Senate Seeks Bill to Punish School Bullies

According to an article in the Express-Times by Courtney Lomax, the PA Senate is seeking to pass a bill that would require all PA School Districts to have a bullying policy in place (read it here).

In the article NASD's Diane Dautrich is noted as saying:

The school district has a bullying prevention program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, said Diane Dautrich, an assistant superintendent. The program focuses on preventing bullying rather than punishing bullies, Dautrich said.

"(It looks) at teaching appropriate behaviors rather than waiting for inappropriate behavior," Dautrich said.

I believe she is referring to the 2nd Step program that is taught. While I can't confirm this personally as my children aren't in the MS level yet, the biggest problem that has been relayed to me about the MS is bullying.

It may have simply been the context of the quote, but it would seem that in addition to the preventative program there should also be a policy specific to Bullying to provide for appropriate punishment.

Senator Boscola in the article states:

Punishment for bullying needs to be swift and firm, Boscola said.

"Kids have to learn they can't solve their problems this way," she said.