Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Facts about SB3266 - IL Prevent School Violence Act

SB3266 - IL Prevent School Violence Act
(Lightford and Koehler)

Current law protecting Illinois students from bullying is a toolbox without tools, requiring schools to have an anti-bullying policy but failing to define bullying or provide any guidance on implementation.

SB 3266 modifies current law by providing school districts with the tools to prevent and address school violence. SB 3266 is not a new mandate.

SB 3266:
o Comprehensively defines bullying (including cyberbullying)
o Provides substantive guidance to schools about what the already required anti-bullying policy should include and how to effectively communicate it to students, parents and guardians, and school personnel
o Helps schools collect and maintain data regarding bullying to better prevent and address bullying in the future
o Encourages schools to participate in a demonstration project should funds become available

SB3266 is supported by Prevent School Violence Illinois, a coalition of individuals, youth-serving organizations, policy groups, associations, government agencies and others concerned with school violence. Members include:

ACLU of Illinois; Advanced Youth Leadership Power; Affinity Community Services; Center on Halsted; Chicago Foundation for Women; Chicago Lakeshore Hospital; First Congregational United Church of Christ; Health & Disability Advocates; Health & Medicine Policy Research Group; Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health; Illinois Department of Human Rights; Illinois Psychiatric Society; Illinois Psychological Association; Illinois Safe Schools Alliance; Illinois School Health Association; Mental Health America of Illinois; North Shore Unitarian Church; Oak Grove School (K-8), District 68; Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Northern IL Council; Quad Citians Affirming Diversity; Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice; Roots & Wings Early Education Center; Umoja Student Development Corporation; Voices for Illinois Children; along with

Cristen Adams (member, Salem Baptist Church); Caitlin Bergh (member, PFLAG); Sylvia Bridges (member, Salem Baptist Church); Steph Churchill (employee, District 150, Peoria Public Schools); Emily Gill (professor, Bradley University)

For more information about Prevent School Violence Illinois go to www.psvillinois.blogspot.com. There, you can read firsthand accounts from Illinois students who have experienced bullying in school and find out more about supporting SB 3266.





Bullying is a serious problem in Illinois schools.1
o Students report that physical appearance (looks or body size), sexual orientation and gender expression are the most common reasons other students at their school are bullied.
o Students also report hearing racist (44%) and negative religious (19%) remarks at school.

School personnel don’t always intervene, and also participate, in bullying.1
o Intervention by school personnel when hearing students use biased language is not universal. Many Illinois students report that teachers and other school staff rarely or never intervene when homophobic, racist or sexist remarks are made in their presence (48%, 30% and 29%, respectively).
o Students hear biased language from teachers or other school personnel as well – about a fifth (19%) report hearing school staff make sexist remarks, 12% racist remarks, 11% homophobic remarks and 7% report hearing negative religious remarks.

Many Illinois students do not feel safe in their schools.1
o Over a third (37%) of the students report that they feel unsafe in school because of one or more personal characteristics, such as their physical appearance or sexual orientation.
o Half (52%) of Illinois students report that they had been verbally harassed and nearly a quarter (23%) of students reported that they had been physically harassed or assaulted in school in the past year.

Bullying has serious consequences.
o Over 15% (15.5%) of Illinois students have carried a weapon within the past 30 days.2
o 25.1% of Illinois high school students report skipping school in the past 30 days due to feeling unsafe; when broken down by race 7.7% of Hispanic students and 8.7 % of Black students skipped school due to feeling unsafe compared to 4% of white students.2
o 31.3% of Illinois high school students report being in a physical fight over the past 12 months.2
o Students targeted by bullying behaviors are more likely to consider, attempt and commit suicide.3

In a disturbing trend seen nationally, middle school students targeted by bullying behaviors have been taking their lives, including Chase Nall, an 11-year old sixth-grade student in Chatham, IL in February of 2009.

Bullying prevention works.
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, effective bullying prevention programs must include:
o Establishment and enforcement of clear school policies on bullying that define the problem, describe the consequences, establish avenues to collect data, and outline adult intervention.
o Dissemination and discussion of the anti-bullying policies with all students, parents and guardians, and school personnel.
o Professional development for all school personnel on the problem of bullying, its effects, how to intervene and how to partner with other adults and students.
____________________________________________________________________
1 From Teasing to Torment: A Report on School Climate in Illinois, GLSEN, 2006
2 Illinois Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2007
3 Illinois Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2009

No comments:

Post a Comment