SIOUX CITY | After the failure of a 2015 bill followed by two years of inaction by the Iowa Legislature on statewide K-12 anti-bullying measures, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said her office has instead encouraged local districts to adopt stronger practices.
Asked about anti-bullying efforts during a Friday interview with The Journal's editorial board, Reynolds did not express optimism about a legislative anti-bullying bill this year. But she did commend efforts by some districts to expand programs such as Mentors in Violence Prevention, a program used in some schools including Sioux City that trains students to mentor each other about violence and bullying.
"We've tried to maybe come at it from a different approach where we're working with the school districts and, you know, encouraging them from a local perspective to make sure that they have some type of monitoring in place or that they're addressing it within their system, that they're reporting things accurately," she said.
"We shouldn't stop," she added. "If I can't get it through the Legislature, then we have to find different alternatives to make sure that we're reaching out to school districts."
Reynolds' comments follow an incident earlier this month in which a Sioux City mother said she pulled her 15-year-old son out of North High School after other students harassed him by posting a survey online asking if he should be killed. The mother said she was unhappy with the way the school handled the incident that involved her son, who has autism.
Reynolds called the report of the incident "horrific."
"That is really the downside of social media, that they're not really looking each other in the face and see that hurt and the anguish that that causes individuals," she said.
Photos: Iowa Gov. Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Gregg editorial board
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg meet with the Sioux City Journal Editorial Board Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, right, and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg talk with the Sioux City Journal Editorial Board on Friday. Later in the day, the two spoke about workforce development needs in the state in an event with the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce.
State lawmakers have wrestled for years over comprehensive anti-bullying legislation for K-12 schools, including measures that would discourage harassment over social media outside of school. Reynolds' predecessor, Terry Branstad, championed anti-bullying measures during his second stint as governor, and Reynolds has said she plans to support continued efforts to reduce it in schools.
Efforts over the past five years to strengthen such measures statewide, however, have fizzled. After three unsuccessful attempts to pass stronger anti-bullying legislation in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the Iowa Legislature has not taken action the past two years.
Branstad in 2015 created the Governor’s Office for Bullying Prevention through an executive order. But the office, housed within the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Violence Prevention, has struggled to receive enough state funding.
Reynolds on Friday emphasized the role that families should play in talking about civility. She also commended Sioux City for taking a proactive approach to the issue.
Sioux City Community School District has claimed to have made major strides in combating bullying after attracting national attention for the 2011 film, "Bully," which featured an East Middle School student being tormented by peers.
Sioux City again received national attention after a 2011 front-page Journal editorial that called for a pro-active approach to stop bullying after a gay teen bullied at another Northwest Iowa high school took his own life.
LIVE: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg meet with the Sioux City Journal Editor…