Local girl tells Ohio lawmakers about bullying

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

Dara Genovese recounted the bullying she has been subjected to since first grade, initially at a private school and later at the public school in Boardman that she now attends.

The 13-year-old told lawmakers Tuesday about physical and verbal abuse and harassment that has taken place on school grounds and ugly messages directed at her via cellphones and online social networks.

“I’ll put my knife in your ... windpipe,” one individual wrote in a post on the latter.

“There’s times when I don’t even want to wake up or get out of bed because I know what the day is going to be filled with,” the seventh-grader said. “There’s many times of frustration and sadness. All a 13-year-old girl wants is a normal life with friends and laughter.”

Genovese provided testimony Tuesday before the Senate’s Education Committee on Senate Bill 127, legislation sponsored by Sen. Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat from Canfield, to curb cyberbullying — harassment via the Internet or electronic devices, such as cellphones.

Among other provisions, the legislation would require schools to include cyberbullying in their anti-harassment policies and to train teachers and staff to better understand how to handle the issue. It also would give them more authority to discipline students who harass other students away from school grounds.

“Victims once could seek solitude from bullies when the bell rang but now are confronted with relentless attacks online,” said Shawn Grime, a counselor at Bryan High School in northwest Ohio and president of the Ohio School Counselor Association. “The ability to cyberbully often is made easier because hiding behind a monitor and screen name has given students greater courage to speak hateful words and do hurtful things they would never do in person.”

Senate Bill 127 has been titled the Jessica Logan Act, in memory of a teen who committed suicide in July 2008 after being subjected to in-school and online bullying after a nude photo of her was circulated at her school.

“This must pass,” an emotional Cynthia Logan, mother of the teen, told lawmakers. “It has to pass. It’s not going to help my child, but our youths are our future. We have to teach them to respect one another. This is an outrage. This was preventable. It should have never happened.”

Toni Genovese, whose daughter has been subjected to cyberbullying in Boardman, said existing state law provides little authority or incentive for school officials to do anything about online harassment.

“The schools must be held accountable, as our children are in their care at least 35 hours every week,” she said.