Will Teasing Be Classified As Bullying?

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, January 29, 2010
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. Will childish playing around and teasing become a crime in Georgia schools? It will, if a bill passes to expand the definition of bullying. For the last decade various special interest activists have latched onto the safe-school program as an under-the-radar way to expand the acceptance of alternate lifestyles, without which they believe no school is safe.

Last year’s tragic suicide of an 11-year-old school boy is being used to expand the legal definition of bullying. H.B. 882 was pre-filed in November and H.B. 940 was introduced January 14th. Both require over-broad definitions of bullying and, if either passes, most teasing of children by children could be interpreted as intimidation, harassment or bullying. So, should every child be muzzled? Should children lose their constitutional freedom of speech when they enter the school or attend an extra-curricular event?

H.B. 940 prohibits any pattern of gestures or written, electronic, or verbal communication, or physical act or threatening communication on school property, at a school bus stop, a school sponsored activity or event whether or not it’s on school premises or a school or any school related vehicle or any program or function where the school is responsible for the child. And that’s just a smidgen of the crime of bullying, which used to be called “teasing,” or “childish pranks” or “just kidding around.” And guess what! The person who has been teased would decide whether it was bullying. Talk about something being subjective. That’s subjective!

The tragic act of an 11-year-old boy could have been caused by any number of things, that schools are set up to handle effectively. But shutting down childish pranks is not the way to go. Before muzzling school kids’ freedom to speak, the better plan would be to allow the matter to be handled by parents, teachers, counselors, administrators and school bus drivers. They can tell the difference between intimidation and horse-play. In the meantime, call Representative Brooks Coleman’s office at 404 656-9210* and ask him to hold H.B. 940 in his committee. Children aren’t perfect and never will be. These bills are over-kill of a subject that’s been addressed over and over and over. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.