Senator Cam Ward will visit with Gifted Resource Class (GRC) sixth grade students at Helena Middle School on Friday, September 13 to answer questions regarding Alabama anti-bullying and harassment laws.  Ward’s visit is the result of a research project the students completed where they studied and compared anti-bullying laws of various states across the country.

According GRC teacher Alex Cox, sixth grade students on the Silver team at Helena Middle School researched the various state laws as part of a teaching unit focused on solving the problem of bullying and conflict at schools.  As part of their research, the students discovered certain websites that gave states grades of A, B, C, D, or F on the strength of their laws.

“The students researched different states and their laws that are in place for bullying,” explained Cox. “Each state received a grade based on a rubric that included points that should be covered on all bullying laws. For example, does the state even have the term bullying in the law? Is it just a harassment law? Is cyber bullying included? “

Cox said when her GRC students saw that Alabama had a received grade of B+, they wanted to make a change. Each GRC student then wrote to Senator Ward asking for his assistance in making changes to Alabama’s law against bullying.

“There were some things, based on their research, that were not included in the law,” Cox said.

As a result, Senator Ward scheduled a visit to the school at 10:50 a.m. on Friday, to talk to the students and answer any questions about the state law.  He also plans to address specific issues the students wrote in their letters.