ANTI-BULLYING BILL LANGUISHES
Lowell officials resist filing legislation in wake of teen’s death
No legislator has filed a bill to change the state’s anti-bullying law in the wake of the death of a 16-year-old Lowell girl, who took her own life last year after she was relentlessly bullied in middle and high school.
Elected officials vowed to take action after the Boston Herald and Lowell Sun six months ago reported on Anna Aslanian’s tragic death — but the Lowell State House delegation and other lawmakers have failed to re-examine the anti-bullying policy in schools.
Advocates say the state law is weak and needs beefing up to protect victims. So far, however, nothing has been done to address it.
“We heard months ago such a positive, powerful message from several politicians — that this can’t continue,” Itea Aslanian, Anna’s mother, said last week. “We’re really hoping something happens because the system right now is broken.
“It’s just a matter of time before something like this happens again, unless something changes,” she added.
Anna left her family a letter detailing previously unreported bullying and body-shaming that destroyed her self-esteem. She took her own life three days after her birthday in October.
Officials in January discussed amending the state’s bullying policy — which currently does not allow bullying victims to learn how or if the bully was punished by the school. The Lowell City Council sent a motion to the Lowell State House delegation to revisit the policy, but nothing has been filed.
“No one in the delegation had any interest in filing that,” said Lowell Sen. Edward Kennedy, who’s also a city councilor. “I don’t think that’s a very thoughtful solution, and wouldn’t do anything to curtail bullying.”
An area school committee member had been pushing for this “victim bill of rights” provision in the wake of Anna’s death. Ray Boutin, on the Greater Lowell Tech School Committee, said he talked to Lowell legislators about the bill, but they resisted filing it due to student privacy laws.
“Because of the age of students under federal law, they didn’t think they could have a law allowing disclosure,” Boutin said. “It’s obviously a shame that the privacy of a bully is going to take precedent over a victim. It’s disheartening.”
Anna’s mother said defending privacy for bullies doesn’t make sense to her.
“That’s absurd,” Itea said. “How can you expect victims to feel safe when they can’t know if the school helped them? How does that system work? It doesn’t.
“As long as you keep protecting the bully, victims will continue to be uncomfortable,” she said. “They feel like no one is there for them.”
Other than Kennedy, the other members of the Lowell delegation — Reps. Tom Golden, Dave Nangle and Rady Mom — did not respond to requests for comment last week.
Kennedy cited the state’s 2010 anti-bullying law, which was seen as a landmark piece of legislation. The bill established a set of requirements for schools that included procedures for staff and students to report bullying, standards for reporting incidents to law enforcement, and requirements to provide annual training to all faculty.
“Every school district has a policy regarding bullying, and those policies have to be approved by the state department of education,” Kennedy said. “That’s a good way to go, for school districts to handle it themselves.
“Some school districts do a better job than others,” he added.
A spokeswoman for Lowell Public Schools said safety and school climate continue to be the district’s top priority.
“Lowell Public Schools is continually studying our curriculum in all areas and reviewing our programs, supports and resources that are available to both students and staff,” district spokeswoman Latifah Phillips said in a statement. “Consistent with these efforts, school administrators and District and City officials have met to discuss the ongoing planning and implementation of social-emotional and mental health supports for our students, staff and families across the district.”
Some of these actions and activities at Lowell High School include: schoolwide anti-bullying planning for the upcoming school year as a continuation of a mental health grant; schoolwide expansion of the Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports framework to reduce bullying; and visits from the The NAN Project to discuss mentalhealth awareness and suicide prevention.
“The district will continue to work with school teams and city and community partners to complete summer planning for a successful school opening and a safe, welcoming and engaging school learning environment across all schools in the new school year,” Phillips said.