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Stop Bullying Now: SUPPORT HB 64
March 10 - This bill is dead, so
there is no longer a need to send messages. The reality is that the delay
created by the HOUSE leadership meant that when finally passed, after waiting
from February 7 to March 2 to be voted on the floor, HB 64 arrived in a hostile
Senate too late. The Catholic Conference certainly appreciates all you have done
to help move this bill from the committee to the House floor and then to the
Senate.
HB
64 was
sent to the Senate by a another strong bi-partisan vote:
Vote History.
Only 4 persons voted against the bill; 5 others were not on the floor when the
vote was taken. Please let those who voted against it know how disappointed you
are about their lack of commitment to children's safety. Please send your State
Senator asking for support during these last few days of this year's session.
MESSAGE LINE:
1-800-372-7181- EN ESPAŅOL 1-877-739-5556
Talking Points: HB
64 Bullying
HB
64
-
M. Cherry,
C. Belcher,
L. Clark,
J. Draud,
M. Marzian,
D. Owens,
R. Palumbo,
R. Rand,
A. Simpson,
K. Stein,
T. Thompson,
R. Weston,
B. Yonts
AN ACT relating to the safety, learning, and well-being of students.
Amend KRS 158.440 to require school districts to have
plans, policies, and procedures dealing with measures for assisting students who
are engaging in disruptive and disorderly behavior, including harassment,
intimidation, or bullying of another student; amend KRS 158.441 to define
"harassment, intimidation, or bullying"; allow civil exchange of
opinions or debate or cultural practices protected under the state or federal
Constitution to be included in areas exempt from the definition; amend KRS
158.148 to require school districts to formulate a code of acceptable behavior
and discipline that prohibits harassment, intimidation, or bullying of a student
and includes procedures for identifying, reporting, investigating, and
responding to complaints, a strategy for protecting complainants from
retaliation, a process for annually discussing the code, and the consequences of
violating the code with students and their parents or their legal guardians;
require school districts to provide training on the district's acceptable code
of behavior to school employees who have direct contact with students if funds
exist for this purpose; require school districts to include code of acceptable
behavior in district employee training manual; require school councils that are
proposing to adopt an instructional program or curriculum designed to instruct
students on issues regarding harassment, intimidation, or bullying to afford
parents, in a timely manner, the right to inspect and review the instructional
material prior to adoption and to address the council on the proposal prior to
its adoption; offer parents and legal guardians the opportunity to opt out their
students from programs or curriculum regarding harassment, intimidation, or
bullying; specify that students who are opted out shall remain subject to the
policy that prohibits harassment, intimidation, or bullying; amend KRS 158.150
to include student harassment, intimidation, or bullying as a cause for
suspension, expulsion, or other appropriate disciplinary action; amend 158.444
to require local school districts to report to the Kentucky Department of
Education all incidents in which a student has been disciplined for harassment,
intimidation, or bullying three times in a single semester or where an
individual has been the object of three or more documented incidents of
harassment, intimidation, or bullying in a single semester; create a new section
of KRS Chapter 158 to require that all student data collected that is related to
harassment, intimidation, or bullying be subject to the confidentiality
provisions of both the federal and the Kentucky Family Education Rights and
Privacy Acts; afford parents the right to inspect or challenge student records
as permitted under those Acts; require individual student data collected that is
related to harassment, intimidation, or bullying to be placed in the student's
disciplinary record; create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to provide immunity
to school employees or students from a cause of action for damages arising from
reporting in good faith a student's disruptive or disorderly behavior if school
and district procedures are followed regarding the report; make technical
corrections.
HB 64
- AMENDMENTS
HFA
(1,
J. DeCesare) - Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to exclude a student from
being charged with bullying for expressing opinions about polygamy or
homosexuality in a way that is not physically threatening.
HFA
(2,
J. DeCesare) - Amend to include provision that the psychological well-being of a
student is injured when his or her faith-based values and convictions against
homosexuality and same-sex marriage are openly ridiculed, mocked, or
mischaracterized as bigoted, hateful, or homophobic.
HFA
(3,
T. Riner) - Identify "The Golden Rule" as the model for improving attitude and
the rule for conduct for all public school students; identify the Act as "The
Golden Rule Act."
HFA
(4,
D. Floyd) - Retain original provisions; require local school districts to
provide training to victims of bullying for victim empowerment.
HFA
(5,
D. Floyd) - Amend KRS 157.3175 to require, beginning with the 2008-2009 school
year, a school district to provide a preschool education program for each child
who is at risk of educational failure and who is 4 years of age by August 1,
rather than October 1; amend KRS 157.226 to establish, beginning with the
2008-2009 school year, that a child with a disability shall be eligible for a
free and appropriate preschool education if he or she is 3 or 4 years of age, or
who may become 5 years of age after August 1, rather than October 1; amend KRS
158.030 to permit, beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, any child to enter
the primary program if he or she is 5 years old or may become 5 years old by
August 1, rather than October 1.
HFA
(6/Title,
D. Floyd) - Make title amendment.
HFA
(7,
K. Bratcher) - Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to prohibit a student who
is taking physician-prescribed medication for disruptive behavior from attending
school if he or she is not taking the medication as prescribed; require parents
to administer prescribed medication prior to the student's arrival at school or
give the medication to appropriate school personnel to administer to the student
at the appropriate time.
Dec
13-To: Interim Joint Committee on Education
Jan 2-introduced in House
Jan 3-to Education (H)
Feb 6-posting waived retroactively; reported favorably, 1st reading, to
Calendar
Feb 7-floor amendments (1) and (2) filed ; 2nd reading, to Rules
Feb 13-taken from Rules; placed in the Orders of the Day
Feb 15-floor amendments (1) and (2) withdrawn ; floor amendment (3) filed
Feb 20-floor amendments (4) (5) and (6-title) filed
Feb 26-floor amendment (7) filed
Mar 2-3rd reading; floor amendment (4) rejected ; passed 91-4
with floor amendment (3)
Mar 5-received in Senate
Resources
CCK is part of the
Anti-Bullying Alliance: Keeping Kentucky's Kids Safe. The Alliance
prepared an HB
64 Talking Points Flier for distribution to legislators when you contact them.
Kentucky Youth Advocates has prepared an excellent "frequently asked
questions" brief on this issue:
School Bullying in the Commonwealth: Answering Common Questions About
Legislative Proposals. (Though written for the 2006 session, this
material is still valid for HB 64.) And here is an op-ed article written by Joan
Bucher with The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky that appeared in the
Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader: Fighting
Back the Bullies. And here is additional information regarding
Why Kentucky Law Should Include Bullying Prevention.
Media
02 07 07 -
Courier-Journal: Panel Approves Bullying Bill
02 07 07 -
Herald-Leader: House Panel Approves Anti-Bullying Bill
02 08 07 -
Herald-Leader Editorial: Bullying, Try, Try Again
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