Frelinghuysen: New Anti-Bullying Law 'Another Thing Schools Have to Wrestle'

Republican Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen said the state's new anti-bullying act was "another thing schools have to wrestle with" before speaking to a gym filled with eighth-graders Monday morning.

Frelinghuysen said he planned to discuss the state's the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, which was enacted in September, but after a brief mention the District 13 representative took questions about government from students.

Before meeting with the students, however, Frelinghuysen said the new legislation—considered by many to be the nation's toughest anti-bullying law—contained many ideas most schools had already adopted.

"I think school are probably doing a pretty good job now, but now they're mandated to do certain things, which I think they could do voluntarily," he said. "There are obviously some schools where there hasn't been this type of focus. You have excellent schools here. In Sussex County, you don't tolerate second-class schools. It's just that this is an aspect of life that's more visible than it used to be. More people are able to get away with things than in the past."

The state's Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, which followed a former Rutgers University freshman's highly-publicized suicide last year among other issues, forces schools to fight bullying, intimidation and harassment—even if some cases occur off school grounds or online. Ridgewood native Tyler Clemente jumped off the George Washington Bridge last year when his roomate, police said, watched Clementi on a webcam in an intimate encounter with another man.

The unfunded law requires school officials follow a procedure for addressing and investigating possible bullying. Each district assigns an anti-bullying coordinator while each school must name an anti-bullying specialist and a school safety committee.

Earlier in the month, Hopatcong schools : "We're going into a new school year with a new focus on bullying, which is a healthy thing. But we do the kinds of things [the new law] asks us to do every day without the burden … this regulation has put on school districts."

Frelinghuysen said he also wanted to use the opportunity to show the children that Congress members were real people.

"It's always good to talk to eighth-graders before they move into high school," said Frelinghuysen, who had just finished a speaking engagement at Sparta Middle School. "I want to make sure that they know that members of Congress actually exist, that we're made up of flesh and blood. We want them to be involved in government, understand civic duty. I mean, government isn't a spectator sport. They can't be on the sidelines."

Frelinghuysen also spoke at the middle school last year and earlier in the month.