Nevada lawmakers heard hours of emotional testimony this week for Senate Bill 504, an anti-bullying bill, backed by Governor Brian Sandoval.
At a joint meeting of the Senate and Assembly education committees, several parents shared their children’s experiences with relentless bullying.
“Telling my son that he was fat, ugly and worthless, and that he should go kill himself so they wouldn’t have to look at him anymore.”
“I know without a doubt that if we had been notified, Hailee would still be alive and I would not be before you today.”
“His only goal at 11 was creating a safety plan for himself just to survive a day at school. Our only option was to pull him out of middle school to keep him safe.”
Those are the voices of Mary Bryan, Jason Lamberth and Aimee Hairr urging lawmakers to pass this bill, which would strengthen reporting requirements for bullying at schools. It would also create a 24-hour hotline, a website for submitting complaints, and establish an Office for a Safe and Respectful Learning Environment within the Nevada Department of Education.
The Nevada American Civil Liberties Union supports the anti-bullying effort but Legal Director Amy Rose is concerned about the bill’s requirement for automatic parental notification, for cases involving LGBT students.
“We believe the notification process should include discussion with the students themselves about whether the student’s parents are perhaps unaware or unsupportive,” Rose said.
Teacher Phillip Kaiser brought up another concern on behalf of the Washoe Education Association about the definition of bullying used in the legislation.
“That it's so broad that it potentially puts any administrator, teacher, counselor, coach at risk of losing their license or being dismissed if they don’t automatically report something they’ve overheard or seen,” Kaiser said.
Governor Sandoval proposes spending $36 million over the next two years to hire one school social worker for every 250 students. Funding for the bill will be considered in a separate committee.