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It’s almost a law

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An anti-carjacking initiative, crafted by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, has been approved by the state’s General Assembly.

Although the bill is awaiting Governor JB Pritzker’s signature, it mandates automakers selling vehicles in the state to establish a 24/7 hotline for tracking carjacked cars or cases involving kidnappings. […]

With 488 carjackings occurring in Cook County from January to date, 88% of cars are recovered within 72 hours.

Sheriff Dart believes this initiative will lead to a decline in carjackings, and the tracking service would be provided free of charge to car owners.

* Center Square…

A bill that passed the Illinois Legislature requires school principals to report bullying to parents within 24 hours. Some opponents say that is not feasible.

House Bill 3425, sponsored by state Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, passed the Illinois House in March. The measure passed the Senate earlier this month. Some school associations opposed the bill, saying a 24-hour time limit puts an undue burden on schools.

Mark Klaisner, president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, told The Center Square that the 24-hour deadline is not feasible. […]

In conversations Klaisner has had this spring, he said school administrators tell him “we’re all about stopping bullying and working with parents.” The problem, he said, “is we can’t always ensure that there will be a 24-hour turnaround in reporting back to the parents, especially if the bullying is happening after school on social media.”

* Effingham Daily…

After spending several years advocating for laws protecting stranded drivers from injury or even death, Distress Bandanna announced that both houses of the Illinois General Assembly have voted in favor of Senate Bill 2028, which would amend the state’s driver safety protocols to include new information and guidance for drivers who are stranded and those who might come across stranded vehicles on the road.

Both Illinois House and Senate voted unanimously to pass SB2028 on May 16.

If the bill is approved by Gov. J.B Pritzker, the state’s safety protocols for stranded drivers would be updated and new language would be added to the Illinois Rules of the Road by the Illinois Secretary of State.

According to the bill, the updated protocols, among other things, advise drivers on how to pull safely out of traffic and into a safe location, use hazard lights, when to stay in a stranded vehicle, and when and how to safely exit a stranded vehicle.

* Crain’s…

Among the health care measures sitting on Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk awaiting signature is a measure making behavioral telehealth permanent for Illinois Medicaid recipients. Senate Bill 1913 has been approved by both houses of the General Assembly.

The bill allows Illinois Medicaid patients to continue to receive behavioral health telehealth care remotely. The state already has made delivery of substance use disorder and mental health treatment via telehealth permanent under commercial insurance plans in 2021.

“As soon as Governor Pritzker announced in February the formal end date of his COVID-19 public health emergency orders, the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health leadership knew that the continuance of telehealth services for Medicaid patients would enter an uncertain, unwelcome legal gray area,” Illinois Association for Behavioral Health CEO Jud DeLoss said in a statement.

“Within hours we had legislation written and swiftly recruited state Sen. Laura Fine and state Rep. Jenn Ladisch Douglass to serve as legislative champions, who expeditiously advanced the bill.”

* WTTW…

Revenge porn, or the non-consensual sharing of sexual images, has been a felony in Illinois since 2014. In 2019, in the wake of since-resigned state Rep. Nick Sauer posting images of naked women without their consent, Illinois allowed victims to sue for civil damages.

The deepfake legislation (House Bill 2123) piggybacks onto that law, adding “digitally altered sexual images” to it.

A victim of a sexual digital forgery can sue for $10,000. […]

The proposal (House Bill 2954) seeks to create a civil liability when someone non-consensually posts private information online with the intent to “harm or harass” and with “reckless disregard that the person whose information is published would be reasonably likely to suffer death, bodily injury or stalking” and that sharing the information would cause a person to “suffer significant economic injury or death” or that it would cause the individual to “suffer a substantial life disruption.” […]

Both measures passed the House and Senate without opposition and require signatures from Gov. J.B. Pritzker before becoming law.

posted by Isabel Miller
Monday, May 22, 23 @ 10:04 am

Comments

RE: School bullying notification

–Mark Klaisner, president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, told The Center Square that the 24-hour deadline is not feasible.–

Why not? Because someone might have to actually do their job? The reasoning given by the opposition is not very convincing either - “especially if the bullying is happening after school on social media.”

But the bill quite clearly states this 24-hr limit is based on when the school administration is made aware of the bullying, not within 24 hours of it taking place.

From the bill;
“within 24 hours after the school’s administration is made aware of the incident”

To top it off, the bill doesn’t even require the notification. It requires putting this limitation into the school policy. Are the regional superintendents concerned that this will be another school policy that will be ignored by their respective school administrators? Because that appears to be the case, based on the response of Mr. Klaisner.

Someone better quickly have a sit-down talk with Mr. Mark Klaisner. There’s a time and a place for taking an opposition stance in order to negotiate - but this isn’t one of those times, and it isn’t one of those place.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, May 22, 23 @ 10:25 am
i have never seen a bill with every member of a chamber as a co-sponsor before, maybe on a resolution and death resolutions, but never on a bill. that hastings bill was definitely a first, at least for me. has anyone else ever seen that? kudos to the sponsors and the Sheriff and his team for working it.

