Sunday, July 17, 2011
Cyberbullying has Ohio legislatures and local school officials scrambling for a solution.
The Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate both have new bullying legislation in their education committees calling for schools to provide a policy against cyberbullying, which the house bill defines as “harassment, intimidation, or bullying by electronic means.”
The legislation also extends control to public schools to discipline students engaging in such behavior off school property if it disrupts the academic environment. This includes if the actions are not done electronically.
Both bills are called The Jessica Logan Act named after a Cincinnati girl who hanged herself in 2008 after being bullied when her ex-boyfriend sent naked pictures of her to peers from his cell phone.
Belmont High School is already approaching cyberbullying as if the Jessica Long Act were in place.
Belmont Principal David White Belmont handles many Ojio cases. Students log in at home, on school buses, and even during school hours when cell phones are prohibited. Since Facebook pages identify who posts information, he said parents have documentation they can bring to the school for disciplinary action.
“What we tell parents is ‘hit print,’ and that’s all the proof you need,” White said.
Legally giving high schools the ability to punish cyberbullying happening away from school grounds would keep minors from being prosecuted, said Ohio House Rep. Nancy Garland (D-Gahanna) in the bill’s first hearing.
White said this makes sense because cyberbullying is so prevalent among minors that courts would not be able to handle every case.
Schools should stress to students that counselors, principals and teachers are there to help them in these situations.
Children usually feel less comfortable using faculty and staff as resources with age because they don’t want to “nark out” their peers, Shawn Grime, president of the Ohio School Counselor Association.
Fairmont High School contacted Facebook in March to shut down a page called the “Fairmont Stunna,” displaying some of the school’s girls pictures and labeling them with derogatory terms.
The social media company is the only entity with the power to shut down the page, Jim Schoenlein, principle of Kettering City Schools, said.
“Things you put on social networking sites, anything on the computer, they are there forever, you cannot get rid of them,” he said. “We have to educate our students about the dangers of social networking, and we have to educate our parents who can help our kids in that regard.”
The personal detachment of social media encourages cyberbullying because it leaves some kids without skills to deal with human emotion, said Stephanie LoBiondo, chairperson for the American School Counselor Association.
Megan Winston, assistant Principal of Thurgood Marshall High School in Dayton, said parents need to report bullying to schools.
“I think any time a parent feels their child is being bullied whether it’s through a social networking tool, at school, through text messages, parents should feel comfortable coming to school administrators,” Winston said.
LoBiondo said, however that schools only have partial responsibility for handling cyberbullying situations. Parents carry more weight of the issue because they know their child better than a school administrator whose job it is to deal with hundreds of students, she said.
Both Ohio cyberbullying bills require schools to train “teachers, administrators, counselors, nurses, and school psychologists,” to handle cyberbullying even if federal or state governments cannot sponsor it.
Garland, who introduced the bill to the House alongside Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), said schools already are required to provide bullying training to faculty and staff. She said the state has a “model policy” for the instruction, and schools would adhere to the same guidelines for cyberbullying training. She said a state-run organization called eTech, which provides schools free technological programming and support, plans to develop a cyberbullying program for all schools to use for free if the bill passes.
Garland said she hopes for the bill to become law before next school year, but depending on the number of hearings it has, passing the bill could take longer, she said.
Opponents to the senate’s version of the legislation are concerned that giving schools the ability to discipline students engaging in bullying off school property may make them liable to deal with those cases, Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D-Canfield), the bill’s sponsor, said.
The Senate is waiting on court decisions relating to the responsibility of schools to address misconduct occurring off school property before voting to pass the legislation to the senate floor, Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering), the Senate education committee chairperson, said.
Lehner said she is in favor of SB 127.
“This is one of those issues that cuts across partisan lines,” Lehner said. “Obviously there is a tremendous concern for a child who is chronically bullied.”
Only one version of the Jessica Long Act needs to pass for the cyberbullying law to take effect. If the House and Senate both pass their versions, they will consolidate the bills into one law, she said.
“I think (combatting cyberbullying) is a joint effort between the schools and the parents,” Schoenlein said. “And I think that’s the long term key – education – we have to help kids understand.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2188 or crizer@DaytonDailyNews.com.
What can parents do about cyberbullying?
Be proactive:
-Make your child comfortable talking to you about issues by communicating about proper use of technology.
-Learn about the social networking tools to bridge the gap with a tech-savvy generation. Understand social networking privacy settings, and use the technology; “friend” your child on Facebook and know their passwords.
-Approve Facebook “friends” before your child adds them, and screen all profile photos.
-Set boundaries on Internet and cell phone usage.
Be aware:
-Pay attention to changes in how much your child uses technology. Observe differences in their mood after logging off or setting down the phone.
-Take note of changes in your child’s social life. Pay attention if they stop hanging out with the same group of friends.
-Be aware of abnormalities in your child’s grades and school attendance.
-Address health issues, such as headaches and depression.
Sources: Shawn Grime, president, Ohio School Counselor Association; Stephanie LoBiondo, American School Counselor Association; Megan Winston, assistant principal of Thurgood Marshall High School
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