Legislature(2005 - 2006)BUTROVICH 205
05/05/2006 02:00 PM Senate HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HJR36 | |
| HB467 | |
| HB482 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HJR 36 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | HB 467 | ||
| = | HB 482 | ||
HB 482-SCHOOL:BULLYING/HARASSMENT/INTIMIDATION
CHAIR FRED DYSON announced HB 482 to be up for consideration.
Before the committee was CSHB 482(JUD).
2:47:30 PM
CRYSTAL NOVOTNEY, Staff to Representative Tom Anderson,
paraphrased the following sponsor statement.
HB 482 addresses a growing problem in our schools that is
often overlooked by teachers and administrators. Bullying
has a truly negative effect on the social environment of
schools and on the emotional and mental well being of our
children, the students in these schools.
Recent studies suggest that bullying creates a climate of
fear among students, inhibits their ability to learn, and
leads to other anti-social behavior, such as vandalism,
shoplifting, skipping and dropping out of school, fighting,
and the use of drugs and alcohol. Sixty percent of the
males studied who were bullies in grades six through nine
were convicted of at least one crime as an adult. Thirty
five to forty percent of these former bullies had three or
more convictions by 24 years of age. Only 15 of the 53
school districts in Alaska have made an attempt to address
the bullying issue. With the increase in students in Alaska
today, there is a growing need to ensure the safety of our
children's learning environment.
HB 482 requires school districts, city and borough offices
of education, law enforcement agencies, and youth-serving
agencies to develop and implement interagency strategies on
bullying and harassment.
Currently 21 states have some sort of anti-bullying law,
and another 24 states are in the process of adopting
similar legislation.
You'll note in your packets endorsement letters by the
National Education Association (NEA), Alaska Network on
Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, Boys and Girls Clubs,
and Allan Morotti, Department Chair of University of Alaska
Fairbanks School of Education.
Bullying is a problem everywhere, even in Alaska - and its
causes and effects cannot be overlooked. This bill gives
not only teachers and administration officials the tools to
deal with such a growing issue, but also allows for input
from parents, guardians, students and concerned members of
the community in the development of a comprehensive
bullying policy.
Successful programs to recognize, prevent, and effectively
intervene in bullying behavior have improved safety and
create a more inclusive learning environment. Some of the
possible programs may include in-service training programs
and other activities to improve school attendance and
reduce school crime and violence. HB 482 is targeted to
reduce vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse, gang membership,
gang violence, hate crimes, bullying, teen relationship
violence, and discrimination and all harassment, including
sexual harassment, in grades K-12.
Representative Anderson urges your support of this
important legislation.
2:51:32 PM
CHAIR DYSON asked whether it is the sponsor's and her position
that some or many school districts are not addressing this
issue.
MS. NOVOTNEY said yes, bullying is such an emotional and
disturbing act that students don't feel they have the power to
stand up unless they know for sure that they will be supported.
CHAIR DYSON restated his question.
MS. NOVOTNEY answered she believes the school districts are not
adequately addressing the issue.
CHAIR DYSON referenced page 3, and asked if immunity from
lawsuits is important.
MS. NOVOTNEY said yes. The 21 states that have passed anti-
bullying legislation have included a provision for immunity from
suit. It's necessary so that the people who have witnessed and
reported bullying will not be sued.
CHAIR DYSON questioned whether the Good Samaritan laws aren't
adequate.
MS. NOVOTNEY replied according to reading she has done, the Good
Samaritan law has not been applied.
2:54:52 PM
SENATOR DONNY OLSON mentioned the spectrum of pecking order and
bullying and asked if it isn't just a process of growing up.
MS. NOVOTNEY said certainly there is a pecking order, but
there's a difference between getting picked on and being
severely and pervasively bullied. It's a very different matter
when a child is scared to go to school because they're afraid
for their life.
2:56:58 PM
SENATOR OLSON said everyone is bullied at some time or another
and he doesn't necessarily believe that behavior problems in
later life are the result. He expressed the view that people
need to be able to cope with such problems.
MS. NOVOTNEY referenced the recent planned shooting at North
Pole. One of the students explained the behavior by saying that
students and teachers had picked on them. HB 482 is trying to
prevent students getting to the point that they take up weapons
as a way to retaliate.
SENATOR OLSON reiterated that everyone is picked on when they
are growing up.
2:58:59 PM
CHAIR DYSON noted that several school districts don't favor the
legislation, but don't want to testify. His sense is that
they're afraid of lawsuits if this were to be in statute. He
asked Ms. Novotney to comment.
MS. NOVOTNEY replied she understands the concern, but she hasn't
heard any forthright opposition. She noted that lawsuits have
been filed when schools didn't make an effort to stop bullying.
SENATOR GARY WILKEN mentioned the concept of local control and
said this type of legislation is disturbing because it presumes
that the legislature knows more than local school boards. This
is one-size-fits-all legislation designed to fix a problem that
may or may not exist in a particular school district. He
expressed the view that the bill is well intentioned, but it may
not do anything other than put in place an unwanted and
unnecessary bureaucracy. Even if the school district believes it
is necessary, it may want to address the issue in a different
manner.
3:02:38 PM
CHAIR DYSON opened public testimony.
3:02:49 PM
KATIE SINGLETON, Bye-Bye Bullies, Anchorage, said HB 482 is
important and should pass. The recent incident in North Pole
demonstrates that bullying exists even in very small schools.
