Still reeling from gay student Tyler Clementi’s fatal plunge off the George Washington Bridge, New Jersey legislators this week proposed the toughest law against bullying in the nation. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights is society’s strongest message yet that schools are expected to pay close attention to the social relationships of students, an idea that took hold after the 1999 Columbine shootings.
The “Lord of the Flies” model is out. Enough child suicides have shown that students cannot be left to their own cruel devices. Without monitoring or consequences attached, school bullying policies often went unenforced. This new bill goes much further, pledging to discipline teachers and administrators if they indulge or ignore student bullies.
