The Massachusetts legislature is in the process of debating several bills related to curbing bullying in schools, according to state lawmakers and the Associated Press (AP).
On May 9, the Joint Committee on Education heard House Bill 412, sponsored by Representative Paul Donato and Senator Jarrett Barrios. Both of them are Democrats and have constituents in Medford or Somerville.
This bill, one of about a half-dozen according to the AP, seeks to mandate that each school district's policies and handbooks address "bullying and intimidation procedures."
Filed in December 2006, it is intended to standardize policies dealing with bullying throughout the state. Currently, each district may develop individual policies, but Donato grew concerned with their abilities to confront the issue upon realizing that there are no statewide policies that address it, he said.
"By having the Department of Education put standardization into [law], it will make it so school districts will understand that there are certain ways to handle [bullying] ... and what the procedures are," Donato said.
He said that the bill is especially important given the grave dangers bullying can pose in schools. He cited the shootings at Columbine High School and the Jan. 19 fatal stabbing of a freshman student at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury, Mass. as examples of the tragic outcomes of bullying.
Donato said he expects the Joint Committee on Education to "discharge the bill favorably" and the legislature to begin discussion of it on the floor shortly. Other legislation on the topic is also being considered by politicians.
Republican Senator Scott Brown, a member of the Joint Committee on Education, is looking to add to the Barrios-Donato bill and has submitted legislation regarding cyber-bullying.
"I was concerned about the cyber aspect of [bullying]," he said. "Between MySpace[.com], Facebook[.com], IMs, there's a certain feeling of invincibility where kids feel they can rip to shreds an individual."
Brown said his district has suffered six recent suicides, and that kids ganging up on others has been a factor. Concerned parents have contacted Brown, saying cyber-bullying is "rampant," he said.
Brown's proposed legislation would give superintendents the ability to sidestep the traditional legal process and take off of school and town servers postings that take the "form of hazing, bullying, threats, intimidation," and "refer [them] to local law enforcement if it rose to the appropriate level." He said this legislation is still in the committee process and it is too early to determine when it might come to the floor.
Another piece of legislation, House Bill 453, is co-sponsored by Republican Representative Bradford Hill and Democratic Representative Antonio Cabral and seeks to amend the General Laws by stipulating that "each public school district shall promulgate and implement a safe school plan. The plan shall state specific policies in effect designed to prevent bullying from occurring."
The bill also says that school districts must have policies in place for punishing students who bully others, and prescribes that schools must report incidents to the superintendent, who in turn will report to the state's Department of Education. The reports will be made available to the public annually.
According to the AP, these various bills and proposals have left some concerned about infringing on free speech. Bruce Caley of Quincy, Mass. said that the definition given in House Bill 453, which names as bullying "any written or verbal expression or physical act or gesture or a pattern of behavior intended to cause emotional distress," is too vague, according to the AP.
"I think we really have to put something in these bills about free speech," Caley said, as quoted in the AP. "We shouldn't have any bullying at all, for any reason. It's just that we should consider whatever ramifications these bills would have."
Tufts' Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said that it is difficult to legislate broad social issues such as bullying, and that courts in the past have struck down legislation that is too broad, vague or ill-defined.
"It seems like a very difficult challenge they've set for themselves," he said.
Yet school administrators and lawmakers interviewed said that freedom of speech does not protect against bullying.
"If your free speech insults another person, then it isn't right. Especially in a school," Loren Gomez, a psychologist at the Brooks Elementary School in Medford, said. "There should be some limits on what people can say."
Gomez said the legislation is a good effort by lawmakers to ensure that all schools have plans and policies in place for dealing with bullying, but that "a good school should be doing these things anyway."
Sherry Barbour, a health aid at Aragon High School in San Mateo, Ca., said that, "Freedom of expression stops when you're hurting another person. When you're infringing on their right, then your right needs to be limited. I think bullying falls in that category."
According to Barbour, determining what is causing the bullying and attempting to arrange a meeting between those involved is usually very helpful.
"We have a very strict policy about not bullying at school. When it happens, if the person being bullied will report it ... we deal with it straight on," she said. Bullying, according to Barbour, may be more physical at the high school level than it is at younger ages, but older students have the capacity to empathize with the victim and have a productive dialogue.
She said that legislating against bullying at the state level "may be taking it too far," but that it has the potential to bring positive changes to schools that do not yet have a strong system in place to deal with problematic behavior.
At Tufts, Reitman said officials do not deal with the so-called schoolyard bullying per se, but that other concerns arise among older students.
"Once you get to Tufts, what was bullying is talked about in terms of assault or harassment or bias incidents," he said. "You use different vocabulary and think about things in different ways ... though I suppose it can be very similar sorts of behavior."
Reitman said the heated debates on campus sparked by the publication of controversial content in The Primary Source are an example of important discussions of the boundaries of freedom of speech and what expression may be punishable.
Still, Donato said he is not worried that free speech concerns will hinder the advancement of his bill. He said that at the May 9 hearing, "Nobody ... was talking about free speech. I think most of the people thought it was okay."
Brown said that preserving freedom of speech is a significant concern and that it may be for the courts to decide if this right is extended to bullying.
"When speech becomes hateful and threatening and it leads to intimidation and bullying, that may supersede someone's First Amendment Right," he said. "I don't think there is a right that you're given that allows you to do those things."