She understands that the North Pole 7th graders who were
involved in the plot were "bully victims," which is a term for
victims who became bullies themselves because they had no other
coping skills. Experts on the issue have proven that children
who are taught to deal with bullying can change a school's
culture such that it is clear that bullying and harassment are
not tolerated. In addition the new skills can serve the children
well when they become adults. Just as Ms. Novotney said,
bullying is negative for everyone. That includes victims,
perpetrators, bystanders and teachers.
Schools should be held responsible for student safety, she said.
Although many schools have anti-bullying policies, poor policies
are useless to harmful if the victims are punished under the
zero tolerance policies.
MS. SINGLETON said bullies do turn on their schools using
vandalism and lethal violence, which is what happened in North
Pole, Bethel, and Columbine.
North Pole recently adopted a well-known research-based anti-
bullying program that appears to be working since it was a
student-bystander who alerted officials of the violent plot. It
has been proven that research-based programs do reduce school
violence and dropout rates, which can save money in the long
run. Teachers, students, and parents benefit in a culture that
is intolerant of bullying.
3:06:04 PM
DENNIS MALONEY, Attorney, Anchorage, described litigation he was
involved in regarding a bullying case in Anchorage. In that
instance a bright young man was repeatedly and severely bullied
up until he hanged himself. That is the end of the spectrum that
most people don't hear about, he said. Certainly there will
always be some teasing, but bullying is more than that. It's an
attempt to gain power and ego enrichment by belittling another
and it tends to spread. An Anchorage survey indicated that 10
percent of the middle school students are afraid to go to
school. Anti-bullying programs have been shown to reduce school
violence by 75 percent within three years of implementation, he
said.
CHAIR DYSON asked him to address the way this bill will solve
the problem.
MR. MALONEY said HB 482 is the first step in assessing how much
bullying is going on. If administrators and others don't know
what is going on, there is no hope for preventative action.
CHAIR DYSON told Mr. Maloney that the committee is time limited
and he was preaching to the choir.
MR. MALONEY said that reporting and encouraging reporting would
put these issues on the table. It will allow people to identify
bullying behavior and give the community an understanding of
what bullying really is. This will help save the egos and lives
of many children.
3:10:59 PM
CHAIR DYSON mentioned the issue of reprisal and immunity and
asked if people aren't adequately covered under existing state
statute.
MR. MAHONEY said he didn't believe so. The Good Samaritan law
helps in instances of injury, but it doesn't provide immunity
from suits for slander, for instance.
3:12:53 PM
MARGIE KURZBARD, private citizen, Fairbanks, said she has been
working as a trainer in the Fairbanks North Star Borough schools
to help prevent bullying in schools. Currently 13 schools in the
district have undergone training and have dedicated resources to
make schools a safer place. However, a major problem, and the
reason she supports the legislation is that teachers and others
are afraid the administration won't be supportive. She described
it as a top down phenomena and said it won't work if teachers
don't have legal, social and administrative support.
MS. KURZBARD agreed with Senator Wilken that most schools are
addressing bullying in some way, but it has to be done
effectively. If the children who report and those who are
victimized aren't adequately supported and protected they will
stop reporting altogether. It's important that schools receive
adequate administrative, social and legislative support when
they address the issue of bullying so they can take good care of
the kids.
CHAIR DYSON asked Ms. Kurzbard to let him know if she ever
conducted training in Anchorage because he would like to attend.
3:15:58 PM
CHAIR DYSON closed the public hearing.
SENATOR KIM ELTON spoke in favor of the bill saying it offers
the opportunity to have a structured environment to deal with
bullying or harassment complaints. Last year he helped his
school deal with a difficult issue that was made more so because
people didn't know how to start. Although administrators and
teachers understood what was happening, a lot of time was wasted
in deciding how to deal with the problem. That would have been
avoided if there had been a structure, he said.
SENATOR ELTON suggested there's a larger problem here and one
that's harder to diagnose, so the reporting requirements in the
bill might be very helpful. Noting the high dropout rate in the
local high school, he said it's correlated to a certain socio-
economic strata and he would suspect that lots of students don't
go to school because of behaviors exhibited toward them. He
further speculated that a number of students are home schooled
because families don't know how to deal with the issue even
though they might not be the best type of family to provide home
schooling. The decision to home school may be made because of
fears the child has rather than for academic reasons.
Certainly this bill isn't the total solution, but it is a good
idea and it will help those who are bullied and those who are
bullies. To be pulled aside in a structured environment and
informed of the result of a destructive behavior strengthens the
culture of the school and makes it easier to educate children,
he said.
SENATOR GREEN expressed concern that the bill had no fiscal
note.
3:20:35 PM
MS. NOVATNEY explained that there was a fiscal note initially,
but the language in Section 14.33.200(c) was changed to be
permissive, which zeroed out the fiscal note. With regard to
reporting incidents, she said school districts are already
providing the information to the House and Senate.
SENATOR GREEN questioned why this is being put in statute.
MS. NOVATNEY explained that bullying is not specifically
included in the section that addresses procedures for dealing
with harassment or other events that result in suspension or
expulsion.
CHAIR DYSON stated that he believes bullying is a huge problem
and it seems as though something is going on in our culture that
is desensitizing people to brutality and the impact it has on
others.
3:22:46 PM
CHAIR DYSON asked whether there was any objection to moving the
bill. There was no objection stated and CSHB 482(JUD) was
reported from the Senate Health, Education and Social Services
Standing Committee.
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