Laws and Statutes Applying to Bullying

WhyaDuck?

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Hi - I thought it would be useful to have a thread that gathers up facts and official docs on bullying in various jurisdictions. What criminal offence categories are applied to bullying? What are lawmakers doing, or do they generally leave it up to school boards? What are the punishments handed out by school boards?

Please post any local regulations/laws/etc from your area so we can start getting a good comparative picture of how this problem is being addressed in our different areas.
 
Ontario's anti-bullying law

BY MATTHEW PEARSON, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
FEBRUARY 26, 2010


The province's new Keeping Our Kids Safe at School legislation, which came into effect Feb. 1, is the first in Canada to require all school staff to report serious student incidents -- including bullying -- to the principal.

Another first in Canada requires principals to contact the parents or guardians of victims.

Under the law, all school board employees must report in writing to their principals incidents that could lead to a student's suspension or expulsion. Principals must contact the parents of victims of these incidents and staff who work directly with students must respond to incidents that have a negative impact on the school climate.

School staff who learn of an incident off school property that will have a negative impact on school climate and could lead to a student being suspended or expelled must report the incident.

Failure of school staff to report a serious incident could be dealt with as a staff discipline problem, consistent with school-board human-resources policies and collective agreements.

More at:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Ontario+anti+bullying/2615809/story.html
 
Florida passed a bullying law almost 2 years ago (http://www.jeffreyjohnston.org/jeffslaw.htm).

1006.147 Bullying and harassment prohibited.--

(1) This section may be cited as the "Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act."

(2) Bullying or harassment of any student or employee of a public K-12 educational institution is prohibited:

(a) During any education program or activity conducted by a public K-12 educational institution;

(b) During any school-related or school-sponsored program or activity or on a school bus of a public K-12 educational institution; or

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes...&Search_String=bullying&URL=CH1006/Sec147.HTM

http://www.jeffreyjohnston.org/jeffslaw.htm

The new law required that all school districts were required to have a bullying policy. gonna try to find the one for my county and post it.
 
This thread made me curious about where I live. I didn't know it but Alabama was a state that entered into a anti bullying law with 44 other states. Not exactly sure what the statutes say or mean, but it is good to know it is there if I or anyone I know might need to be directed towards it.

Alabama bullying law
Called the Student Harassment Prevention Act, which goes into effect Oct. 1, the Alabama law requires the adoption of policies in public school systems to prevent the harassment of students.
The act applies only to student-against-student harassment, intimidation, violence and threats of violence in public schools. Each local board of education will adopt procedural policies, and districts will have until July 1 to establish a policy.
It is also the intent of the law that filing a complaint of harassment be in writing and submitted by the affected student or the parent or guardian of the affected student and not by an education employee on behalf of an affected student. The law applies to pre-K to 12th grade.


Among other things it states that:

: Bully Law took effect October 1 2009
: Until now, there haven't been any legal repercussions from bullying and it's an issue the state has long needed to address, said longtime educator Lisa Moses, of Florence, who said bullying is one area addressed in another new piece of legislation known as Taylor's Law. Under that law, a student's behavior at school, including bullying, can delay the student from acquiring a driver's license.
: Alabama's law covers grades pre-kindergarten through 12th. The sponsor of the bill, State Rep. Betty Carol Graham, D-Alexander City, said the new Alabama law was three years in the making and grew out of the rise in suicides among youth in the state and nation.

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090917/ARTICLES/909175031?Title=Bully-law-takes-effect
 
Thank you for this thread. I hope our country will be passing new laws to protect our students. It is much overdue. Are we an enlightened country or not?
 
Links for CTs bullying laws.....
http://www.cga.ct.gov/coc/bullying.htm
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/rpt/2009-R-0211.htm
http://www.bullypolice.org/ct_law.html

I'm sad to say that these laws did not protect the grandson of a friend of mine. He had been suffering through many occasions of being bullied, which were reported to the school, and the school never did anything to protect this student. He then 'had enough' of being teased, tormented, pushed around (literally) etc. So he pushed back (literally) and HE got suspended! He was so distraught, he was afraid to return to school...... he took his own life the before he was due to return to school, where he would have had to face the bullies. Nothing has been done to reprimand those students..... it's just SO very sad. I looked to see if the story was posted on here, but I couldn't find it.
 

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