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Idaho's existing Anti-Bullying law does not yet contain provisions for training, notification of parents, students and staff or specific categories to ensure that no group of kids is put at risk by being left out of distict bullying policies.
Lawmakers surely agree, all students have the right to be safe and free from harassment and fear at school.
Every parent deserves the right to have their child educated in a safe and welcoming environment.
According to several national studies, youth struggling with issues of sexual orientation or gender identity are between three
and four times as likely to attempt suicide as their heterosexual peers.
Over the past five years Idaho has had between the third and the eleventh highest suicide rate in the nation with 187 young people
completing suicide across the state between 2005 and 2009.
In the last half of 2010, at least twelve students nationally – ranging in age from 13 to 19 – have committed suicide following
harassment at school based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
A 2009 National School Climate Survey of 7,261 students aged 13 to 21 found that among gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgender students:
--61% felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation
--Students often missed school because they felt unsafe
--84.6% reported being verbally harassed,
--40.1% reported being physically harassed and
--18.8% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.
--12.5% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their gender expression.
The same study found that students attending schools with an anti-bullying policy that included protections based on sexual orientation
and/or gender identity or expression heard fewer homophobic remarks, experienced lower levels of victimization related to their sexual
orientation and were more likely to report staff intervened when anti-gay remarks were made.
Eighteen states have anti-bullying policies specifi cally protecting students on the basis of categories such as age,
gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Naming specifi c categories allows schools to clarify to students and parents that each category of student is in fact included in a schools’
anti- bullying policies, so that no student or parent assumes some categories of students are excluded. Including specific
categories in legislation also ensures that training for teachers will include specifi c information to help them address every type of bullying.
This fall the U.S. Department of Education notified Idaho that it is a state responsiblity to improve anti-bullying laws.
They note that schools are liable and legally required to protect all students from harassment & bullying.
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