Fight bullying with civility, resilience

Staff editorial

Iowa lawmakers this session are taking yet another look at legislation intended to fight bullying in our schools.

The governor-supported Bully Free Act of 2015 is laudable and certainly keeps attention on this troubling problem. We see no reason why it shouldn't be enacted into law.

That's true even though the bill's provisions almost certainly are inadequate to the task of eradicating bullying and mitigating its sometimes tragic impact on our youth.

The proposed legislation would:

' Give schools more authority to address cyberbullying on social networking sites and off school grounds.

' Require that parents be notified when a bullying incident has taken place unless it's believed that notification would result in rejection, neglect or abuse.

' Call for more training of school district personnel on how to investigate complaints of bullying.

' Establish peer-to-peer mentoring programs for students to teach each other about bullying's harmful effects.

It is important that schools react swiftly and appropriately to bullying incidents when they become aware of them. Unfortunately, schools rarely do.

That's why we'd like to see at least as many resources devoted to bullying prevention and teaching kids resilience in the face of bullying.

We would like to see classrooms where civility is taught and prevails. Where students are taught to respect each other and that our differences make us strong, not weak.

Where students develop the character and self possession that will help them withstand and rise above bullying, rather than let demeaning and cruel remarks penetrate their thoughts and derail their goals. Where others don't just stand back as their peers are mistreated, but stand up for what is right.

It's not enough to punish bullying behaviors which, after all, will persist in some form into adulthood. We must focus on preparing our students for an adulthood that incorporates and embraces civility, diversity and good citizenship.

Lawmakers were right to resurrect the Bully Free Act after it failed last year over disagreements about the details. By taking it up again, they are showing what can happen when we work past differences to make our society better.

That's a lesson all our children need to learn.

' Comments: (319) 398-8469; editorial@thegazette.com