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Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist has just signed into law the “Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act.” This is due mostly to the efforts of our friend Debbie Johnston from Cape Coral, Florida, a first-grade schoolteacher whose son Jeffrey took his life after being bullied and cyberbullied.

This law:

- requires districts to adopt policy prohibiting bullying & harassment, and to specify procedures for reporting, investigating, notifying, referring, and collecting data on incidents

- provides a measure of immunity for school districts in their investigation and response

- provides restrictions with respect to defense of action & application of provisions (which basically means that victims who defend themselves by fighting back won’t also be punished)

-makes DOE Safe Schools Funds conditional on compliance (which means that these anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying policies must be in place in order for the school district to keep receiving federal funds)

The law also states: “The physical location or time of access of a computer-related incident cannot be raised as a defense in any disciplinary action initiated under this section.” IANAL, but from my understanding this means that a perpetrator cannot point to the fact that the bullying took place via an electronic device as a justification to temper or qualify the severity of the behavior.

Congratulations, Debbie. We share your joy with this outcome.

June is Internet Safety Month. Parents should take this opportunity to have a brief talk with their kids about what they are doing online. Ask them about any unpleasant experiences they may have had. Tell them that you have heard about “cyberbullying” and wondered if they have had any such experiences. The earlier you have these discussions, the better. It’s not always easy, but it is crucial. You can start by asking your child to show you something new on the Internet/computer/cell phone. If you don’t have a social networking profile, and your child does, ask them to help you set one up. Then you can become “friends” with your child (both digitally, and in real life!) and see all that they have on their profile page. If you got a new cell phone, ask your child to show you how to use some of the features. These are great lead-ins for a more comprehensive discussion of online safety and responsibility.