N.H. House passes bill to gut bullying law

"Proposed changes to the Pupil Safety and Violence Prevention Act overwhelmingly passed the House Tuesday as supporters cited an overstep on parental rights while opponents, who created the current law, say it was created to enhance the rights of parents.

'I fought as a parent for four years to get this law passed,' said Carol Croteau, a parent from Kingston who helped craft the current law. 'This law was about parents rights and students rights. As far as I'm concerned, the new law while it's not perfect and may need (to be) addressed in a few years, we need a few years to (determine what should be) addressed.'

The House voted Tuesday 248-96 in support of House Bill 370, which seeks to revise the current Pupil Safety and Violence Prevention Act, that was adopted last year, by changing its wording to delete a description of what it means to be targeted by bullying. This would eliminate a superintendent's ability to gauge whether notifying a child's family of a bullying incident within 48 hours is in the child's best interest and would change a provision that covers bullying and cyberbullying actions that happen off school property.

Though it originally did not include any provisions on bullying and cyberbullying incidents that happen off school property, HB 370 was amended to state that if school board members or school employees become aware of bullying off campus, they must notify the principals of the victim and the perpetrator. Those principals then notify the parents or guardians within 48 hours."

Read more at Seacoast Online.