Anti-bullying law hikes fines for parents

bill inspired by girl in Rockaway Township

By Gene Myers
Morristown Daily Record
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Anti-bullying penalties will increase for New Jersey parents, and school districts face new reporting requirements after Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a bill inspired by Morris County's Mallory Grossman.
..... Murphy signed the bipartisan measure into law on Monday, [01/10/2022] according to tow of its sponsors, state Senators Joseph Pennacchio of Morris County and Patrick Diegnana of Middlesex County.
.... The legislation was championed for years by the parents of Mallory Grossman, a 12-year-old from Rockaway Township who took her own life in 2017, after what her family said was relentless bullying Online and at her middle school.
..... The movement picked up steam in recent weeks, however, amid an investigation of alleged hazing by members of the Wall Township High School football team. On Monday, [01/10/2022] the day Murphy signed the bill, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office announced juvenile hazing and criminal sexual contact charges against an unspecified number of students at the school.
..... "The Legislature has aggressively moved to control bullying inn our schools, but hasn't been enough," Pennacchio, a Republican who also lives in Rockaway Township said in a statement. "Today, [01/10/2022] victims of bullying are prone to attack 24 hours a day by schoolmates or rivals texting from their phones or flexing social media muscles Online.
..... Approval of the measure - S-1790 in the state Senate and A1662 in the Assembly - was a victory for Mallory's mother, Dianne Grossman, and Mallory's Army, the nonprofit she named after her daughter. The tragedy turned Dianne and husband Seth Grossman into advocates who lobbied hare to update New Jersey's anti-bullying policies, which they said lacked teeth and accountability.
..... The legislation updates the state's Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, Under the new measure, districts must include in anti-bullying policies the specific consequences for a student harassing, intimidating, or bullying a schoolmate. The law also requires superintendents to provide school boards with data on all reports that meet the statutory definition of bullying.
..... Penalties will climb for parents or guardians who fail to comply with court-order requirements for their kids to attend anti-bullying classes, rising to 4100 to $500 from the current 425 to $100.
..... "Placing a higher price tag on compliance encourages parents to take some responsibility and put an end to their child's dangerous conduct," Penacchio said. "A $25 fine isn't going to do anything. A $500 fine is going to get their attention,"
.... Suicide is the second leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 14, Diegnan a Democrat, added in a statement Tuesday. [01/11/2022]
..... "This legislation seeks to address the unimaginable circumstances which led to the death of Mallory Grossman," he said.
..... Mallory's Law, as the legislation is unofficially known, also allows parents to initiate investigations by filing "tickets," or traceable records, with school officials, who have deadlines by which they must respond.
..... Parents and school officials at local, county and start levels will be notified immediately after a ticket has been submitted, even before a claim is substantiated, Dianne Grossman said in an interview.
..... "The next venture that we have to tackle is training,: said Grossman. "It's great that we now have the beginning of an infrastructure. But the second part of what we should be doing is spending time and money on training librarians, lunch aide and staff to be able to predict these behaviors. I hope to talk to the Department of Education about it."
..... The Grossman filed a lawsuit in 2017 against the Rockaway Township district and individual school officials, saying they failed to act on their daughter's behalf while she was at Copeland Middle School. the suit is still pending. The district at the time said the allegation that it ignored the Grossman family and failed to address bullying in general was "categorically false."
.... Murphy office did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday. [01/11/2022]

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