One Year Later, Three Dead Kids and Still No Anti-bullying Laws in Michigan

by Todd Heywood

 

  

Back in late December of 2008, in the wee hours of the morning, the Michigan Senate was finishing work for the year. A frenzy of lobbying and negotiations resulted in the passage of bills. One bill, Matt's Safe School law, came within a hairsbreadth of passage.

That is until uber-conservative state Sen. Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) intervened, getting activists to strip out a controversial provision that would list a group of protected classes, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

So, here we are in mid-March 2010, a year and three months since Cropsey killed a deal on anti-bullying legislation. And where are we?

We still have no comprehensive anti-bullying law, one of only nine states in the union without such coverage. And now, Kevin Epling, co-director of BullyPolice USA and the father of the young man after whom the legislation is named, says three youth have committed suicide.

The most recent suicide happened earlier this month in the upper peninsula of Michigan. According a report in the Marquette Mining Journal, 12-year-old Kimberly Linczeski was the victim of bullying. The attacks on the girl continued for months, until she lost her temper and fought back. She was suspended. She went hope and suffocated herself. She died three days later.

“Since ‘Matt’s Law’ was stopped by (State Sen.) Alan Cropsey we have endured three additional deaths, including Kimberly,” Epling told me in an e-mail for a story on Michigan Messenger. “We lost a full year of educational awareness that very possibly could have saved a life. Having a law will require schools to have a policy which can help parents, students and staff work together on issues rather than being on two separate sides of the same issue. We all want our children to be safe, but we need to work harder, and better as a team.”

Republicans assured me this week they are meeting to schedule moving the legislation. Specifically, the office of Sen. Ron Jelink (R-Three Oaks Township) says that meeting would happen this week. For his part, Jelink has promised the legislation will pass by the end of this year.

The question is, can kids wait that long?