Pearl River Reaction: Cuomo Signs Cyberbullying Legislation Into Law

The 2010 Dignity for All Students Act required school districts to adopt anti-bullying policies by July 1, 2012. 

The Pearl River School District chose not to wait. The Board of Education had already held a second reading of the policy at its meeting June 21, 2011, then approved it as part of the Pearl River Schools Code of Conduct July 6, 2011.  

"The district was proactive and adopted a Student Bullying Prevention and Intervention Policy last July, one year before the Dignity for All Students Act went into effect," Pearl River Director of Human Resources and Community Services Diana Musich said. "This year, faculty and staff in all the schools were provided with staff development training on how to spot bullying and what to do. Committees were formed in each of the schools to plan activities for staff and students. A great deal of time was spent this year on bullying prevention, and the district is committed to continue its efforts."

At the July 6, 2011 meeting, Pearl River Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Morgano pointed out that the new district code of conduct "addresses threatening online communication, which is a growing concern."

State officials shared that concern. That led to an amendment to the Dignity for All Students Act which not only gives school officials tools to protect students from cyber bullying, but also requires schools to take action to prevent such bullying, even in some cases if it occurs off campus. The legislation was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday.

"We must do all we can to ensure that every child in New York State feels safe in the classroom, and this new law will help our schools create an environment that is conducive to educational success," Cuomo said. "Under this new law, schools will play an important role -- working with families, communities and law enforcement -- to prevent harassment, bullying and discrimination, and to support a student's right to learn."

More information from Cuomo's office can be found in his press release. The law will take effect in July 2013. At that time, districts will have to have protocols in place to deal with cyber bullying and they will have to train staff to identify and prevent it.

Cuomo's release defines school responsibilities as follows:

"The law requires that schools act in cases of cyber bullying, which may occur on or off campus, when it creates or would create a substantial risk to the school environment, substantially interferes with a student's educational performance or mental, emotional or physical well-being, or causes a student to fear for his or her physical safety."

Administrators in Pearl River and many other school districts have praised the intent of the law, but there is concern regarding expanded obligations of schools regarding incidents that happen outside of their buildings.

"Clearly, this legislation is to protect children from bullying, however there will be challenges for schools," said Pearl River Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Sue Wheeler. "The challenge will be in dealing with situations that occur when students are not in school. We need to work with parents and teach children how to use technology responsibly and that there could be school consequences for their actions even when the behavior occurs outside of school.

"Through a home-school partnership, we need to educate and reinforce with students the fact that comments made by computer, phone text, email, blog, Facebook, etc., are out there for the world to see. Such comments cannot be taken back or erased and are often traceable to the author."

Morgano pointed out that this comes as schools are also dealing with new teacher and administrator evaluations mandated by the state. 

"This new legislation does not have an additional cost in terms of money, but I do see the potential for a good deal of additional time on the part of building administration devoted to compliance with this requirement," Morgano said. "These additional requirements come at a time when we are asking our administrators and faculty to comply with new APPR requirements, which will also require a good deal of time with no additional support."