PROMO Gives State Legislature Failing Grade
PROMO has assigned the Missouri Legislature a failing grade for its efforts in effectively addressing bullying in schools around the state, according to the organization’s Web site.
The group had been pushing for the passage of the Missouri Safe Schools Act, which would require schools to create anti-bullying policies based on race, religion and sexual orientation, among other things.
Current Missouri law already requires schools to have anti-bullying policies but gives them little guidance on implementing them.
Forty-eight percent of Missouri students have reported bullying, name-calling and harassment to be a problem in their school, compared to the national average of 36 percent of students reporting the same thing, according to figures cited on the PROMO Web site from a study published by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
.
Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, D-St.Louis, who co-sponsored the Missouri Safe Schools Act, said she will work with PROMO to form a safe schools coalition and will continue to sponsor the bill or any similar proposals until Missouri passes definitive anti-bullying legislation.
