Please ask your Florida Senator to oppose SB 1410

The problem with SB 1410 is not the problem of substantiation.  The problem with SB 1410 is this:  It funnels taxpayer money away from neighborhood and magnet schools and towards private schools.

Link to what Sue Legg says about the bill:
https://lwveducation.com/new-voucher-bully-bill-filed/

If the #metoo movement is teaching us anything, then it should be teaching us to believe victims.  Making it harder for a victim to get help is NOT helpful.  It isn’t helpful to the victim.  It isn’t even helpful to the harasser because that person has missed an opportunity to find a way to make a course correction in their habits.  And it is certainly NOT helpful to society.   Society has condoned awful behavior for far too long. My comments are a reaction to people that say things such as this:

Pasco district officials say a substantiated allegation is part of the definition of bullying. So they have put forth a policy recommendation that would offer the voucher only “upon conclusion of the investigation and a finding that the student was subjected to any of the incidents” listed in the law creating the program.

That’s a quote from article at this link:  https://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/2019/02/26/pasco-schools-want-to-verify-bullying-claims-before-offering-state-scholarship/

I don’t have the answer to bullying.  BUT I certainly don’t think the solution is to offer a voucher to be used to reduce private tuition.  That solution MIGHT possibly help one victim.  But what about the bully?  What about the future potential victims?

It seems odd to me that some that support people like Trump call us snowflakes when we advocate for people to be nice.  BUT now DeSantis and other Florida GOP legislators want to give vouchers to people that say they are bullied. Are those people snowflakes according to DeSantis and the other GOP legislators?

I am glad that the GOP sees that bullying is a problem. I think we do have a culture of bullying. And I think we should work to change it. BUT this bill SB 1410 is NOT the way to change that culture. What we need is more social workers and mental health counselors that can attempt to change the culture of bullying.

Part of the solution is teaching kids ways to respond to teasing, to not take things personally AND to teach kids NOT to bully others.

There are a number of bills in the Florida Congress that are trying to solve various problems by robbing the neighborhood and magnet schools of funding.  Please let us urge them to STOP doing that.   We need social workers,  mental health counselors, tutors and teacher’s aids.  We need to beautify the buildings and grounds so our neighborhoods will be proud of their neighborhood schools. Please stop the legislators from robbing our neighborhood schools of funding.

This article points out problems with SB 7030 which aims to arm teachers:
https://theconversation.com/school-shooters-usually-show-these-signs-of-distress-long-before-they-open-fire-our-database-shows-111242
Quote from article:

Instead, our data show that threats of school violence should be seen as a plea for help. These threats are a critical moment for a student to be connected with high-quality resources, such as mental health treatment, social services or substance use treatment.