Posted: | December 20, 2022 11:12 AM |
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From: | Representative Stephen Kinsey and Rep. Donna Bullock, Rep. Anthony A. Bellmon |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Bullying Prevention Education for All Grade Levels |
Bullying has been a growing, serious concern among the education community, public health officials, and state and local leaders alike in recent years. As more children have been suffering from its negative effects, with some children (even pre-teens) going so far as to commit suicide because of such continuous threatening behavior, bullying has become a public health threat that needs to be more fully and adequately addressed. Indeed, we must take seriously the potentially severe impact bullying can have on the mental health of children. With this in mind, our legislation would require bullying prevention education to be taught in schools across all grade levels. Although some school districts have made great strides in adopting bullying prevention policies, there is nothing to address bullying at its root cause. Accordingly, an age-appropriate bullying prevention and intervention program, as a curricular requirement for students in kindergarten through grade twelve, will enable Pennsylvania to move closer to eliminating bullying as a public health threat. Please join us in this effort to better educate, and thereby prevent and reduce incidents of bullying behavior among children. The loss of the life of just one precious child to the tragedy of suicide because of bullying behavior is one child too many. |
Introduced as HB645