New Illinois Law Targets Cyber Bullying

Students, be careful what you post online.

A new Illinois law allows school boards to expel or suspend any student who makes a threat against school personnel, or other students via websites. 

Co-sponsor of the bill, Rep. Sandra Pihos (R-Glen Ellyn) said this is just a "baby step" to stop cyber bullying. Concerned with infringing on First Amendment rights, Pihos said this bill is a "little soft," but has enough teeth to provide school boards with direction on how to deal with students who make explicit threats online.

Cyber bullying and sexting were the topics of a seminar at during spring break 2011. Officer Sarah Sullivan conducted the seminar and said Geneva is not immune to the issues.

“We see a lot of problems with kids getting in trouble on Facebook, or with cyber-bullying and sexting,” Sullivan said at the time. “Those are some of the main questions we get from parents.”

For more information, contact Sullivan at the , 630-232-4736.

Under the new law, students will get in trouble if they make a statement online that "could reasonably be interpreted as threatening," according to the language of the law. The threat must also be made on a website, so a threatening email exchange between students will not be punishable under this law, according to Pihos. The language of the bill states a student will face repercussions if they, 

"have made an explicit threat on an internet website that was accessible within the school at the time the threat was made or was available to third parties who worked or studied within the school grounds at the time the threat was made, and the threat could reasonably be interpreted as threatening ..." 

The law is vague regarding where the threat can originate or on what grounds a student might be expelled or suspended. Pihos said, "This is certainly not the be all, end all in solving this. I think it's a good start and I think we're going to be revisiting this at some point in time."

Although there have been cyber bullying cases around the country, Pihos said there are no local incidents that led her to co-sponsor this bill. As a former school teacher, she was aware of bullying but says it is has only gotten worse with the help of the Internet. Pihos said she hopes students learn at an early age the dangers of the internet and what they post online is captured in time forever.