Wisconsin Bullying Law: Parents To Be Fined If Their Kids Are Bullies
Bullying has become an American epidemic, and now one Wisconsin city has passed a law that holds parents financially liable if their kids are bullies in an effort to curb the problem. Parents in Shawano, Wisconsin, will now be subject to fines if their child (under the age of 18) bullies another child or children. As WQAD 8 reports, under the Wisconsin city’s new bullying law, parents will get a warning from police if it is determined that their child has been bullying another child. From that point, parents will have 90 days to address and curb their child’s bullying behavior. If they can’t get their bullying kid in check, it starts to become a costly problem.
If, after 90 days, parents in the Wisconsin city can’t get their bullying child or children under control, under the new law they will face a $366 fine. A subsequent bullying offense (within a year) will cost parents of bullying children in the Wisconsin city another $681.
The new anti-bullying law in Wisconsin is pretty broad, too. It covers bullying or harassment of “any kind,” including cyber-bullying. The new Wisconsin anti-bullying law is applicable to anyone under 18 and their parents.
“This isn’t generated towards the kids being kids, some playground banter. This is the person that is meticulously using social media or saying things that are vulgar in an attempt to hurt, discredit, and really demean a person.”
On May 2, Chief Kohl attended a Shawano Board of Education meeting at Shawano Community High School to explain the new Wisconsin bullying law in more detail, as well as to answer parents’ questions. During the meeting, current district policies on bullying were outlined, and included the following.
- Local Shawano schools take bullying issues very seriously.
- Every student is taught what bullying is, bullying-prevention and what to do if they spot bullying or are bullied.
- How to formally report bullying.
- That in-school consequences for bullying are confidential, and don’t always curb negative behavior. For this reason, in some cases parents and/or students feel as though nothing has been done.
- That changes to the bullying policy, including the implementation of fines under the new Shawano, Wisconsin, bullying law, are happening to ensure that students feel safe at school and are able to learn to their fullest potential.
As Newsy reports, the new Wisconsin bullying law has some precedent. In recent years, two other Wisconsin towns have implemented their own versions of the anti-bullying law that Shawano has adopted. Neither of those towns has had to fine any parents for their kids’ bullying behaviors — yet.
“He was bullied from middle school to high school. His parents found him in a puddle of blood … the same age as my son.”
Around the same time, in another California city, a gay student was shot in the back of the head by another male student whom he’d been rumored to have a crush on.
Unlike Shawano, Wisconsin, the Carson, California, anti-bullying ordinance failed to pass. However, the city’s attempt to put criminal repercussions into place for the parents of bullies brought the issue of the country’s bullying epidemic into the national spotlight.
In 2013, a study presented by the CDC indicated that a whopping 20 percent of high school students reported that they were the victims of bullying in any given school year.
What do you think? Is this a positive step forward in tackling the nation’s bullying problem? Does this Wisconsin city law do the right thing by threatening parents with fines for their kids’ bullying?
[Image Courtesy Of Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
