Anti-Bullying Law causes few disciplinary changes

One year after Albemarle delegate Rob Bell’s anti-bullying legislation came through, the numbers show the anti-bully bill has flexed little muscle in local schools. A statewide Crime and Violence Report for Virginia schools shows no reported incidents of bullying for Albemarle in 2005, and Charlottesville saw only 18 incidents last year.
    Still, school administrators say anti-bullying legislation has enacted positive changes. Anti-bullying policies mean bullying incidents must be reported to parents, and the guidelines have spurred preventative education.
    But they’ve yielded little new ground as far as discipline. Statewide, bullying incidents totaled 1,539—a small number compared to other incidents. Threats totaled 7,888, and fighting incidents numbered 11,242.
    “I don’t think that we’ve relied on the bullying legislation to dictate how we consequence students,” says Bernard Hairston, Albemarle schools’ director of community engagement and strategic planning, “I think that we have had some very proactive strategies in place through our student policies under our student code of conduct to address most issues of behavior.”
    The bill, enacted in early 2005, includes a provision for “character education” training, which has been implemented in Albemarle. There’s also a bullying option teachers can check when filling out a discipline referral.
    Delegate Rob Bell championed the bill early last year, when an organization called Bully Police USA gave the State of Virginia a “failing grade” for its bully policies in schools. Virginia has since made a “passing grade” on the organization’s website, which includes links like “The Wounded Child Project,” “Do Unto Others,” and “How to Push for a Law.”
    The legislation even has a famous supporter. Adrianna Sgarlatta (now Miss Virginia) was bullied by fellow 9-year-olds, who put gum in her hair because she wore glasses. Now that she’s all grown up and hot, she’s the president for the Virginia chapter of Bully Police USA.
    Protecting hapless, nerdy kids has all the qualities of a piece of Bell legislation—a direct response to an acute, real-life incident, expressed in broad language with a gushy, “how-could-it-be-wrong?” factor. What it doesn’t have, seemingly, is disciplinary efficacy.
    “Most bullying is not a fight, but a repeated series of events over time,” Bell said in January 2005. “It’s about power.” Enacting only semi-useful legislation that tugs on the public’s heartstrings, of course, isn’t about power at all. Bell could not be reached for comment.