NJ debates new bullying rules | Lawyer Mom’s advice for parents of teens

All right, we want to talk about this, because New Jersey lawmakers are considering a significant expansion of the state's anti-bullying rules. There's one bill, and it would let schools address bullying, even when it isn't tied to a student's race, religion, disability, or another protected characteristic. Yeah, Senate Democrats and the Education Committee actually pushed that forward. We want to talk to the experts about this. what could the change mean for students and parents. So let's talk to Shannon Salvatorello. She's a New Jersey attorney and parent who shares advice online as a lawyer mom. Shannon, thank you very much for chiming in with us. Shannon, I guess just basically, what does this new rule mean? What does it possibly change here in New Jersey? So basically, first off, thank you so much for having me. Happy Friday and good morning. Basically, New Jersey, it's National Bullying Prevention Month, good opportunity for parents to step in and have those conversations with their kids because as a parent, it's a hugely, hugely important problem in the schools, very pervasive. So what New Jersey is trying to do is really close a gap right now. They've introduced six bills earlier this month in honor of, I'll say, National Bullying Prevention Month. And right now, as you mentioned earlier in order to fall under our current HIB laws harassment intimidation and bullying you have to the complaint has to be tied to a characteristic your gender your race sexual orientation this new the new proposed bill will absolutely close that gap and those categories are going to go out the window it really will focus on the student that's being targeted and whether they feel safe or not and that will now fall under the HIB law so it's really just trying to get more students that were completely falling through the cracks for years at this point and it's so important and then yeah i'm sorry it's so important you hear bullying um of course uh can lead to so many problems whether it's in person you hear about it a lot on social media as well one of the other interesting things here is the Jack Reed law which would require non-public schools to adopt anti-bullying policies and investigate these complaints. So it's not just the public schools, but the private schools as well. Correct. So currently, HIB in New Jersey does not apply to private schools. So you have a tremendous amount of kids, like I said, falling through the cracks. So Jack Reed sadly attended school in Lawrenceville and in 2022 committed suicide and this bill will get those HIB laws into the private schools and i also want to mention his parents created an organization the jack reed foundation.org if any parents would like to check that out um well shannon uh thank you very much for some of the legal um breakdown there and what it means practically i know for a lot of people they know you from your social media uh shannon's underscore edit, where you offer lawyer mom tips. Um, and I wanted to just go over one of them with you. You put this post out there, lawyer mom, before your teen goes to middle or high school, and you sort of go through some of these tips about what people should know. Um, can you just talk about this? We only got about two minutes left, but can you just talk us through, uh, what it is that that you you talked about there? You're back, you're back so basically one of the big things is the phones so all all children all parents need to know that you could delete something off your phone it doesn't mean it's gone so if you don't want your coach your parent your principal a scholarship committee an employer to see it don't put it out there don't put it on social media don't text it to a friend another one don't hold things for a friend if a friend you have a friend that's vaping and they want you to hide their vape in your locker or your backpack don't do it obviously they don't want to get in trouble so why should you take the fall for something do not do things like that parents let your kids know that they can always call you no matter what they're at a party and they want to get out of there make you the bad guy call me i'll get you out of there um no means no respect other another person's no and also know that you can say no say no to the the drink say no to the vape say no to the party say no to the foolish ding dong ditching whatever it is that you don't think is a good idea say no um what else we also had on there who you're with matters this is a big one a lot of very very good kids get dragged into trouble because they just went along for the ride they just were doing what everyone else was doing and they didn't want to be the one kid that said no i don't agree with this so i'm not going to do this today. So that's a big one. You choose good people to hang around with and you'll stay on the right side of the tracks. Shannon, thank you so much. Again, talking to Shannon Salvatorello, New Jersey attorney and parent who shares advice online as a lawyer mom. Sometimes you don't always get that. You sort of get the helpful tips for organizing. This is one that, you know, could really make a big difference, especially as you head particularly to middle and high school I suggest everyone check her out shannon's underscore edit um just just briefly shannon where else can we find you if we want to get some more of your your great advice because this is just one of many things uh that you've put out there thank you thank you yeah i'm also on uh tiktok and facebook if people prefer those same exact thing shannon's underscore edit i am also putting out i'm calling them my lawyer mom playbooks i have one available right now on my instagram page which is about the six legal documents all parents should know about once your kid turns 18 and i'm working on some other things, hoping to get a website up soon. Love it. All right. Well, Shannon, thank you very much. We appreciate your insight this morning here on Newsroom Live.