Thursday, January 19, 2012
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
The Ohio Senate over- whelmingly approved legislation Wednesday aimed at combating cyber-bullying among school-children.
House Bill 116 passed by a vote of 31-1 and heads to the Ohio House for concurrence on Senate amendments.
The legislation was titled the Jessica Logan Act, in memory of a teen from the Cincinnati area 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.
“The harassment she endured was so overwhelming and devastating that she took her own life at the age of 18,” said Sen. Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat from Canfield. “Jessica’s tragic story is similar to hundreds of others in the country who have resorted to suicide because of persistent bullying.”
HB 116, sponsored by Rep. John Barnes, a Democrat from the Cleveland area, initially 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.
Cyber-bullying — using the Internet, social-networking sites and other electronic means to harass or intimidate — also would be prohibited on school grounds, on school buses and at bus stops.
“It will not end bullying,” said Sen. Peggy Lehner, a Republican from the Dayton area. “But it will protect some children. And if it keeps any child from suffering the torture that Jessica underwent or saves a child from suicide. ... My hope is that schools will expand upon this policy as it’s written here, as they so choose. There’s nothing that prevents them from doing that.”