Thursday, April 30, 2009

Dispatch from Jones St: Bullying Bill Update

UPDATE:
The Senate did not take up the Bullying Bill today. Your action on this important legislation will help get this bill through the Senate.  Take a moment this weekend and email your NC Senator.


NC ACTION ALERT: URGENT ACTION REQUESTED. TAKE ACTION NOW.


Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act, passed the Senate Committee on Mental Health and Youth Services last evening. Today it will be on the Senate floor for a vote and we still have work to do! This legislation is important to the children with developmental disabilities in North Carolina.

Here is a brief message from one of North Carolina’s youth leaders:
“Being a person living a life with a disability can be difficult especially if the disability is visible. A person who does not walk straight or does not speak clearly is a target for bullies in the education system. As a student in their junior year of high school, people would think there would be an understanding and the teasing would decease but that is not the situation.”

ACTION TO BE TAKEN:

EMAIL or CALL your Senator NOW.

TELL THEM:
• Vote YES for the bill!
* SB 526 enumerates protected categories to protect children most vulnerable to bullying and harassment. This legislation addresses the needs of students with disabilities.

* To SUPPORT the bill with the enumeration that is currently in this important legislation.

* Seventy-eight students with disabilities, who gathered in Raleigh during the summer of 2006, discussed their experiences dealing with bullying and harassment while attending school. These young leaders recognized the importance of creating legislation that would create a protected category for students with disabilities.

* This legislation will support students with disabilities by utilizing the protected categories as a self-advocacy tool. Students with disabilities will be able to look to this legislation as their right to be protected from bullying and harassment.

* Enumeration of protected categories is a clear sign that all students, regardless of differences in characteristics, appearance, or ability are valued and deserve protection.

Find Your Senator:

Read the Bill:
Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act.
Sponsors: Senator Boseman.
Co-Sponsors: Senator Charles W. Albertson, Senator Bob Atwater, Senator Daniel G. Clodfelter, Senator Charlie Dannelly, Senator Katie G. Dorsett, Senator Linda Garrou, Senator Clark Jenkins, Senator Eleanor Kinnaird, Senator Vernon Malone, Senator Floyd B. McKissick Jr., Senator William R. Purcell, Senator Larry Shaw, Senator Josh Stein, Senator David F. Weinstein.
An Act to enact the school violence prevention act.

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