Over the past few months, school bullying — and its sometimes-dire consequences — has garnered media and national attention.
This week, that attention spread to the Obama administration with the first White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, held Thursday.
At the conference, President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Education Arne Duncan and Domestic Policy Adviser Melody Barnes were slated to address students, parents and teachers.
Topics for discussion included in-school policies and programs, community-based programs, cyberbullying and campus-based programs.
Also in the last week, lawmakers at both the state and national level introduced bills to combat bullying in schools.
At the national level, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) introduced the Safe Schools Improvement Act, which would require all school districts that receive federal funding to instate policies to prohibit harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion.
A similar bill was already introduced in the House.
At the state level, Rep. Mike O’Brien (D-175th Dist.) introduced a bill modeled after New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, hailed as the strongest in the nation.
O’Brien’s bill would set up a standard process for handling complaints at the district level, as well as mandating districts to establish a definition of bullying, behavioral code, consequences and remedial actions.
Though O’Brien’s bill doesn’t outline any protected categories, it does allow districts to create more comprehensive policies.
Reportedly, the Senate is also considering introducing a similar bill.
Between the state and national bills, Casey’s legislation takes a stronger stance because it includes both sexual orientation and gender identity.
While the state-level bill has more enforcement provisions, unfortunately it may not have the desired effects — particularly in regard to the LGBT community.
Specifically, the bill would allow school districts to identify protected categories — such as gender identity or expression — or follow the categories already protected at the state level.
The bill would put a reporting mechanism into place, and likely allow legislators to extend protections at some point in the future.
For local students, the School District of Philadelphia has already adopted a comprehensive approach to categories, barring bullying motivated “either by any actual or perceived characteristic, such as gender, age, race, color, sexual orientation (known or perceived), gender identity expression (known or perceived), national origin, religion, disability, socioeconomic status and/or political beliefs.”
In the end, some protection is better than none at all — and a step in the right direction. Let’s hope the politicians can find it in their hearts — and best interests — to protect youth.