Measures target school bullying

BOISE – Tom Trail was targeted by a bully in elementary school.

Pete Nielsen’s grandchild experienced harassment so intense the sheriff’s department got involved.

Wendy Jaquet was shocked when two students who reportedly threatened to shoot other students couldn’t be charged with a crime because the names of their potential targets were unknown and they had no weapons.

Now, the three Idaho lawmakers have introduced legislation to stop bullies and make sure the worst harassment does not go unpunished.

Public school representatives in North Idaho welcomed the bills.

“What we have in place works,” Ramsey Elementary School Principal Ann Walker said. “(But) sometimes our hands get tied. If legislation is done appropriately, I think it can be to the benefit of the school.”

Student-to-student harassment could be considered an infraction under HB 750 whether it be verbal or through phone calls or messages sent via the Internet.

“Some of the very sophisticated bullying can be mentally devastating and even drive youngsters to suicide,” said Trail, the Moscow Republican who sponsored the bill with Nielsen, a Mountain Home Republican.

HB 630, sponsored by Jaquet, D-Ketchum, makes threatening violence with a weapon on school grounds a misdemeanor. It passed the House Monday 49-12.

HCR 32, a concurrent resolution backed by Trail, designates Sept. 10-16 as Bullying Awareness Week. It passed both chambers unanimously and awaits the governor’s signature.

School districts already have policies on bullying and student harassment. Coeur d’Alene public schools follow a policy that defines harassment and threats and sets rules on who addresses harassment concerns and how they are recorded.

Walker said Ramsey Elementary’s antibullying program involves counselors talking to classes about the problem. If harassment is reported, administrators work with the parents of all the students involved and with school counselors to stop the problem before it escalates.

“It doesn’t continue once we’ve addressed it,” Walker said, but more awareness about the problem is always welcome.

Coeur d’Alene school district spokeswoman Janet Feiler agreed. “I think we’re very much in favor of anything that brings that to life and helps students understand the issue of bullying and harassment,” she said.

But some lawmakers worry the bills go too far.

Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, voted against HB 630 because he fears it could punish students who get emotional and say things they don’t mean.

Jaquet said it’s up to school administrators to decide what’s serious and they’re capable of doing so.

Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, had concerns similar to Harwood’s during the House Education Committee hearing on HB 750.

HB 750 was drafted to make harassment and bullying a misdemeanor. But concerns from Wills and other committee members prompted the committee to request a change, making the charge an infraction.

Cliff Green, Idaho School Boards Association executive director, favored keeping it a misdemeanor, which is more serious.

“We believe there is enough of this type of behavior going on in schools that we need to put a little bit of teeth into it,” Green said.

Walker said she hasn’t seen a steady increase or decrease in harassment at Ramsey Elementary. The level depends on the children enrolled each year, she said.