Comment by Good Vibes Monday, May 22, 23 @ 10:34 am
=Why not? Because someone might have to actually do their job? The reasoning given by the opposition is not very convincing either - “especially if the bullying is happening after school on social media.”

But the bill quite clearly states this 24-hr limit is based on when the school administration is made aware of the bullying, not within 24 hours of it taking place.

From the bill;
“within 24 hours after the school’s administration is made aware of the incident”=

1st, and I have posted this before, parents and kids do not understand what bullying really is. They think it is any time someone does or says something they do not like. Sometimes that becomes bullying, but usually not. If you are in a junior high, let’s say one that is only 150-250 students, which is pretty small, you are literally inundated with bullying claims. That is the nature of the age group. Our admins spend unbelievable amounts of time with chasing these complaints which generally turn out to be minor disciplinary issues. And real evidence is often hard to come by, it is mostly he said/she said.

It is often not reported to the right people.

It is often not reported in a timely manner, so follow up can occur days afterward and it can take additional time if the parties involved are not at school.

=To top it off, the bill doesn’t even require the notification. It requires putting this limitation into the school policy. Are the regional superintendents concerned that this will be another school policy that will be ignored by their respective school administrators? Because that appears to be the case, based on the response of Mr. Klaisner.=

If it is in policy then it is a liability issue if you do not follow it.

BTW- When was the last time you looked at a school policy manual? We post our online. The printed version looks like the school code. NOBODY knows everything included in board policy.

Also, most districts run pretty thin on admin. BOards get sensitive when teachers say we have too many, those same teachers get mad when things do not get addressed. Each of our schools has one administrator. We have been doing a lot of classroom subbing the past three years.

=Someone better quickly have a sit-down talk with Mr. Mark Klaisner. There’s a time and a place for taking an opposition stance in order to negotiate - but this isn’t one of those times, and it isn’t one of those place.=

Totally disagree. I don’t think admins are shirking their jobs and I don’t think they want to let kids get bullied. This is something that should not have passed.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 22, 23 @ 10:57 am
===and I don’t think they want to let kids get bullied===

Anecdote not data, but I would disagree. Strongly, in some cases.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:01 am
==I don’t think admins are shirking their jobs==

I would strongly disagree with you here. There are absolutely some school administrators who have shirked their responsibilities in this area. I know because my daughter was bullied for an extended period of time and the administration did absolutely nothing about it until I physically went into the school and confronted them and forced them to act.

I’m afraid you are in the “protect your own” mode here @JS

Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:05 am
==This is something that should not have passed==

I would also disagree with you there as well. If school administrators would do their jobs this wouldn’t be necessary. You may do your job and I applaud you if you do. Not everyone does.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:06 am
–If it is in policy then it is a liability issue if you do not follow it.–

Bingo.

They know enough administrators are not going to do their jobs correctly, and open themselves up to liability. There’s a pile of cases, investigations, and findings from OCR in my district that shows quite clearly policy is often ignored by administrators. If they can’t bother to handle civil rights cases correctly, they most certainly are going to fail at this.

That’s the subtext going unsaid here.

I can’t speak to you personally and how you do your job. You could very well be an outstanding administrator. In that case, this wouldn’t impact you at all. But why would you want to protect someone who isn’t doing their job?

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:30 am
I’ve been meaning to ask, is there some deepfake porn crisis I’m not aware of? I’ll admit I don’t pay overmuch attention to that particular area of the internet, but I’m not used to seeing something so…unusual make it through the GA without some examples hitting the paper.

Comment by Just Another Anon Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:37 am
=I’m afraid you are in the “protect your own” mode here @JS=

Nope, speaking the truth. There are bad admins, also bad parents out there. I am sorry for what happened with your daughter and don’t know the details,but bullying can be difficult to prove because the accused rarely admits guilt and witnesses can be hard to come by.

=But why would you want to protect someone who isn’t doing their job?=

I am not protecting someone not doing their job. I would venture to guess that I have more experience with this than anyone here and see how often it is misapplied. Too many factors to list here. We follow up on every report. Every single one. And document in our student data system in case a pattern begins to form supporting a bullying case.

That does not mean discipline does not occur if “bullying” isn’t proven (The consequences for bullying and harassment in our district are severe) it just means it didn’t rise to bullying.

=Anecdote not data, but I would disagree. Strongly, in some cases.=

Seems anecdotal as well.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 22, 23 @ 12:09 pm
==If school administrators would do their jobs this wouldn’t be necessary.==

In JSM’s defense, what happens when a student reports being bullied at 2:45pm on a Friday…minutes before students are being dismissed? There’s no way he’ll be able to investigate (e.g. speak with both parties and possible witnesses) and inform parents in time.

Comment by Jocko Monday, May 22, 23 @ 12:16 pm
–There’s no way he’ll be able to investigate (e.g. speak with both parties and possible witnesses) and inform parents in time.–

From the bill;

“The school shall make diligent efforts to notify a parent or legal guardian, utilizing all contact information the school has available or that can be reasonably obtained by the school within the 24-hour period.”

