Locke signs anti-bullying measure

Governor gives final approval to four school bills

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Thursday, March 28, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Gary Locke signed a bill into law Wednesday that will require schools to write anti-bullying policies that protect kids from schoolyard taunting -- whether the bullying arises over sexual orientation, race, religion, disability or body shape.

Michelle diClementi tipped her head back with a bittersweet smile. Gabi Clayton fought back tears. Others simply applauded.

"I was bullied. Paper was thrown at me. Name-calling," diClementi said from her wheelchair at the Governor's Office, referring to the taunts she once received at Capital High School on Olympia's west side. "I'm so happy this law passed because kids like me will feel safe to go to school. This will make such a difference. I'm so glad this day has finally come."

Clayton, who held a booklet of photos of her son, Bill, said a more serious response to bullying at Olympia High School might have kept the bisexual teen from taking his life in 1995. Clayton said her son endured attacks that eventually he could not bear.

Substitute House Bill 1444, which took five years to pass a once-divided Legislature, will force school districts to draw up specific anti- harassment policies that forbid bullying behavior at schools whether it is based on sexual orientation or some other characteristic of a child.

"In many ways to me, this is the Gabi Clayton bill," said Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, who sponsored the bill. The breakthrough after years of failures, he said, was the electoral victory last fall that gave Democrats control of the House. Before that, Republican House leadership blocked votes on the bill.

"It was because it included gay and lesbian students who would be protected," Murray said. "But once the majority flipped, it wasn't a partisan issue. It was 80-plus votes out of the House."

What effect the bill will have is unclear, however. About 40 percent of school districts have no policy, according to Rainier Houser, associate executive director for the Association of Washington School Principals.

"It's going to make a difference depending on how people ... embrace it in schools," Houser said.

"I'm not sure it will stop bullying. But hopefully it can increase awareness, and that will result in students making better choices," said Brian Wharton, co-principal at River Ridge High School east of Lacey.

"Harassment is harassment," said Principal Zena Ingles at Black Hills High in Tumwater, adding that her school has a policy that covers all kinds of harassment. The policy includes suspensions for some violators. "We all pretty much are already there, I think."

Some schools have policy

At Black Hills, authorities also try to mediate between the victim and perpetrators, getting them to have a conversation and to resolve whatever difference triggered the harassing behavior, which has come up a handful of times this year, Ingles said. Often they find the harassment is a response to gossip and rumors that no one has bothered to check out, she said.

State Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, who serves on the North Thurston School Board, said he thinks the new law will force his board to re-examine its policies and to raise public awareness of the problem.

Beth Reis of the Safe Schools Coalition, an advocacy group, said she thinks schools with policies will tighten them up so students know more clearly what behavior is allowed. "Most have some kind of a policy, but most are vaguely written, and staff and students don't know what is allowed," she said. "Is it notes slipped inside somebody's locker, or is it just when somebody is beaten up? ... What counts?"

Though lauded by activists worried about gay-bashing, the anti-bullying measure had drawn criticism from religious conservatives who fear it could stifle expression of moral views on activities perceived as sinful. One of them, Republican Sen. Dan Swecker of Rochester, was the lone South Sound lawmaker to oppose the bill.

But Locke, who signed HB 1444 into law along with three other bills promoting school safety and achievement, said "bullying is a serious problem in our schools" that keeps an estimated 160,000 kids home from school nationwide each day out of fear, much of it related to bullies.

About 60 percent of eighth-graders report getting bullied in Washington schools, while only 10 percent of 10th-graders would report such an incident to administrators, Locke said, citing surveys.

Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who championed the bill along with state schools chief Terry Bergeson, said bullying is one of two major factors in violent school incidents like the slaughter at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. The other is home life.

Recipe for disaster

"The prescription for disaster is the child who doesn't feel they can talk at school, who feels lonely, who goes to school and is a victim of bullying, and as the Secret Service has said, two-thirds of those children (in school-shooting incidents) feel they have a new option today: that's to go in and take revenge by an act of violence," Gregoire said.

Bills approved

Gov. Gary Locke signed four school-related bills into law Wednesday.

- HB 1444 requires school districts to draw up policies that forbid harassment and bullying of students, including on the basis of sexual harassment.

- HB 2807 makes the Promise Scholarship program permanent, giving two-year scholarships worth $1,000 per year to the top 15 percent of the graduating class in every public or private high school.

- SB 5543 requiring the state Board of Education to draw up guidelines for school districts to adopt comprehensive safe-schools plans.

- SB 6351 requires that information about threats against students or school staff be passed along to the potential victims.

For details about any of the measures, visit www.leg.wa.gov.

On the Web:

- Gov. Gary Locke

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