Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 17:29:14 -0800 From: Jean Richter Subject: 1/24/2000 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news, pt. 2 1. WA: Information on Safe Schools Bill ========================================================== From: SARATOGANY@aol.com Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 07:19:13 EST Subject: Washington State's Safe Schools Bill (HB 1765) Q and A To: SARATOGANY@aol.com, bdm3g@gateway.net Msg fwd by: The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020 Email to: saratogany@aol.com "The Actual or Perceived GLBT Student Protection Project" CSS-NYS Note: Below is information regarding Washington State's proposed Safe Schools Bill. It has been provided by the Safe Schools Coalition of Washington State, www.safeschools-wa.org. The Safe Schools Bill Common questions and answers WHAT IS THE SAFE SCHOOLS BILL? HB 1765 directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to develop statewide criteria that school boards will use in creating their own districts' malicious harassment policies. These policies, which will be made public in each district, must: a.. define the prohibited conduct b.. include grievance procedures c.. establish protection for victims d.. identify appropriate remedies to deal with perpetrators Additionally, it directs the OSPI to make guidelines for school districts to develop training for school employees and volunteers about the district's policies. WHY DO WE NEED A SAFE SCHOOLS BILL? Students face malicious harassment every day. According to the Center for Disease Control and the Safe Schools Coalition of Washington: a.. 36% of African Americans, 48% of Caucasian, 51% of Latinos and 41% of Asian, 45% of American Indian, 51% of Multi Ethnic students have experienced verbal or physical attacks at school because of their race; a.. 51% of girls and 17% of boys have experienced verbal or physical attacks at school because of their gender; a.. 34% of gay, lesbian and bisexual students and 6 % of heterosexual students have experienced verbal or physical attacks at school because someone thought they were gay. According to the FBI: a.. 848 bias-related crimes were reported in schools in 1997 in the United States. The tolerance of malicious harassment - or more importantly, ignorance of what it is and how to deal with it effectively - creates unstable school environments. a.. Malicious harassment is never productive; it creates stress with the victim and an atmosphere of fear. It can escalate into violence. b.. Recent events in the Puyallup school system illustrate what can happen when a school system does not have a clear policy on harassment in place. Many in the community - white and black - were blindsided by the revelations that student harassment had been occurring for years prior to the recent incident without children bringing it to the attention of educators or parents. The lack of a clear policy for addressing the issue of harassment, in this case racial, resulted in further bias-related incidents of escalating violence. Laws and policies can make clear a community's opposition to bias-based harassment. The clarity of standards is a necessary ingredient in a community-wide effort to help schools become safe places where learning can be the number one priority. AREN'T THERE ALREADY LAWS THAT PROHIBIT THIS BEHAVIOR? There is no law that addresses malicious harassment policies in schools; however, malicious harassment is a criminal offense in Washington, a class C felony under RCW 9A.36.080. The crime is defined as intentionally targeting, threatening, physically injuring or damaging the property of a person on the basis of a perception of that person's "race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation, ... mental, physical, or sensory handicap." Therefore, enforcing the existing law would mean bringing criminal charges for every violation that occurred in schools. HB 1765 is NOT a crime bill. It only directs school boards to develop their own policies on how to deal with malicious harassment. Its objective is to create a safe atmosphere for students and teachers, and to deter criminal and other cruel behavior so that every child can get an education. MYTHS ABOUT THE SAFE SCHOOLS BILL HB 1765 does NOT impose a policy on local school boards. Each school board will write the policy for its own district. Although the OSPI develops criteria, as it does for other state educational standards, school districts will create and oversee their own malicious harassment policies. HB 1765 does NOT curtail First Amendment rights. HB 1765 does not impact freedom of speech or expression of religious beliefs. State law is clear that words alone - even threatening words - do not constitute malicious harassment. However, words do constitute malicious harassment if the context or situation in which they are uttered indicates a realistic threat to a reasonable person who is the same race, color, religion, ancestry, or has the same sensory handicap as the victim. For example, there is a great difference between expression of a person's beliefs about immigration, homosexuality, or interracial marriage - and derogatory epithets or threats. HB 1765 does NOT mandate acceptance of any religion, creed, political ideology or lifestyle. The bill does not impose or judge any personal beliefs. It calls for school boards to create policies that define behavioral standards with regard to the legal definition of malicious harassment. Student expression of beliefs will not be compromised or prohibited. Rather, all students will be covered; including those who express strongly held beliefs that may be perceived as offensive by others. ================================================================================== Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) These messages are archived by state on our information-loaded free web site: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/