What Parents Need to Know About NH’s New Bullying Law
As most of you are aware, this past session, the NH legislature passed and Governor Lynch signed into law a revised anti-bullying statute, HB 1523. The new law effects every school district in the state in that it mandates them to either adopt or revise their current bullying policies using much “stronger” language as well as address cyber-bullying, all in an attempt to make each school district tackle the issue of bullying in a manner that is more effective than what they are currently doing.
As you may also be aware, Cornerstone vehemently fought to have the original language of HB 1523 amended, which it eventually was. If you remember, the original language of the bill called for each school district to specifically define “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and expression” into their school policies AND integrate those definitions into their anti-bullying curriculum. Eventually, with Cornerstone’s help, the definition of bullying was amended. Now, each district must adopt the following definition and integrate it into the curriculum:
“Bullying” shall include actions motivated by an imbalance of power based on a pupil’s actual or perceived personal characteristics, behaviors, or beliefs, or motivated by the pupil’s association with another person and based on the other person’s characteristics, behaviors, or beliefs.
So, while we were successful in removing the controversial language, it in no way means that parents should not be vigilant in being aware of the bullying language that each local school district adopts as they may add to this policy if they so please. In fact, schools in Conway, Gilford, and Holderness are using a curriculum called preventinghate.org (see participating schools HERE). While this may sound like a good program, a little bit of digging into it finds that the program has a strong bias towards teaching a pro-gay marriage perspective (see HERE and HERE).
So, what can you as a parent do to ensure that your school’s anti-bullying policy does not include sexualized definitions or curriculum?
– First and foremost, get involved! Find out who on the local level is in charge of drafting your school’s anti-bullying policies, find out what’s in the policy, and what is being taught in the curriculum.
– Visit the website: www.truetolerance.org and get all of the up-to-date information on good anti-bullying policies, policies that do not elevate one particular class over another and do not politicize or sexualize the classroom. There are great resources on this site including model anti-bullying policies and legal advice.
Note: One cannot possibly imagine every single reason that might be the cause of bullying. The reason could be anything from the child’s sexual orientation to something unknown, or something such as the color of their hair. You know this is true because chances are, you’ve seen it. And of course, NO bullying should be tolerated by anyone for any reason. But because much of the disciplinary power of teachers and administrators has been watered down over the years, this issue has become a problem of such proportion that has caused many states to pass laws to prevent it. But it should never allow for special interest groups to promote and further their agendas in the public schools, whether political, religious, or commercial.