AP Enterprise: Bullying Laws Give Scant Protection

[Kadie]

AP Enterprise: Bullying Laws Give Scant Protection
Student Suicides Have Parents, Advocates Calling For Action
DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer

POSTED: 2:35 am PDT September 14, 2009
UPDATED: 7:22 am PDT September 14, 2009

ATLANTA -- Laws meant to rein in schoolyard bullying rarely if ever do that since adults generally don't enforce them, according to an Associated Press review, and several students' recent suicides have parents and advocates calling for tougher measures.

Forty-four states expressly ban bullying, a legislative legacy of a rash of school shootings in the late '90s, yet few if any of those measures have identified children who excessively pick on their peers, an Associated Press review has found. And few offer any method for ensuring the policies are enforced, according to data compiled by the National Council of State Legislatures.

The issue came to a head in April when 11-year-old Jaheem Herrera committed suicide at his Atlanta-area home after his parents say he was repeatedly tormented in school. District officials denied it, and an independent review found bullying wasn't a factor, a conclusion his family rejects.

Regardless, Georgia's law, among the toughest in the nation, still would not have applied: It only applies to students in grades six to 12. Herrera was a fifth-grader.

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