One Copy Free
The Black & White
Johnston High School Student Paper
March ‘07
Vol 16 No. 7
Obama shares vision with Iowans
Dan Haight/BW
Democratic Senator Barack Obama (IL) speaks to Iowans at the Polk County Convention Center on Feb. 20. Obama is currently in second place in the democratic polls, to Senator Hillary Clinton (NY).
Iowa legislature aims for Safe Schools BY CHRIS AJLUNI STAFF WRITER Amid worries that bullying is affecting students’ learning, state lawmakers and school official are working to crack down on the problem. Associate principal Jerry Stratton handles the bullying problems in the high school along with fellow associate principal Randy Klein. “We try to educate, inform and control the situation before it escalates to the point where the police need to be involved,” Stratton said. Now, the Iowa Legislature has passed new rules designed to protect bullied or harassed students even more. The Safe Schools Bill, or the “Anti-Bullying” bill, has made waves in the Iowa Legislature primarily because of its explicit protection of homosexual students. However, the bill itself states that its purpose is to “provide all students with a safe and civil school environment in which all members of the school community are treated with dignity and respect.” The bill’s purpose as defined in its first section is stated, “Harassing and bullying behavior can seriously disrupt the ability of school employees to maintain a safe and civil environment, and the ability of the stu-
dents to learn and succeed.” However, in the bill, harassment and bullying are defined as the same thing, one of many strong complaints from legislators opposing the bill, and one reason Iowa Representative Walt Tomenga of Johnston voted against the bill on its second trip to the House. Tomenga voted on the bill in the Iowa House of Representatives two times. First, he voted for the bill, but after the House sent it to the Senate, he voted against it. The Senate removed most of the amendments added by the House. “Amendments made the Safe Schools Bill better,” Tomenga said. According to Tomenga, enforcing the bill in ways other than revising school policy would be difficult; however, he said that it is still “valuable as a symbol.” He also said that the bill would likely provide security for students being bullied, not because of harsher punishments but because of more attention to harassment and bullying in general. Private schools will also have to include the bill in their policy, but would still be able to “teach that homosexuality is a sin,” Tomenga said. Senior Abby Bowman works as an intern for Iowa Representative Scott Raecker, who represents Urbandale. Bowman’s duties in-
clude attending Raecker’s committee meetings and talking with lots of different people involved in the political process, such as other representatives and lobbyists. According to Bowman, Raecker places most of his concern with the fiscal responsibility the legislature has by passing such an act. Bowman said, “Although the policy is there, the funding for schools to implement such a plan needs to be provided to schools as well.” Another part of Raecker’s involvement with the Safe Schools Bill comes in the form of a rejected amendment. His amendment suggested that the bill should not only apply to minors, but also adults, more specifically public officials and political candidates. “(Representative Raecker)’s reasoning was that we should never expect our kids to follow rules we are unwilling to follow ourselves, and that strong role-modeling is one of the most effective ways to prevent bullying,” Bowman said. According to school board president Chris Sonner, now that the Safe Schools Bill has been signed and finalized, the Iowa Association of School Boards will come up with an “example” of what the school’s policy should look like, then each school’s board members would revise the example while still adhering to the rules set down by the law.
In this issue...
Rainforest Café coming to Jordan Creek? Alex Guns Page 6 gives his take
Larissa French breaks a sweat with Tracy Van Zante
Snapshots from the State Wrestling Competition
Page 10
Page 15
B & W
Dan Haight/BW
Iowa House majority leader Kevin McCarthy reads off the schedule to the Iowa House on Mar. 7.
News..................1-3 Editorial.................4 Opinion.................5 Review...................7 Doubletruck.........8-9
Entertainment..6 & 10 Feature............11-12 Dungeon..............13 Sports.............14-15 Backpage.............16