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SANTA FE - Can bullies in schools be stopped by a more aggressive state Legislature?
Sen. Mary Jane Garcia says the answer is a resounding yes.
"Some schools aren't doing anything at all. We have to," Garcia, D-Do a Ana, said in a recent interview.
She has introduced a bill that would require the state Public Education Department to establish guidelines for bullying prevention policies. Local school boards would have to implement them by August. She estimated the cost at $58,000, but it could be a tough sell for her, given that the state faces a deficit of $450 million.
Garcia's proposal cleared the Senate Education Committee last week on a 5-0 vote. It has another committee hearing Monday. She offered a similar bill six years ago that failed.
The Public Education Department already has a precise and lengthy policy against bullying, established in 2006. But, Garcia said, the rules had not been ingrained in school culture, so the Legislature must press the topic and see that they are imposed.
Her motivation for the bill, she said, was a horrific hazing case in 2008 involving football players from Robertson High School in Las Vegas, N.M.
Six upperclassmen used broomsticks to sodomize six younger boys during a preseason camp held outside Las Vegas. A police report stated that one assailant taunted a victim by saying, "Are you ready for your (bleeping) raping?"
The leader of the attackers, Michael Gallegos, pleaded guilty to six charges, including criminal
Robertson's head coach, Ray Woods, and his five assistants resigned soon after the sex assaults.
Victims and their parents have since sued the perpetrators, the Las Vegas City Schools, the former coaches and even one legislator.
The lawmaker is Garcia's colleague, Democratic state Sen. Pete Campos of Las Vegas. He was superintendent of the Las Vegas schools until a few weeks before the attacks. Campos resigned from the Las Vegas district to become president of a community college.
The plaintiffs say a culture of student misconduct had gone unchecked at Robertson High. They also allege that Campos hired Woods, even though Woods was not licensed to coach in New Mexico.
Campos said he could not talk about the lawsuit because it is pending. But, he said, the Robertson case haunts a town and probably always will.
"It polarized and traumatized and devastated that community," said Campos, whose son was at the football camp where the rapes occurred. "I gave 15 years to Robertson High School and what happened hurts. It's deep in my heart."
Unlike Garcia, Campos said the Public Education Department's attempts to stop bullying were effective.
"I believe the system is working, but it's always in need of review because of various situations that are not anticipated or the extremity of certain cases," he said.
Still, he supports Garcia's bill because he said it will advance discussions about how to make schools better and safer.
As a school superintendent, Campos said, he found that a number of allegations of bullying were not clear-cut, as an antagonist sometimes claimed to be the victim of bullying. In proven, extreme cases, he said, he recommended that the school board expel students for bullying.
An organization called Bully Police USA gave New Mexico a "B-plus" for its work to stop bullying. It says the Public Education Department's policy carries the force of law and has good approaches to detecting bullying and stopping it.
Garcia said her experiences show otherwise.
She said she personally went with parents to confront one school's administrators about their being oblivious to bullying. Garcia said bullies had turned a happy child into one who was nervous and unsure. She would not name the school, but said it no longer is in her legislative district.
"Some of these cases become so serious that they lead to suicide. I hate to see a kid take his own life," Garcia said.
Legislatures in Florida and Massachusetts approved anti-bullying laws after students hanged themselves. Both teens, one of them a girl, said they had been bullied by schoolmates.
Garcia said she was optimistic about her bill's chances, and that tight times make it all the more necessary.
"This bill will protect our students, and will also protect teachers and school districts from potential lawsuits," she said.
Garcia's proposal is SB 78.
Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or 505-820-6898. His blog is at http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/newmexico.
