Bullying bill's backer a county resident

By JUSTIN HARMON/Staff

Bullying is something many kids have to deal with at one point or another.
But Kristl Widener doesn’t see it like that.
Widener, a member of the anti-bullying watchdog group Bully Police USA and a Washington County resident, said that while the state’s anti-bullying laws were OK, they needed to be better.
“They were missing all language regarding cyber bullying (bullying over the Internet) and they needed some other language, too,” Widener said of the state’s laws. “I just wanted better for the children.”
To that effect, Widener, with the help of fellow Bully Police members Brenda Morrison and Ava Morgan put in some calls to Virginia Delegate David Englin, who was sponsoring a bill to put more muscle behind the state’s anti-bullying efforts. Widener told him of her concerns and he listened.
“I have more faith (in our representatives),” she said. “They didn’t ignore what I had to say and my county will be a better place.”
Englin could not be reached for comment, but according to an article on his Web site, he said people like Widener made him aware of technology being used to bully students.
“I also heard from parents, teachers and administrators that they are ill-equipped to deal with this new phenomenon and would appreciate some expert guidance,” said Englin in the article.
With Widener and other’s concerns on his mind, Englin focused House Bill 1624 on cyber bullying, requiring the state to develop a way to handle the problem.
On April 8, Gov. Tim Kaine signed the bill into law.
“In this new era of social networking and other online resources, it’s important that Virginia take a proactive approach to protect our children from potential cyber bullying,” said Kaine after he signed the bill.
Again while Widener said the bill was good before, this brought the state’s grade under Bully Police USA’s system to “A++”. According to Widener, this is the highest possible grade that can be given.
However, Widener said Englin is the one who deserves most of the credit.
“He played the major role in this by getting it passed,” she said. “We’re all pleased with the bill. It made me feel better,” she said.
According to the legislation, it would require the State Board of Education to develop the guidelines and regulations to pass down to the schools. With those, Widener said the schools will be able to better address the problem.
Justin Harmon can be reached at 628-7101 or jharmon@wythenews.com