Howdy neighbors
Jenna here.
So today in GSA we revisted an old topic: bullying. In light of the shiny new ennumerated bullying policy that’s in the works, Erin and I thought it would be good to do some reasearch. Since quite a few of you decided not to show up (hint hint) and since Zoe and Sierra weren’t there, I’ll list some of the finer points of what we found out about Georgia anti-bullying laws:
- We have the 12th most strict anti-bullying policy in the nation. If bullying is reported three times from the same school, that school can lose funding.
- However, because the law is so strict, many schools cover up or do not report bullying, as they want to keep their funding.
- Also, the law only protects 6th through 12th grade students, leaving elementary students open to attack
We also talked about a nice new piece of legislation being introduced into the House of Representatives: a Non-Discrimination Act, which is a bill aiming to protect LGBT students from bullying. Cool stuffs.
Then we started up our discussion, sharing stories about bullying incidents and what we can do to raise awareness and try to combat bullying. And we came up with an idea:
A seminar or assembly to be presented to the entire school on the subject of bullying. Ms. Bagley thought it was a good idea, and encouraged us to get a plan together. We can also use petitions to get our point across to the administration.
SO. This weeks GSA homework: Come up with ideas/topics and reasearch guest speakers for a possible seminar.
Stay awesome guys.
