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.