A Guest Post from Studio13byMBSWorks.com.

The last few weeks our household has been inundated with notices and conversations from and with our local Elementary School about the amount of bullying going on with the younger children. Some of it could be attributed to kids being kids…but more often than not, lately we’re seeing issues because of the have’s and have-nots. Young ones being allowed to bring electronic devices on the bus and to school for sharing or Show & Tell days.

The issue? Not all kids have access to the same kinds of toys, computers, electronics in general. Should these devices be allowed on the bus or in the school? As a parent, my stance is no. I may have elected to allow my child to have certain toys or things, or maybe they were given as gifts, but there is no reason for that item to be on the bus or in the school unless the school has provided it for educational purposes. It’s distracting. It creates problems.

As part of this discussion, several of the parents were unsure of what the State Laws were, I thought I’d share them here.

Virginia Bullying Laws

Bullying/Harassment - Code 22.1-279.6 (2008) requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines and develop model policies for codes of student conduct to aid local school boards in the implementation of such policies. The guildelines and model policies must include standards for school board policies on self-defense and bullying. School boards are required to adopt and revise regulations that are are consistent with, but may be more stringent than, the guildelines of the Board. Each school board must include in itscode of conduct prohibitions against bullying, hazing and profane or obscene language or conduct.

Code 8.01-220.1:2 (2005) provides immunity from liability for school employees and volunteers from civil damages arising from reporting alleged acts of bullying or crimes against others, if the person in good faith promptly reports such acts or crimes to the appropriate school official incompliance with specified procedures.

Cyber Bullying - Code 22.1-279.6 (2008) requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines and develop model policies for codes of student conduct to aid local school boards in the implementation of such policies. The guildelines and model policies must include standards for school board policies on the use of electronic means for the purposes of bullying, harassment and intimidation.

Hazing - Code 22.1-279.6 (2008) requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines and develop model policies for codes of student conduct to aid local school boards in the implementation of such policies. The guildelines and model policies must include standards for school board policies on hazing, and policies must cite Code 18.2-56, which defines and prohibits hazing and imposes a Class 1 misdemeanor for violations.

Source: National Association of State Boards of Education
Last Updated: 2/27/2009

Clearly we need more parent education as well as educating our children. The question becomes, how do we reach the parents as well?