Are Kansas schools doing enough to address bullying? Legislators say no.

Brawls in school bathrooms. Abuse of building staff.

Lawmakers and public school interest groups agree that there’s an issue in the amount of bullying going on unfettered in schools around Kansas.

The disagreement is in how to solve it.

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The House Education Committee is considering HB 2143, a bill that would require Kansas school districts to adopt and enforce certain anti-bullying policies, and enact procedures for schools to designate specific individuals to investigate bullying claims and protect any victims.

While virtually all of the state’s school districts already have similar policies in effect, HB 2143 would further require schools to allow victims — which could include students, staff, administrators and even parents — the opportunity to request an independent investigation under certain circumstances.

Walt Chappell, a former member of the Wichita and Kansas State boards of education, told the committee that despite a 2007 law requiring schools to adopt anti-bullying policies, schools are now less safe. He cited the 2011 case of a 14-year-old Wichita Northeast High School student who died by suicide after relentless bullying and what he said was inaction by school administrators.

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HB 2143, Chappell said, would force at least one adult to promptly investigate and take each complaint seriously.

“All this bill does is basically designate a person in the school district as the primary contact,” Chappell said. “Now many districts have that, but they may or may not get accurate data from building principals.”

Kansas school leader groups say HB 2143 is well-intentioned, but an unfunded mandate that may not fix bullying

Representatives for groups representing school district leaders and support staff told the committee that while they agreed with the principle of stopping additional bullying, they held reservations about the bill and instead remained neutral as to its passage.

Esau Freeman, the business representative for a union representing Wichita USD 259 support staff, said that members of his union have reported increasing amounts of violence and bullying over the past several years. Officials at Wichita Public Schools last fall installed security screening machines after "a rash of incidents," including a brawl, at several of its schools, the Wichita Eagle reported.

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However, Freeman said he was concerned that the bill, while well-intentioned, would be another unfunded mandate for local school staff.

“We do need something to happen,” Freeman said. “If any of you would like to reach out via email, I’d be happy to send you TikTok videos of all-out prison beatdowns that have been going down in our public schools. And it’s not because there’s not a teacher there telling kids to stop, but there is not enough staff dealing with the needs of children, and they’re acting out.”

Jimmy Karleskint, a former representative and educator turned lobbyist for the United School Administrators of Kansas, said even in his days as a principal, he recognized bullying to be a growing issue.

But he’s not sure it’s a problem that legislation can cure.

“Unfortunately, (bullying) is part of our world,” Karleskint said. “Can we correct it? We can work at it — it’s not perfect. But I think we need to work together to try to solve it, and I don’t think the language in this bill is going to take care of it. It’s going to take more than just this bill.”

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Scott Rothschild, communications editor with the Kansas Association of School Boards, said his organization shared many of the same concerns, in addition to questions as to how the bill could potentially conflict with other federal laws regarding student privacy and the bill’s overly broad language.

For example, the bill’s definition of “school vehicle” could end up encompassing siblings teasing or insulting each other in their family car on the way to or from school, Rothschild said.

Opponents of HB 2143 say bill simplifies complicated issue of school bullying

Lauren Tice Miller, director of government relations and elections for the Kansas chapter of the National Education Association teacher’s union, emphasized that no group is opposed to efforts to address bullying.

But the bill would simplify what is usually a very complicated and serious issue, she said. In virtually every case of bullying, federal student privacy laws prohibit schools from disclosing what, if any, discipline a bully might receive.

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A state statute, Tice Miller said, would remove from school leaders the flexibility and discretion needed to handle complicated bullying cases.

“We believe that the problem that this problem is attempting to address is less about the act of bullying, and more about the misperception of schools’ responses, or the perceived lack thereof to the allegations of bullying,” Tice Miller said.

Additionally, the Kansas State Department of Education has already been working on efforts to mitigate and prevent bullying, opponents of the bill said.

In 2019, education commissioner Randy Watson formed a blue-ribbon, antibullying task force that returned that same year with several recommendations for school districts to take to address the issue.

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They include better support and direction for school districts, continued focus on social-emotional and character development education, an emphasis on locally developed policies and plans, better data collection and training for school staff.

The task force had also recommended that Kansas State Board of Education examine Kansas’ anti-bullying laws to better define bullying, especially in the face of the growing type of cyberbullying occurring over social media.

'Turf war' leads to duplicate legislative, agency efforts to address Kansas school bullying

Deena Horst, a Salina Republican member of the state education board, told the committee that the proposed bill does nothing to fix those antiquated definitions, and it ignores both best practices and existing efforts from the Kansas State Department of Education to hold schools responsible for implementing anti-bullying efforts.

"It is the belief of the state board of education that legislators such as yourself should work with those of us on the state board and those who work at KSDE,” Horst said. “As partners, together, we should evaluate the merit of additional, proposed requirements.”

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Rep. Adam Thomas, an Olathe Republican and chair of the House Education Committee, expressed disappointment that legislators do want to partner with the state education board, KNEA and other statewide education groups. But he said the committee has often not heard from those groups until bills like HB 2143 come before it.

Chappell, the former Wichita school board member, had earlier told the committee that while Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution defers most authority over K-12 schooling to the State Board of Education, the Legislature also had the power to act.

He urged the committee to solve a problem that is too often leading to serious end results like suicide.

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“I and everyone in this room believes that lives are more important than a turf war between the Legislature and the State Board,” Chappell said. “The lives of our children and our teachers is much more important than squabbling with each other whether it’s your job or my job.

“My god, we all have that responsibility. Your job is to pass the laws. Their job is to implement what you pass. It’s that simple.”

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas anti-bullying bill would create new school procedures