steps can be taken to prevent this type of behavior," Williams asked. "If we can stop the behavior through education before it reaches this stage we will create safer school environments for all students, teachers and staff. When schools are safe students are better able to learn."

Williams had introduced legislation (SB 1013) that dealt with student bullying. Much of what was amended into SB 71 drew upon the intent of SB 1013.

 According to Williams, the Senate Education Committee vote was only a first step toward ensuring every public school has a bullying prevention policy in place. The legislation faces a full Senate vote before it advances to the House of Representatives for consideration. If the bill is to become law this year, it must be voted in both chambers before the end of the current two-year legislative session (in November).

 "I've heard from the Governor's office that he supports the language in Senate Bill 71, but unless the bill makes it to his desk in November, then it will be back to the drawing board for this issue in January," Williams said. "Student safety is too important an issue to allow to sit idle for another year. I urge parents and students to write or talk to their state legislators about this issue and urge their legislator to pass Senate Bill 71 this year."