Dear REV. ANNE,
As you may know, dangerous legislation that will repeal the strongest anti-bullying policies in the state is moving through the legislature in Tallahassee.
House Bill 535 - Bullying and Harassment - has passed three committee hearings and has a final hearing in the House Education Council tomorrow - Tuesday, April 18th.
This hearing presents the final chance to amend this bill. Without amendments, HB-535 could seriously undermine or overturn the strongest local safe schools policies in our state, including those in: Pinellas, Hillsborough, Dade, Broward, Monroe, Palm Beach, Orange, Alachua, Lee, Escambia and Clay County.
Three Things You Can Do
1) Click here to email the House Education Council and ask them to protect local policies.
2) Call our allies on the House Education Council and tell them to protect local policies by taking a stand for the necessary amendments. Scroll to the end of this email for talking points and phone numbers.
3) Click here to contribute to getting students, educators, and legal experts to Tallahassee for this final hearing. (Link to Donation Campaign)
Also, if you happen to be in or around Broward County today, please joins us for a Safe Schools Rally this afternoon starting at 4:00 in front of the School Board Building at 600 SE 3rd Ave. and show your support for protecting ALL students.
Additional Information
Anti-bullying experts say comprehensive bills with enumerated categories are essential to ensure that educators do not allow individual bias to prevent them from intervening. While categories do not limit the school's responsibility they do provide needed guidance in ensuring the most vulnerable students are protected.
Our local policies are models that should be replicated across the state, not undermined by the Legislature. This bill must be amended to allow local schools who are leading on this issue to continue to provide the best protection to their students.
Sincerely,
Nadine Smith
Executive Director
Call Our Allies on the House Education Council Rivera, David (R) (Vice Chair) - 850-488-7897Culp, Faye (R) - 850-488-2770Detert, Nancy (R) - 850-488-1171Antone, Bruce (D) - 850-488-0760Bendross-Mindingall, Dorothy (D) - 850-488-0625Greenstein, Ron (D) - 850-488-3164Justice, Charlie (D) - 850-488-9337Vana, Shelley (D) - 850-488-4791
Talking Points:1) Rep. Bogdanoff's bill must be amended to protect strong existing local policies that enumerate prohibited behaviors.
2) Rep. Bogdanoff's bill is so vague it will likely be unenforceable. Existing model policies known to be the most effective recognize that enumerating categories of prohibited behavior is essential to the enforcement of the policy.
3) Rep. Bogdanoff's bill must be amended to protect all students and to include training of teachers on how to intervene when bullying occurs.
Our years of hard work are paying off and a statewide Safe Schools policy is within reach. Please tell 5 friends about what's going on in Tallahassee this coming week and ask them to support our Safe Schools effort.