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dannno
12-30-2008, 10:54 PM
http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=9598017




School bullying law takes effect January 1, 2009, includes tougher stance on cyberbullying

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Reported by: Stacy Daniel

With the dawn of the Internet, school bullying has reached a new level: cyberspace.

11-year-old Telsa Burnett said, "One of my friends actually had a really bad rumor spread over the Internet about her."

Now, bullies don't just strike on the school playground. Students send threats through text messages and other forms of technology.

Orcutt teen Austin Skaggs said, "There's a lot of bullying. It's getting pretty intense."

A new law that goes into effect on January 1 gives schools the power to suspend or expel a student whose caught using the Internet or any other form of technology to bully or harass another schoolmate.

Lawmakers say bullying on or off school campuses will not be tolerated, and this new law is one extra tool that will help protect kids from bullies.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said, "We need to send a clear message that we have a zero tolerance policy for any and all bullies on our school campuses and in our community."

Parents said this law has been a long time coming, and students agree.

Burnett said, "I think it will be a really good law, because it's really sad to see or hear that people have been bullied over the phone or the Internet."

Parent Carol Cummings said, "It's really scary when they have to go to school and all they think about is, 'Am I going to get harassed?' and everything, and you can watch their grades go down. You can watch their attitudes change. It's scary. It sad. It really is."

Action News talked with some students who said nothing can be done about bullies. It's just part of real life.

But lawmakers said it's time that kind of thinking stops.

TastyWheat
12-31-2008, 02:23 AM
Hmm, seems a tad excessive but I think individual schools should be able to make these decisions. Cyber-bullying or real bullying don't really have a place in school, but they're not the same thing either. Whether or not you're in class you shouldn't have the right to beat up other kids on school property. Spreading rumors and threats over the internet or through texts is nothing in comparison and it isn't nearly as disruptive.

When you grow up you're much less likely to get beat up by co-workers or business rivals, but slander and hateful language never really disappears.

dannno
12-31-2008, 02:31 AM
I just imagine the following text conversation taking place:


Eric: Did you finish all your finals yet?


John: Yep, I'm done :)


Eric: Oh man, you suck!!




And having Eric getting expelled from school for their zero tolerance cyber bullying policy.



And ya.. seems like the schools should already be able to handle this to a certain extent where it is reasonable to do so..

akihabro
01-03-2009, 01:28 AM
I can see the intent of these laws. Hmm more internet regulation for students. I'm sure a lot of students will complain about lack of privacy. I got bullied a bit in school. I still remember his name. I want to look him up and laugh at him. I'm sure he became a gang member or got incarcerated. I know it sucks but kids need to be taught to fend for themselves or ignore it.

gaazn
01-04-2009, 12:10 PM
some state had a law against creating a fake profile on the internet. aren't most profiles on the internet fake???

nicholascoppola
02-23-2009, 04:56 PM
"Kids say its a part of life. Lawmakers say its time for that kind of thinking to stop."

Of course you cannot stop it. If lawmakers really think they can get rid of bullying completely, they must be really ignorant to the real world.

GBurr
02-23-2009, 05:12 PM
The biggest problem with this is the definition of bullying. I am a senior at a conservative Christian school and our handbook says shunning is a form of bullying. The definition is never enforced because it is stupid and not very practical, but it is still part of the definition.

I'd love to see a fourth grade teacher giving a bunch of ten year olds a suspension because they won't play nice or "be friends" with another kid.

I had an elementary teacher that used to always tell us that we were all friends. What a joke.

Here's a solution. If someone is bullying you through excessive harassment at school tell the teacher and they will handle through whatever classroom discipline system they have.

How exactly does someone bully you on the internet?

You can block people on social networking sites and IM. You don't have to open emails. How do they bully you? In order for people to have freedom of speech they must be able to say bad things as well as good things.

As a student I would love to hear more opinions about this.

ItsTime
02-23-2009, 05:13 PM
The government owns your child even outside of school and public school are their chains.

SimpleName
02-24-2009, 05:09 PM
More school encroachment into the students' personal lives. YAY! Good intentions and all, but come on! If the kid is doing something legally wrong such as stealing an identity, then that can be dealt with in civil courts or something. Excessive laws don't help anyone. People just do not realize that bullying is not going to go away. I know from personal experience that these programs are not effective as all. Fines and imprisonment are the only things that will deter such activity. I have actually seen that work. Nonetheless, such punishments will not work before high school level as it will wind up being more a fine of the parent due to the fact that younger kids can't work (child labor laws strike again). I wish people would teach their kids to just deal with these things instead of making the kid suffer. I had to learn the hard way instead of just being woken up to reality earlier in life.

In addition, compulsory schooling fuels bullying and fighting as it forces many people that would live in harmony in the world apart from each other (hope you understand what I mean), but are instead forced together 180 days a week for 6 hours a day over a 13 year time span. The best bully-busting method...ELIMINATE compulsory schooling and allow competition. Think of Carmen on George Lopez's show. She was harassed every day due to a form of "bullying" and the family decided to send her to a private school where she was much better off. If only everyone had that ability with a greater variety of choice.

Kludge
02-24-2009, 05:21 PM
Yup. This has already been pretty common policy for schools for a while.

