The state senate thinks every school district in Missouri should have a policy against "cyber-bullying." Simply put, cyber-bullying is being harmful to another person by using electronic means to send hurtful messages to or about them.
School districts are mandated by state law to have anti-bullying policies in place by September first. Kansas City Senator Yvonne Wilson wants to add "cyber bullying" to that requirement. She says national studies describe the severity of the problem. She cites one study saying 90 percent of the nation’s elementary students have gotten their feelings hurt by something appearing on the internet; that 75 percent have visited a website that bashed another student; She says the study also reports 40 percent have lost their passwords to a bully who then has used the passwords to use the site to attack someone else.
Wilson says the same surveys show only 15 percent of the parents know what cyber- bullying is.
The Senate has shot down an effort to require faculty and staff to be educated on the effects of bullying based on race, religion, ancestry and national origin, gender and sexual orientation. Critics charged that provision would lead to teaching kindergarten students about homosexuality, an allegation the sponsor could not rebut.
Wilson’s provision has been added to a major education bill working its way through the senate.
download Bob Priddy’s story (:60 mp3)
