Bullies in Congress must stop beating up on Safe Schools bill

The current form of the legislation was introduced last year in the Senate by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and in the House by U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., (with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, as a co-sponsor). Just last Friday, President Obama strongly endorsed it. But like its counterparts in earlier sessions of Congress, this version of The Safe Schools Improvement Act has been stonewalled in committee.

Some vocal Republicans decry it as an example of federal encroachment over local control of public schools. They conveniently ignore the growing impact of federal dollars to supplement strained local school-district budgets.

Others vilify the bill and the related Student Nondiscrimination Act as means to promote homosexuality and to push a pro-gay curricula because it includes sexual orientation as one of the many protected groups.

False charges

Sen. Casey rightly retorts: “These charges are, of course, false. The legislation would not affect curriculum. The only goals are to help ensure that every child receives a quality education that builds self-confidence and that no child is so afraid to go to school for fear of unchecked bullying and harassment.”

Such was the case for former Boardman middle-school student Dara Genovese who recounted the bullying she endured before a state panel last year considering Schiavoni’s legislation.

“I’ll put my knife in your … windpipe,” was written in one cyberbullying post to the victim. “There’s times when I don’t even want to wake up or get out of bed because I know what the day is going to be filled with,” she said.

As long as some in Congress continue to ignore the pleas of Dara and those of thousands of bullying victims like her, fair-minded Americans will continue to wonder whether the true bullies in the Safe Schools controversy are those congressmen beating down any and all efforts to grant victims one solid layer of protection.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/apr/26/bullies-in-congress-must-stop-beating-up/

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