Kansas Targets Cyberbullying

Posted by Barbara Pytel Mar 14, 2008

A new bill passed the Kansas Senate mandating cyberbullying be included in all bullying policies. The schools already address bullying but will now also address cyberbullying. What is cyberbullying? "Bullying is any intentional gesture or written, verbal or physical threat severe enough to create an abusive atmosphere." [The Kansas City Star, Feb. 26, 2008]

Just what is included under this new bill?

• cell phones
• blogs
• e-mail
• instant messaging
• text messaging
• pagers
• online games
• Web sites (i.e. MySpace, Facebook)

[The Kansas City Star, Feb. 26, 2008]

Kansas is a neighboring state to Missouri which has had some high profile cases of cyberbullying that ended in teen suicides. Megan Meier and Brandon Myers both killed themselves to escape from the pain of bullying. A Tonganoxie, Kansas teen dropped out of school because of sexual slurs.

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Copyright article 2008 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.