State lawmakers today passed a bill through the joint education committee that would ban all forms of bullying on and off of school grounds, including non-school websites such as Facebook.
The rise of online harassment has caused alarm among parents, school administrators and legislators, particularly after the suicide of a South Hadley girl last month that may have been the result of cyber-bullying.
South Hadley Superintendent Gus Sayer said the students involved in bullying 15-year-old Phoebe Prince have been disciplined and will not return to the school, according to the Boston Globe.
Earlier this month, three Newburyport high school students were charged by police for harassing a fellow student over Facebook, by creating a false profile in the student's name and posting rude comments on other students' pages.
Because there is no cyber-bullying law in Massachusetts, Newburyport police charged the three teens with identity theft.
Language in the bullying bill states that bullying from school-owned electronic devices or websites would be prohibited, as well as bullying through non-school devices and websites if it impacts the school environment.
Comments
Children bully each other and so do adults. This is wrong and needs to come to an end.
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