School study's bullying focus irks legislators

House panel says averting violence should be emphasis

Members of the House and Senate Education committees on Monday criticized a preliminary study on school safety, saying it focused too much on bullying and not enough on preventing violence.

The study was mandated by Act 107 of 2013 to "determine the readiness and capabilities of public schools" to respond to and prevent acts of violence.

The current draft showed instances of on-campus violence dropping in Arkansas over the past decade.

Much of the preliminary study focused on laws against bullying, but researchers said the content will be expanded to include several other aspects of school violence preparedness, including emergency plans and positive discipline models for teachers.

The final report will be presented in late October or early November. Several legislators asked that expanded research be included in the report. Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, encouraged researchers to identify confirmed instances of violence, rather than just reported instances -- some of which might have been unfounded. He also hoped the report would show the effect school resource officers have on violence in schools.

Some legislators questioned Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, who sponsored the 2013 legislation, over the preliminary study's focus on bullying and whether the focus should deal more with planning for school shootings.

"I carried the bill for you in the House, but in the bill authorizing this study there was never any reference to bullying. It was about safe schools, preparations for the kinds of attacks that we've seen in other districts," said Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle. "It's a good study with good information, but one of the things that has been seen in other states is the kind of overreach ... just like the overreach in turning this into a study about bullying."

Lowery said he was concerned that the study would recommend inappropriate monitoring of or punishment for comments posted on social media accounts. He asked that the study be expanded. Any recommendations, he said, must respect students' free-speech rights.

Chesterfield said it was impossible to look at school violence without looking at bullying because they are frequently linked.

"The issues are complex today because we have individuals who can go online and destroy a person's life. And we are not aware of that going on, and we don't know why kids are committing homicide, nor suicide. And we need to do something," she said.

"One of the things that struck me in our findings is that the safe-schools committee no longer exists. That's something I would like us to look at."

The preliminary study listed all legislation passed in Arkansas related to school safety and violence, as well as the laws in place in other states to deal with potential instances of violence and bullying on school campuses.

An Arkansas law created the safe-schools committee in 1997, but the report notes that the last recommendations from that committee were submitted in 1998. The committee still exists by statute, but it does not have any members or scheduled meetings, according to the Bureau of Legislative Research.

The report also included instances of violence against students on campus, violence against teachers and staff members on campus and a breakdown of crimes reported through the Department of Education's monitoring program between fall 2010 and spring 2013.

Those violence reports showed fewer instances of staff assault, student assault and bullying over the three school years studied, but an increase in fighting and truancy.

The report also ranked Arkansas lowest among surrounding states for the percent of teachers who reported being attacked by students.

Metro on 08/12/2014

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