Lawmakers listen to anti-bullying message
Mack not ready to support federal help
WASHINGTON — Debbie Johnston got only a few minutes of face time with her local congressman Thursday, but the Cape Coral teacher and anti-bullying advocate said the time was well spent.
“I felt really good about it,” said Johnston, who for three hours led a group of Southwest Florida teachers and students through crowded and noisy halls of the U.S.
Capitol to raise awareness of teen suicide and student bullying.
The cramped office of U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers, was their first stop.
“I’m here to draw the connection between bullying and teen suicide,” Johnston said.
The Trafalgar Middle School teacher and everyone with her wore a red T-shirt bearing the likeness of her teenage son, Jeff, who committed suicide last year after enduring more than two years of cyberbullying by a fellow student.
| Debbie Johnston, left, and Dr. Ruth Lohmeyer walk outside the Capitol. |
However, the congressman said he was not yet ready to endorse federal legislation that would mandate action.
"I'm more comfortable with this being handled on the state level," Mack said as he rushed from the meeting to cast a vote on the House floor.
In the year since her son's suicide, Johnston has become one of Florida's leading advocates for teen suicide prevention and school-based anti-bullying programs.
A bill named for her son, the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act, passed Florida's House on a 116-0 vote but died in the state Senate when the relevant committees failed to act before the session adjourned.
To help make her case, Johnston was accompanied by local students who offered their own tales of encounters with school bullies.
"I was picked on by a girl," said Ashley Vetrano, a freshman at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers. "I switched groups. It was difficult."
Brytney Swazey, a ninth-grader at Ida Baker High School in Cape Coral, said teachers and counselors are aware of bullying and could do more to intervene.
"They think it's just joking around, and they don't take any action to make it stop," Swazey said.
Ida S. Baker High School Principal Joe Vetter said his was the first Lee County high school to present BullySafeUSA training to students last year. He plans for more training this school year, and added that the parent of a student with special needs has offered to put on sensitivity training, to help students be more sympathetic with their peers who might be different from them.
When the administration does become aware that bullying is taking place, Vetter said, the school acts immediately. Because bullying can take many forms, the school handles it on a case-by-case basis, sometimes using mediation and counseling, other times using discipline if the district's student Code of Conduct has been violated.
"I think in this case, the student is wrapped up in the excitement about going to Washington, D.C.," Vetter said. "What I would say is, are there situations? Absolutely. Do I believe the staff takes it lightly? No. We have such a well-disciplined environment, we don't take any situation lightly."
He added that he was disappointed the student would make a general statement.
"If there is a specific situation going on, I would be most appreciative if she would make our staff aware of it," Vetter said.
Nearly 5 million children are physically or verbally threatened by another student each year, and as many as half of all children are bullied at some time during their school years, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
There are at least two bills pending in Congress that would create a federal anti-bullying policy, but neither is likely to pass as lawmakers rush to complete other legislation before adjourning to campaign for re-election.
Johnston's group also met with U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican whose congressional district includes much of Port Charlotte.
Foley said he would like to see legislation that would address school bullying and teen suicide.
"It's a national problem," Foley said. "Members of Congress can't ignore the urgency of it."
— The News-Press staff writer Jason Wermers contributed to this report
1 Comments:
I read about Jeff's suicide and I went numb. I didn't know him, but I want to tell his family that out of all this darkness, there will be light. The person who bullied him until he took his life will suffer the consequences of his own actions.
It takes a truly evil person to hurt another like that boy hurt Jeff. The twist here is that Jeff wasn't gay...the boy who bullied him is! This kid's own insecurity and fear about his sexuality drove him to be cruel to a young boy who did absolutely nothing to him. I was bullied throughout my school years, even in college, and I'm a heterosexual woman. Nothing was ever done about it.
I hope the Johnston family pulls together in this painful time of loss. By all accounts, Jeff was a special kid with a big heart. The bully will wake up one day and live with this guilt, knowing that he contributed to the death of another human being through his cruelty. What goes around comes around. Parents, please see to it that your child isn't the victim of bullying OR misusing the Internet in any way. So many children have taken their own lives because of their classmates abusing them, whether physically or psychologically, like Jeff was abused.
You are missed, Jeff.
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