No aspirin, no chat rooms, no forks (plastic sporks are still OK), no vulgarities, no "distracting" clothes (political messages included), no alcohol, no tobacco, no hats, no obnoxiously large sweaters, no touching of any kind (especially by teachers), no criticism (rubriks must be in place to deflect blame, so that teachers can say "If I ignored the rubrik for you, I'd have to ignore it for everyone"), no flash drives (diskettes are still OK :rolleyes:), no cell phones, absolutely NO discussion of politics, ethics, or religion (evolution can be taught, but teachers are not to express any opinion on the matter), no "controversial" books ("The Great Gatsby" was lucky to be admitted), no grinding at the dances... -- It's a goddam prison!

andrewh817
03-30-2009, 09:14 PM
This is such a joke. What constitutes bullying? What does the law say if you stay signed in at someone else's house and they use your account for slander?? How do they expect to enforce this without severe internet regulation??

Simple solution...... stop talking to the bully!!! Myspace and Facebook (I assume) have blocking features, private profiles, and if all else fails use the magical X button.

Also Dannno, you're the first person I've seen on these forums from SLO county or Santa Maria.

DamianTV
03-30-2009, 11:55 PM
Its vauge for a reason. Care to guess what that reason is?

akihabro
03-31-2009, 02:26 AM
Yup. This has already been pretty common policy for schools for a while.

No aspirin, no chat rooms, no forks (plastic sporks are still OK), no vulgarities, no "distracting" clothes (political messages included), no alcohol, no tobacco, no hats, no obnoxiously large sweaters, no touching of any kind (especially by teachers), no criticism (rubriks must be in place to deflect blame, so that teachers can say "If I ignored the rubrik for you, I'd have to ignore it for everyone"), no flash drives (diskettes are still OK :rolleyes:), no cell phones, absolutely NO discussion of politics, ethics, or religion (evolution can be taught, but teachers are not to express any opinion on the matter), no "controversial" books ("The Great Gatsby" was lucky to be admitted), no grinding at the dances... -- It's a goddam prison!

A few I remember but a few never were in place. Its been a long time since I was in school. My school would ban Raiders jerseys, excessively large white t-shirts and all Dickies pants. That style was the preferred gang member style. I guess they were afraid it would intimidate students or they wanted to show that gangs weren't part of the school. Of course the student population knew who was the gang bangers. When did hardcore gang members actually attend school anyway? No excessive amount of red or blue. I easily saw the holes in this one. So the white kid with straight A's couldn't wear Dickies because his blue collar dad wears the same stuff?
I can see the disturbance in the cellphones. Just turn them off or set to vibrate in class.
Don't worry a total ban would help ensure another Columbine.
absolutely NO discussion of politics, ethics, or religion (evolution can be taught, but teachers)
Really? I don't think I remember this one. I guess I forgot its not about learning and forming opinions through discussion its forced indoctrination.
It sure felt like a prison. My high school was in not such a good area. Parts of the fence had barbed wire. Barbed wire! So would it be the terrorists who are dying to break in and cause havoc or the anti-statists dying to get out they are trying to stop?

Kludge
03-31-2009, 04:11 AM
I can see the disturbance in the cellphones. Just turn them off or set to vibrate in class.

Unacceptable. No electronics at all.

1) They're expensive, and no one wants to deal with some kid bitching to the school that their iPhone was stolen and demands it back. (Theft may also lead to unwarranted violence)

2) You could cheat with them -- especially if they have a web browser. There's one teacher per 25-30 students, and the school has thus far resisted installing surveillance cameras (and metal detectors). There's simply too high of a risk that a student may undermine the standardized education so loved in the United States.

3) As happens in classes where this rule isn't enforced, students will often text each other about how bored they are, and we all know where boredom leads... Hell.

4) Speaking of Hell, think of all the legal problems that could arise if one student brushed up against another and the phone "vibrated" him/her.

idiom
03-31-2009, 11:55 AM
Shouldn't we just give the bullied students guns? They seem to obtain them eventually anyway.

coyote_sprit
03-31-2009, 04:15 PM
If I tell a random person on Stickam that there life has no value and the world would be better off without them does that constitute bullying? Even if it does I'm gonna continue doing it.

Kludge
03-31-2009, 04:21 PM
If I tell a random person on Stickam that there life has no value and the world would be better off without them does that constitute bullying? Even if it does I'm gonna continue doing it.

That's terrible. I do hope you won't....

coyote_sprit
03-31-2009, 04:25 PM
That's terrible. I do hope you won't....

I won't say to kill themselves but some Stickam people annoy the hell out of me.

Kludge
03-31-2009, 04:39 PM
I won't say to kill themselves but some Stickam people annoy the hell out of me.

Then.... Why are you over there?

coyote_sprit
03-31-2009, 04:53 PM
Then.... Why are you over there?

Because they are fun to mess with.

akihabro
04-01-2009, 10:21 PM
Unacceptable. No electronics at all.

1) They're expensive, and no one wants to deal with some kid bitching to the school that their iPhone was stolen and demands it back. (Theft may also lead to unwarranted violence)

2) You could cheat with them -- especially if they have a web browser. There's one teacher per 25-30 students, and the school has thus far resisted installing surveillance cameras (and metal detectors). There's simply too high of a risk that a student may undermine the standardized education so loved in the United States.

3) As happens in classes where this rule isn't enforced, students will often text each other about how bored they are, and we all know where boredom leads... Hell.

4) Speaking of Hell, think of all the legal problems that could arise if one student brushed up against another and the phone "vibrated" him/her.

This is exactly the nanny state kids need to learn early to survive without.
Your iPhone got jacked...sorry bud would should have taken karate or held onto it firmer

Cheating is possible...If kids want to cheat on tests they will find all the shortcuts in life and will thus suffer in the long run. Unless they are well contrived ones.

School can be boring...that's public schools for you.

I can't believe some of the absurd cases that are actually taken up in court these days. This is an intro to the world...things are not going to go your way.