By: Landon Stark

Have you ever wondered why teachers have a difficult time deciding when to get involved in issues involving Twitter and Facebook? Teachers and students seem to be confused about when tweets and statuses go too far, causing people to take action. The reason people have such a difficult time deciding when to get involved is because there is no set laws or guidelines.

There is currently an Anti-bully Bill being tossed around and possibly getting passed. The bill is being backed by Gov. Terry Branstad and a key leader in the Iowa House. If the bill gets passed it will expand a school’s authority when addressing bullying and harassment, whether they occur on school grounds or off school grounds. The bill will also add social media websites as a form of bullying schools may address.

Once the bill is in place there will be legal definitions of “harassment” and “bullying” which would help define harassment and bullying among students. An example according to Branstad’s office is if there is a situation in which a boy threatens a classmate for dating his ex-girlfriend.  Also if a group of girls are shunning others it could be considered bullying.

Matt Carver, a legal service director for School Administrators of Iowa said, “it clarifies the authority for school officials for when they’d be able to act.” Though the bill gives the authority to address harassment and bullying, this does not mean people are not expected to chase down everything negative exchanged between students.

With this new bill in place administrators would be able to address issues inside and outside of school involves students. Hopefully with the new bill in place people will know when the right time is to get involved in situations, and put an end to it as soon as possible.