Law Would Clamp Down On Bullying Over The InternetHARTFORD,
Conn. — Victims of cyberbullying publicly discussed their pain
Friday in an effort to strengthen the state’s anti-bullying
laws. Alexa Berman could not tell her story Friday. The
Brookfield teenage took her own life because of cyberbullying in
2008, her mother said. “They’d go on and on in the e-mails
trying to tell her how her behavior was horrible,” said Deborah
Berman. Lawmakers have introduced a bill that would expand the
definition of school bullying to include cyberbulling, which
includes texting, Facebook, and other social media sites. “If a
child is feeling threatened in school, if their ability to learn
is affected, then it’s bullying,” said state Rep. Andrew
Fleischman, D-West Hartford. “As hard as it’s been rehashing the
story, its helps us because we know that other children will not
have to go through what my daughter went through,” Berman said.
The bill also includes a mandate requiring school districts to
have their schools adopt a saf