SPEAKER SPENCE'S SCHOOL BULLYING ACT BECOMES LAW
Legislation, known as the “School Bullying Prevention Act," has been signed into law (May 18, 2007).
House Bill 7, sponsored by Speaker of the House Terry Spence will 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. The new law is the result of a bipartisan, 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).
Rep. Spence, who had been working on this issue for the past year, said the law is partly a response to constituents who have told him public schools are becoming increasingly unsafe for students, teachers and administrators. A U.S. Secret Service study of 37 school shootings nationwide found that bullying was a major factor in two-thirds of those incidents.
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