A Senate panel voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward an anti-bullying bill that now also prohibits cyber harassment in schools. Members of the Senate Education Committee made a number of changes to the bill (HB 116) that is now named after Jessica Logan, an Ohio student who committed suicide in 2008 after being the victim of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is harassment that occurs via electronic means, such as over the Internet or via a mobile phone. The bill initially faced hurdles in committee as lawmakers questioned whether schools had the authority to intervene in bullying that happens after school hours and off school grounds. The bills' sponsors maintained that schools should have the ability to act when the harassment affects a students' schoolwork or willingness to come to school. The substitute bill originally sponsored by Rep. John Barnes (D-Cleveland) requires Ohio schools to provide age-appropriate education on their anti-bullying policies and to also send a copy of the policy home to parents.

 

Sen. Schiavoni said the substitute version he offered Tuesday would add cyber bullying to the definition of bullying in statute and require teachers to be educated about cyber bullying during in-service training that covers harassment." Over the last several months we have been able to make a lot of progress in protecting our children from cyber bullying," Sen. Schiavoni said in a release. It would also require students to be notified of the policy annually by written or verbal means. Schools must also allow victims or others reporting an incident of bullying to do so anonymously and prohibit students from making false reports, he said. A school bus would also be included as a place where harassment, intimidation and bullying would be prohibited, and the word "guilty" has been changed to "responsible" when referring to a person who has perpetrated such harassment. Sen. Schiavoni said the bill could save lives. "In today's technological world, the bullying does not stop when a student leaves the classroom," he said. "Texting, Twitter and Facebook have all allowed for bullying on a mass, nearly constant scale that makes it easier for students to bully and harder for educators and administrators to do their jobs." An additional amendment Mr. Schiavoni included in the bill removed a reference that the bullying prohibited must be based on a trait of a student. "Instead of saying that the bullying must be based on an actual or perceived trait or characteristic of the student, it will just note that it must cause mental or physical harm in a sufficiently severe or consistent or pervasive (way) that creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for the student," he said during the committee meeting," he said.

Cheri Walter, CEO of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities, submitted written testimony in favor of maintaining the "actual or perceived trait or characteristic" language that calls on schools to list the characteristics protected. "While we would like to believe that all students will be protected without having to enumerate such behavior, the truth is that there are some areas where bullying behavior is only actively addressed if clear legal precedent is known to trigger legal responsibilities for schools under civil rights laws," she wrote, adding current legal precedent protects against bullying on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability and religion.

Sen. Bill Coley (R-Middletown) amended the measure to allow schools to deliver the bullying policy to parents by electronic means. He also added a rider that fixes a loophole in the Forever Buckeye Program, which allows Ohio high school graduates who leave the state to return to Ohio and pay the in-state resident tuition rate at a college or university. Mr. Coley said students who had received their diplomas through home schooling in Ohio had inadvertently been excluded from the Forever Buckeye Program and the amendment would remedy that. Mr. Coley justified the addition by saying bullying does not end in high school and can continue into college. "Sometimes when people get to college and they happen to have been home schooled, some people get bullied," he said.