Bullies in Congress must stop beating up on Safe Schools bill

Bullying and cyberbullying in U.S. schools pack a mean punch on America’s youth. Consider these findings:

American schools harbor approximately 2.1 million bullies and 2.7 million of their victims, according to the National School Safety Center.

About 168,000 students skip school every day out of fear of attack or intimidation by other students, according to the National Education Association.

Students who are bullied are more likely to use alcohol and drugs, receive poor grades, have lower self-esteem, more health problems and serious suicidal tendencies, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In short, bullying in school hallways or in cyberspace has become recognized as a dangerous national epidemic. Its reduction demands attention from all levels of government.

Fortunately, action to bash bullying has accelerated in local communities as public school districts have drafted their own action plans. In Boardman, for example, teachers, counselors and others undergo bullying-prevention training, and school computers block online conduits for cyberbulling.

At the state level, progress has been aggressive as well. Gov. John Kasich earlier this year signed the Jessica Logan Act, sponsored by state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, a staunch anti-bullying advocate The new law requires that public-school policies prohibit bullying by traditional and electronic means, addresses acts that occur off school property and requires staff training on the bullying policy.

INTRANSIGENCE IN WASHINGTON

But on the federal level, disappointment, inaction and intransigence rule the day. How else explain the foot-dragging and mean-spirited resolve by so many in Congress — mostly congressional Republicans – to ignore the urgent need to pass The Safe Schools Improvement Act?

That bill establishes a uniform and promising battle plan to combat bullying. It calls on districts that receive federal funds to adopt codes of conduct that specifically prohibit bullying or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation and perceived or actual gender identity.

The current form of the legislation was introduced last year in the Senate by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and in the House by U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., (with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, as a co-sponsor). Just last Friday, President Obama strongly endorsed it. But like its counterparts in earlier sessions of Congress, this version of The Safe Schools Improvement Act has been stonewalled in committee.

Some vocal Republicans decry it as an example of federal encroachment over local control of public schools. They conveniently ignore the growing impact of federal dollars to supplement strained local school-district budgets.

Others vilify the bill and the related Student Nondiscrimination Act as means to promote homosexuality and to push a pro-gay curricula because it includes sexual orientation as one of the many protected groups.

False charges

Sen. Casey rightly retorts: “These charges are, of course, false. The legislation would not affect curriculum. The only goals are to help ensure that every child receives a quality education that builds self-confidence and that no child is so afraid to go to school for fear of unchecked bullying and harassment.”

Such was the case for former Boardman middle-school student Dara Genovese who recounted the bullying she endured before a state panel last year considering Schiavoni’s legislation.

“I’ll put my knife in your ... windpipe,” was written in one cyberbullying post to the victim. “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,” she said.

As long as some in Congress continue to ignore the pleas of Dara and those of thousands of bullying victims like her, fair-minded Americans will continue to wonder whether the true bullies in the Safe Schools controversy are those congressmen beating down any and all efforts to grant victims one solid layer of protection.