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The Nanny Is Still Trying to Tame The Bullies

Governor Chris Christie held a press conference  yesterday to announce a fix that he doesn’t expect to work to the state’s misguided anti-bullying bill of rights.  The anti-bullying law was overturned as an unfunded mandate in January.  The “fix” announced yesterday is designed to keep the law, and its new nanny state bureaucracy in place.

Christie acknowledged the law “probably needs some work,” but declined to be specific. “I would not be surprised if we were back here a year or two from now with some fixes that were done in the Legislature to respond to some of the experiences of local school district folks,” he said.

From his comments above, it is clear that Christie understands that a “one size fits all” mandate, funded or not, which creates a new level of bureaucracy that will never die, will not work. 

Our friend Matt Rooney at Save Jersey points out that the anti-bully law addresses a problem created by court decisions which have deprived teachers of in loco parentis powers that have resulted the loss of control of classrooms.

The courts stripped teachers of in loco parentis (in the place of a parent) powers, so the government responds by creating a nanny state bureaucracy.  That’s loco.

Rooney’s old fashion solution is to empower the teachers.

Call me old fashioned, but the answer to our “bullying” problem isn’t the passage of new burdensome, expensive, hard-to-follow legislation that places additional burdens on overburdened teachers. Rather, we need to EMPOWER teachers by letting them control their classrooms again without interference from administrators who are terrified of “my kid is never wrong” parents (and their attorneys). A superior solution to burdensome “anti-bullying” laws: return control of classroom discipline to teachers!

I agree, but would go further. We need to empower teachers not only to discipline their students, we need to empower our teachers to empower children to deal effectively with bullies as a critical part of their education.

Instead of spending money we don’t have on bureaucrats that won’t solve the problem, teach kids to stand up for themselves and to get help standing up for themselves.

There is only one way to disempower a bully.  Defeat him or her.  Teach kids to do that and you’ll have healthier, happier and stronger kids who grow into healthier, happier stronger adults.

Create a bureaucracy and you’ll get reports and statistics that will “prove” how bad the problem is so that more money will be spent on it so that the bureaucracy can survive.

Posted: March 8th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Stupid laws | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Nanny Is Still Trying to Tame The Bullies

Senator Wants “Anti-Snow Dumping Act” As Part Of The Tool Kit

Senator Donald Norcross is the sponsor of the Anti-Snow Dumping Act (S1924). The bill would prohibit the common practice of plowing snow off private land and dumping it onto public areas, where, he says, it can become a major public safety hazard and result in additional costs to taxpayers.

We need a state law for that?

What about snow that public workers plow onto private land?  

What about the homeowners and tenants whose driveways are blocked by thousands of pounds of snow by public plows?  What about businesses that are inaccessable after the plows drive by? 

This is an issue that should be handled on the local level, by ordinance or common sense.  We don’t need a state law for it. 

Norcross said he wants to give local law enforcement and public works departments “straightforward and simple tools to stop the wasteful and selfish practice” of snow dumping.  Local law enforcement already have simple straightforward tools; guns and badges.  Public works guys have radios to call the guys with guns and badges.

Unfortunately, Norcross’s bill passed the Senate unanimously on December 13.    Joe, Jennifer and Sean!  What were you thinking?

Hopefully the bill will melt in the Assembly.  Huh!   Well, hopefully Governor Christie will veto the bill and make fun of it at his next town hall meeting.

Posted: December 28th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Stupid laws | Tags: | 3 Comments »