It’s a notification requirement. Not a full investigation requirement.

Dear parent,

It has been brought to our attention your son/daughter has been involved in an alleged bullying incident at XYZ school. At this time there is only an allegation and no finding of fault has been determined, nor is any fault implied in this notification. We will continue to investigate this matter, and keep you informed as our investigation continues.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, May 22, 23 @ 12:28 pm
I tried to address the challenges to my post but somewhere I went afoul of the rules so I will try again.

OCR and bullying are a false equivalence. Generally speaking, when OCR shows up they assume you did something wrong and go from there.

As an example of the dystopian OCR process: A district I was working in was presented with a complaint regarding facilities equality. WHile previous admin were neglecting to provide proper facilities for girl’s athletics, our was not.
We were in the process of constructing a new (and actually better facility for a girls sport) when we received a visit from OCR. Again, we were actually in the process of constructing a new facility, roughly 75% done. BUt it would not be ready for a student’s senior season and thus the complaint. After some significant legal fees, they ordered us to build what we were building and it was complete before the order was received.
. Bullying accusations are often difficult to prove for all of the same reasons that student discipline is a challenge.

I think many of you think it is as simple as someone stepping into and office an saying something happened and then issuing student discipline. The accused have a due process right and often, and this may be surprising, but often they deny wrongdoing.

= But why would you want to protect someone who isn’t doing their job?=

I am not. The issue is not a simplistic as you think.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 22, 23 @ 1:12 pm
A quick reading of the bill looks like notice within 24 hours is required for the “alleged incident of bullying”. The school then has to make “all reasonable efforts to complete the investigation within 10 school days. . .”

Comment by Bigtwich Monday, May 22, 23 @ 1:58 pm
“WHile previous admin were neglecting to provide proper facilities”

So OCR properly identified the administration had neglected its responsibilities.

OCR investigated, found fault, and issued an order.

I would not call that draconian.

I do understand why you see it a different way. You may be too close to the issue. Pull out your personal involvement with administration from your example, and look at it from the OCR point of view. I’m sure they came across many bad faith administrators who simply tried to say “Oh yeah, we’re doing that thing. You can go away now.” - And then failed to actually do that thing. OCR is just providing a paper trail to allow for accountability.

That your administration you are part of has been acting in good faith and addressed the issue, that you admit did actually exist, isn’t being applauded or punished by the OCR. They are simply stating facts and creating a trail of accountability.

It’s good you are doing your job. Not everybody does, and you don’t need OCR or anything else to give you a pat on the back. If you know you are doing your job, that’s enough. But not every administrator is you. Can you at least make that allowance, without seeing it as a personal judgment against you directly?

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, May 22, 23 @ 2:03 pm
==It’s a notification requirement.==

This would be the email equivalent of Ralphie’s mom (from A Christmas Story) calling to say Schwartz taught him the F-word.

Comment by Jocko Monday, May 22, 23 @ 2:11 pm
@Just Another …
===I’ve been meaning to ask, is there some deepfake porn crisis I’m not aware of?===

Yes. There is. And currently, there is no recourse for victims.

Comment by Ruth Dakin Monday, May 22, 23 @ 2:26 pm
I’m sorry @JS but I think you are indeed protecting your own and trying to defend their inability to do their jobs when it comes to bullying. When I have to finally go into the school and confront the principal then something has gone wrong and the school obviously didn’t want to deal with the bullying. Do your job and this won’t be a problem.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 22, 23 @ 2:44 pm
=I’m sorry @JS=

No need for an apology, we just disagree.

As a rule, I only speak for myself and what I experience or see. I know there are bad districts and admins. SOunds like that is what you ran into. I don’t deny that and have always acknowledged it. Most are good and try their best in my experience.

My take, this law is going to create far more problems than it solves.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 22, 23 @ 3:43 pm
I read too many stories of kids killing themselves because of bullying and in a lot of instances the parents don’t know anything about it. If the parents know they can talk to their child and also address it with the school right away.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 22, 23 @ 3:53 pm
Last week, I was called a bully and the person that said this on facebook said I bullied them. At that point, I had never spoken to this person. Then all of the followers called for me to be fired. I am not on facebook, but an upset staff member made me aware of what was going on. I am an adult and I can handle it.

I know it is harder for kids. I have children that were harrassed because of who their father was and what I did. One of my children attempted to take their own life and spent months in the hospital. I can verify this story with Rich if need be.

I know what bullying can do to kids. That is why, no matter what, we follow up on every accusation. So much of it is on social media and some of that is out of our reach. I cannot give you a number as to how many times an accusation turns out to be far short of bullying. Anecdotal, yes. But more than half.

Law enforcement and the courts are totally useless. Totally. We need the tools to force kids and parents into training/counseling as to how to problem solve social issues and stop screwing with other people. Parents do not know how to solve conflict and have not taught their kids either.

You want to know what will address the issue? That. that I just wrote, will go a long, long way.

But I am intimately aware of the costs of real bullying. Our family has paid the price more than you can know.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 22, 23 @ 6:54 pm