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.
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.
Assemblyman Gilbert Wilson, D-Camden, has sponsored legislation that would compel genetic parternity testing of all infants at birth, according to a report on NJ.com. The cost of the test would be born by the parents or the insurer.
While Wilson said the measure applies to mothers and fathers alike, “mostly this should be geared towards the father because with the mother, of course, there is no doubt.”
The problem is not limited to guests on angst-ridden television talk shows, said Wilson, a Democrat from Camden County who goes by the nickname Whip.
“I’ve heard different stories about fathers who are raising children and paying support for a child and come to find out years later that it wasn’t their child,” he said. “It’s a devastating thing to find out.”
Wilson said the bill would allow men who turn out not be a child’s father to seek reimbursement for support or other expenses they have incurred raising the child.
Our liberal friends at Blue Jersey called the bill “man-centered, not kid-centered. Shame.”
It seems to me that the legislation is truth centered but nanny state centric.
The bill doesn’t seem to have much of a chance of becoming law according to the NJ.com piece.
Wilson might have a shot of getting Republican support for the bill if it granted either parent named on a birth certificate the authority to order such a test at his/her own expense….if they don’t already have that right.
The horrendous attack of a Belmar homeless man, David Ivins, has already resulted in new legislation being proposed.
Monmouth County Republican Assembly Members Dave Rible and Mary Pat Angelini, along with Assembly Republican Conference Leader Jon Bramnick of Westfield, Union County, announced that they will sponsor legislation that will increase penalities for recording and distributing an assault:
Rible, Angelini & Bramnick to Sponsor Legislation in Response to Attack on Homeless Man
“A perpetrator videotaping a crime and using the video to re-live the event is a horrendous act and deserves a more severe penalty,” said Bramnick.
Measure Would Increase Penalties for Taping and Posting Video of an Assault
Assembly Republican Whip Dave Rible, Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, and Assembly Republican Conference Leader Jon Bramnick announced that they will sponsor legislation that increase penalties and mandate jail time for videotaping and distributing the recording of an assault.
The Assembly members are sponsoring this legislation in response to a recent attack in which two teenagers beat a homeless man in Wall Township while they videotaped and then posted the attack on the Internet.
“The action taken by these two boys is completely outrageous and calls for serious jail time,” said Rible. “There needs to be severe repercussions put into place to ensure that no one else attempts to reenact this inexcusable attack on an innocent person.”
Two young men followed and attacked a homeless man in a wooded area of Wall Township. They beat the man and then stole his bike while they openly mocked him, videotaping the whole incident as it occurred.
“It is absolutely appalling that two young men found it amusing to stalk and attack a homeless man,” said Angelini. “The fact that the young men posted the attack on the Internet as if it was entertainment is frightening and we must send a clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated in our state.”
Under this legislation, videotaping and distributing the recording of an assault will result in an automatic second degree aggravated assault charge. A person convicted of a second degree aggravated assault charge is subject to 5-10 years in prison and a fine of up to $150,000.
While the attack certainly warrants a response, do we really need another law?
Is this proposed law even advisable? According to the news reports about this incident, we wouldn’t even know it happen or who did it if the alleged perpetrators had not taped the attack and put it on YouTube.
