Bullying bill attracts Rs and Ds

COLUMBUS

A bill to cut down on the amount of bullying in Ohio schools may be proof that Ohio lawmakers can work together to get things done.

House Bill 116 moved out of the Senate Education Committee and awaits a floor vote after the Republicans in charge of the chamber worked with the Democratic sponsors to combine contents of a couple of bills into one.

The result isn’t exactly what Sen. Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat from Canfield, had envisioned when he first introduced legislation to combat cyber bullying — the use of the Internet, social networking sites and other electronic means while off of school grounds to harass or intimidate schoolmates.

But the final product appears to be a step in the right direction.

“I know the bill does not contain everything that everyone would like it to contain,” said Sen. Peggy Lehner, a Republican from the Dayton area who serves as chairwoman of the Senate committee that considered the bill. “However, I think we now have a piece of legislation that is going to [provide a] greater opportunity to protect our kids in all circumstances.

In its original form, HB 116, sponsored by Rep. John Barnes, a Democrat from the Cleveland area, required annual notifications of schools’ bullying policies to be provided to parents and twice-annual notifications to students.

The Senate amended the bill to add parts of separate legislation sponsored by Schiavoni, requiring such policies to include information about cyber bullying, in addition to covering the topic during teacher in-service training sessions.

School grounds

Cyber bullying also would be prohibited on school grounds, on school buses and at bus stops.

“I think the fact that we’re going to send home bullying and cyber bullying policies to parents, that keeps the parents in the equation,” Schiavoni said, adding, “I think it does widen and broaden the spectrum of what is considered bullying in schools.”

HB 116 was renamed 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.

Excluded from the final bill were provisions that would have enabled schools to discipline students for participating in cyber bullying while off of school grounds — something many lawmakers believed would be difficult to administer.

But what’s left is legislation, sponsored by Democrats in a Republican-controlled legislature, that should bolster schools’ efforts to stop kids from bullying one another.

And it was accomplished without the kinds of partisan shenanigans that both parties have, at times, employed.

“There was a lot of give and take, there was a lot of negotiation,” Schiavoni said. “It turned out pretty well.”

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.