Anti-School Violence Bills Unveiled
Reducing school violence and improving the learning environment in Delaware’s public schools is the goal of a legislative package recently (6/6/06) unveiled by a bipartisan group of state legislators.
Speaker of the House Terry R. Spence (R-Stratford), State Representative Stephanie A. Ulbrich (R-Newark), State Senator Anthony J. DeLuca (D-Varlano) and State Senator David P. Sokola (D-Newark) are the prime sponsors of the three anti-violence bills.
More than six months in the making, the bills are the result of a cooperative effort between the General Assembly, the Delaware State Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Education (DOE) and the Delaware State Education Association (DSEA).
The package includes the following bills:
· The “School Bullying Prevention Act” which would require each school district and charter school to establish a policy on bullying prevention including developing a bullying prevention program and reporting instances of bullying to the Delaware Department of Education.
· A bill that would create a felony crime for recruiting or retaining juveniles in criminal street/youth gangs.
· Legislation that would allow Family Court to order the parents of delinquent youth into mandatory counseling.
Speaker Spence said the bills are partly in response to constituents who have told him public schools are becoming increasingly unsafe for students, teachers and administrators. “We cannot expect our students to excel academically if they don’t feel safe in their schools,” he said.
Rep. Ulbrich, vice chairman of the House Education Committee, said the comprehensive package would help teachers and administrators deal with school violence issues, which she believes have become even more prevalent over the past couple of years. “Whether it is physical or emotional bullying, the time has come for our schools to have a plan of action.”
Deputy State Attorney General Rhonda Denny, who was instrumental in crafting the legislative package, said these bills would not only help provide a better learning environment, they could prevent tragedy in Delaware. She said a U.S. Secret Service study of 37 school shootings nationwide found that bullying was a major factor in two-thirds of those incidents.
Ms. Denny said international research indicates there are effective programs Delaware schools can emulate. “There are programs out there that are scientifically proven to reduce bullying by 50-percent, but it requires the whole school and community to work together to reduce that bullying.”
Delaware State Education Association Executive Director Howard Weinberg said the teachers’ union is fully supportive of the three new bills.
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