New law requires school to tell parents about bullying


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OGDEN — A new law requires schools to tell parents if their child is bullied, but some said they think the law needs revision.

The law, which went into effect Sept. 1, may seem like something everyone would be in favor of, but at a conference held at Weber County Library Tuesday, a group of people said the law needs to be fixed.

The meeting focused on brain-storming ideas for how a school should handle gay students being bullied who aren't ready to come out to their parents. People at the conference said they like the new law, but that not every student's case is the same.

"Maybe the parents would be upset to learn of the allegations about their child," said Planned Parenthood Education Director Anabel Sheinberg.

Christine D'Arco said there was a point in her life when she decided she had had enough with bullying. She said she told a joke to a friend who took it the wrong way.

"I was bullied from first grade to 12th grade and I considered suicide more than the average person," she said.

D'Arco said she came to the anti-bullying conference in Ogden to share her story. Specialists said that her story was similar to many others.

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"We've actually seen reports on TV of young people who have gone to extreme measures, such as taking their life, as a result of being bullied," Sheinberg said.

When the new Utah law went into effect three weeks ago, D'Arco said she felt it was progress, but even with the law's good intentions, she's not quite sure it's a perfect law.

D'Arco said her bullying was awful, but that if the school called her parents when she was bullied she would have denied it because she is gay.

"I would have lied until I was blue in the face because I wasn't ready to come out to my parents," D'Arco said.

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