Cyberbullying role proposed for school security director

The state school security director would address cyberbullying under a bill heard by the Education Committee March 10.

LB572, introduced by Hyannis Sen. Al Davis, would expand the duties of the state’s school security director, a position established by the Legislature in 2014. Davis said that the very nature of cyberbullying makes it difficult to identify the source of the bullying.

“Bullying has plagued our schools and gained an even more sinister side with the spread of technology,” he said. “I’m concerned about the school culture where students can keep victimizing others through the sharing of photos and videos online.”

Under the bill, the director would be responsible for making recommendations on curricular and extracurricular materials to assist school districts in preventing and responding to cyberbullying and digital citizenship.

Rev. Jerry Albright, executive director of Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska, spoke in favor of the bill. He said bullying affects all children without regard to age, gender, race or ethnicity.

“The fear of bullying keeps as many as 160,000 kids out of school on any given day,” he said. “Every young person has the right to feel safe at home, in their school, in their faith community and in their community at large. This is a serious social problem that must be addressed.”

Karen Haase, a Lincoln attorney who provides training on digital citizenship issues, also supported the bill.

“One of the most important things I’d like you to understand is that schools care a lot about these [bullying] issues,” she said. “The problem is tremendous and education is the key to solving this problem. We need to teach our students how to use these technologies [responsibly].”

No one testified in opposition to the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.