Anti-Bullying Law within the MERS District

Cindy Margulies, the designated anti-bullying Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District coordinator, held a special presentation about the state's new anti-bullying law and how the MERS district is handling it for the Board of Education on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

New Jersey's new anti-bullying legislation was introduced in October 2010, approved in November 2010, signed into law in January 2011 and went into effect on Sept. 1, 2011. Since the legislation moved quickly from introduction to implementation, Margulies said that the law would evolve and the district would have to change with Trenton. This has already happened with the district which documents a bullying incident, since Trenton indicated that documenting bullying occurences was under review.

"The intention of the law is prevention," Margulies said to the Board. "Prevention is key and I think we're on the road to that."

The two major changes in the new anti-bullying Bill of Rights are the new definition of bullying and the places where bullying can occur. In the previous legislation, bullying was defined as a "series of incidents", and now bullying is defined as "a single act or series of incidents".

Board Member James Mumolie said that defining bullying as a "single act" is the implementation of "zero tolerance policy", which he said does not work.

The fact that bullying which occurs off school property can be a school offense if it interferes with the school environment, is the second major change to in the anti-bullying Bill of Rights. This aspect of the law was influenced by social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter, where bullying can become rampant.

"We're really contributing to the children learning how to treat each other with respect and to care about how other children feel when you do something to them, and I think that's what's going to make the difference in the end," Superintendent John J. Marciante said about the law and how the strides the district has made in implementing it.

The above slideshow showcases all of the finer details of new anti-bullying legislation, so please flip through and read it for more information on the law and how the MERS district is operating with these changes.