House approves 'cyberbullying' bill

Minnesota schools will have to come to grips with the kind of bullying that occurs not on the playground, but over the Internet and through other electronic forms of communication under a bill that received final passage Friday in the House.

The "cyberbullying" bill requires school districts to extend their current anti-bullying policies to deal with the new bullying threat-students who use cell phones, text messaging and Internet postings to disparage and intimidate other students.

"Kids were bringing cell phones into locker rooms and taking pictures and distributing them," said chief House bill author Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center. "There were postings on Internet websites where you could vote for 'who is the ugliest.' Now, it's the whole new technology that makes [bullying] a lot easier."

A companion measure passed the Senate earlier in the legislative session, which means the bill needs only Gov. Tim Pawlenty's expected signature to become law.

Attorney General Lori Swanson, who pushed for the measure, cited cyberbullying as a growing school problem.

"In Minnesota, both kids and teachers have been victimized by bullies who attempt to hide behind the veil of anonymity of the Internet," she said in a prepared statement. According to Swanson, an estimated 13 million school-age children nationwide have been victims of cyberbullying.

Hilstrom said many schools already have recognized the problem.

"Some districts have gone so far to say 'no cell phones in school,' and many schools have policies on what is allowed and what is not allowed when using school computers," she said.