One man said he grew up in a large, poor family and was bullied at school because of how he looked. He added his own children have been teased and harassed for different reasons.

A teenager recalled considering suicide after relentless bullying about his race and transgender identification at his high school. And a grieving mother spoke emotionally about her 12-year-old son, who took his own life after being bullied.

Those and other stories emerged during a Senate hearing last week on proposed antibullying legislation. The moving testimony demonstrated the need for a stronger statute that will better protect Minnesota kids.

That’s why the proposed Safe and Supportive Schools Act should become law. The current statute doesn’t do enough to help protect students or to give guidance to school staff. Authored by Sen. Scott Dibble and Rep. Jim Davnie, both DFL-Minneapolis, the bill would require schools to develop detailed antibullying policies, educate staff and provide support for all students who have been victims.

The proposal also identifies several groups that are disproportionately targeted because of their race, religion or sexual orientation, consistent with Minnesota human rights laws. Despite the claims of critics, however, the bill clearly applies to all students, no matter what motivates their tormentors.

Responding to concerns raised about the original measure, Dibble wisely amended the bill to tighten the definition of bullying to a pattern of “intimidating, threatening, abusive or harming conduct.”

That means, for example, that one incident of name calling wouldn’t qualify. Bullying is defined as repeated verbal or physical intimidation that prevents a student from feeling safe.

The bill also was amended to require staff training every three years instead of every year, and it dropped the requirement to train volunteers. In addition, district reporting requirements were deleted, though a special advisory board would be set up to study how bullying could be monitored statewide.

Minnesota’s current 37-word statute is one of the weakest antibullying laws in the nation. It was adopted in 2006 and amended in 2008 to include online bullying. But it only requires school boards to come up with policies that address bullying without defining it or giving any guidance on what to do about it.

—Star Tribune