Cyber-bullying not only happens on the internet through social media websites or chat rooms, but it also happens through cell phones, either in the form of text messages or phone calls. There is now an App meant to protect children from cyber-bullying through text messages.

It has been just over a year since Governor Patrick enacted the Massachusetts law on bullying, making Massachusetts the 42^nd state to pass such a law. [1] The law quickly became known as one of the strictest anti-bullying laws in the country, and the 2010-2011 school year was the first test run for school districts, charter schools, non-public schools, approved private day or residential schools, and collaborative schools across the state. Looking back over the past year, it is appropriate timing to reflect on the various legal implications that the law has created for all those involved – schools, students, and their respective parents.

Summer is sadly almost half way over and kids are off at summer camps throughout the state and country. It is important to remember that bullying can occur at camp just as easily as it can occur at school. If you are concerned that your child will be bullied while away at camp, there are steps you should take to ensure your child is protected.

It has been just over a year since Governor Patrick signed the Massachusetts law on bullying into effect, and now that the 2010-11 school year is coming to an end, it is appropriate timing to discuss what I believe to be a major issue with the law. The law was enacted to set guidelines for schools to follow to ensure that all students were protected from bullying. With this, the burden was placed on schools to act quickly in investigating the incident and punishing the aggressor. However, all too often schools rushed through the investigation or skipped over it completely and went straight to punishing the alleged bully.

A recent Schoolyard Lawyer blog entry, Special Education Students and the Bullying Law, discussed how the Massachusetts bullying law provides additional protections to students with disabilities. The law defines bullying as:

Cyberbullying, as defined in the Massachusetts Anti-Bullying Law, is “bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication.” The law sets forth many different means of cyberbullying, but the most common uses are via text messages, emails, phone calls, Social Media Websites such as Facebook, Formspring, and MySpace, or blog entries. The main difference between bullying and cyberbullying is that bullying requires that the prohibited behavior be repeated whereas cyberbullying only requires there to be a single instance of the prohibited behavior.

The Boston Globe reported that one in four students in Massachusetts schools are victims of bullying. A recent study conducted in middle schools and high schools across Massachusetts found a link between bullying and violence in the home.

The Massachusetts Anti-Bullying law offers additional protections for students with disabilities because they are more susceptible to being “targets” of bullying. The law has two requirements for students with disabilities, both of which must occur simultaneously: (1) there must be school-wide response to prevent the bullying of students with disabilities; and (2) the student’s IEP must develop the individual student’s ability to avoid and respond to bullying.

By Katie A. Meinelt, Esq.  ~ Email: kmeinelt@kcl-law.com Tel. (781) 997-1590

In light of recent incidents involving bullying in schools in Massachusetts and all over the country, Governor Deval Patrick signed an anti-bullying bill into law on May 3, 2010 making Massachusetts the 42^nd state to pass such a law. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill, and it has quickly become known as one of the strictest anti-bullying laws in the country. The law applies to school districts, charter schools, non-public schools, approved private day or residential schools, and collaborative schools.

The law defines bullying as unwelcome and repeated “written, verbal, or electronic expression or a physical act or gesture or any combination thereof, directed at a victim that (1) causes physical or emotional harm to the victim or damage to the victim’s property, (2) places the victim in reasonable fear of harm to himself or of damage to his property; (3) creates a hostile environment at school for the victim; (iv) infringes on the rights of the victim at school; or (v) materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school.”