Kiehna testifies in Senate Education Committee
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Illinois Senate Education Committee passed HB 5290 out of their committee last Tuesday. The bill provides a framework for districts to follow in their bullying and harassment policies. Generally, the bill addresses recommendations made last year by the School Violence Prevention Task Force. Citing recent research, the Task Force reported that bullying is a major problem in schools and that bullying victims suffer not just as students but also in their lives in general, often for years.
"Being a target or victim of bullying has long been recognized has having short- and long-term psychological effects on children and adolescents," the Task Force Reported. "Bullying and violence have serious consequences to youth, schools, and communities." In Illinois, youth who experience bullying [as bullies, victims or bystanders] have alarmingly negative health, social, and academic outcomes."
Comprehensive studies show that bullied youth, feeling unsafe, are often truant, are less likely to "have college plans" and are "more likely to carry a gun to school and receive injuries that require hospitalization. They are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, suffer with depression, and attempt suicide."
It is not just the victims of bullies, but also the bullies themselves, who are of concern. "Youth who engage in bullying behavior are more likely to commit crimes. Nearly 60% of boys classified as bullies in grades 6-9 were convicted of at least one crime by age 24 and 40% of them had three or more convictions."
Witnesses advocating for HB 5290 told how bullying has been on the rise, particularly with the advent of "social network" sites on the Internet in which children seem especially cruel to each other.
"My building principals now tell me that it's a whole new game," Monroe-Randolph County Regional Superintendent Marc Kiehna told the committee. "There are more challenges each day, primarily because of social networking sites and the use of sophisticated cell phones. I know you see that."
"Many of our administrators dread Monday mornings when they have to deal with all the baggage that's left over from the weekend, when finally these students see each other face to face and deal with what's been on those sites," said Kiehna, who served on the School Violence and Prevention Task Force.
Kiehna also noted the "long- and short-term psychological effects" of bullying. "We see suicides happening. I had one last week in my Columbia School District. We need all the guidance and interventions that we can get from experts across the state.... I believe that all of my schools can do a better job in this area ...."
What does HB 5290 do? Current law clearly defines "bullying" and requires district boards to adopt policies to deal with it. But current law lacks a definition of "policy" in this respect. HB 5290 seeks to fill that gap by telling districts what they must include in a policy in a general, non-specific way.
For example, a policy should say how and to whom in a school bullying incidents should be reported, how they are to be investigated and responded to. The bill doesn't say how, it just says that a school board's policy should say how all this would happen. Also, a good policy should include input from "a range of stakeholders, including students and families."
A policy should indicate how a school will respond to a bullying report, the bill asserts, with possible responses including "but not limited to, restorative measures, social-emotional skill building, counseling, school psychological services, worker interventions, and community-based services."
Ultimately, the committee approved the bill on a 6-4 partisan roll call. It is now on second reading and could be passed by the full Senate as early as Thursday, but more likely it will get a vote next week. The House would have to concur with the Senate amendment before it can be delivered to Gov. Pat Quinn.