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Teen Dating Violence - About House Bill 121
On May 18, 2007, Governor Rick Perry signed HB 121 into law. HB 121, effective immediately mandates that all school districts in Texas adopt and implement a dating violence policy. This law requires a response from schools that includes each of the following:
- A definition of dating violence;
- Sections on safety planning;
- Enforcement of protective orders;
- School-based alternatives to protective orders;
- Training for teachers and administrators;
- Counseling for affected students; and
- Awareness education for students and parents/guardians.
School districts are seeking assistance and direction as they work to put together their teen dating violence policy. This is an excellent opportunity for rape crisis centers to develop or strengthen their relationships with local schools and work more closely with school district administration. Rape crisis centers have expertise and programs that can help schools meet some of the criteria of HB 121.
Information Schools Already Have
School superintendents and boards have received some information from statewide agencies to help them meet the requirements of HB 121.
Texas Education Agency - The TEA and the State Board of Education (SBOE) guide and monitor activities and programs related to public education in Texas. TEA sent out a Briefing Book on Public Education Legislation in July 2007. This has a brief description of the legislation for school district boards and superintendents, which can be found on page 81.
Texas Association of School Boards - TASB represents many, but not all, of the school districts and educational service center boards for the various education regions across Texas. They provide model policy that school boards can elect to adopt. Sometime in fall 2007 they will release updates to the Student Code of Conduct and sample language to update the Student Handbook to each member school district in Texas. TASB suggests that school districts put the minimum necessary in their actual district policy. TASB is likely to suggest that school districts add their teen dating violence policy into the "freedom from harassment" section under "student welfare" within their district improvement plans.
Texas Dating Violence Prevention Team - This is a group of organizations (TAASA, TCFV, TEA, Governor’s Commission for Women, Texas Advocacy Project, SafePlace, and many more) who have been working for several years to develop and distribute a toolkit of information and activities to schools and crisis centers across Texas in order to commemorate National Teen Dating Violence Awareness & Prevention Week. This year, we have additional toolkits available to teams composed of school personnel and community members (see "Resources" for details). In addition, this team developed a Guide to Addressing Dating Violence in Texas Schools to help schools comply with HB 121. This document is supported by TEA and TASB as an excellent addition to the information they will be sending out. The document can provide ideas to schools on how to create a more comprehensive policy and school-wide program to address dating violence, and meet the requirements of HB 121. This document, part of the toolkit mentioned above, is also available to download by clicking here.
Click here to download a pdf of the House Bill 121 presentation from the Texas School Administrators Safety Conference - November 13, 2007
Please click here for additional Resources. Contact Tim Love, TAASA Youth Program Coordinator for more information.
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Click here to continue to the Resources page
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