Parents, children learn about epidemic of bullying in Greendale
GREENDALE (WITI) -- Parents and children on Sunday evening, October 13th spent a school night learning about the epidemic of bullying.
"It does worry me every day because anything could happen and when you see a lot of YouTube videos you're like, 'I hope that's not going to be my child someday,'" Gina Becker said.
Kids today have to worry about a whole new landscape of bullying online. Something Annie Jorgensen knows about firsthand.
"Going into high school people were saying, 'oh she isn't going to have any friends going into high school,' or 'who does she think she is?' Just mean things like that -- calling me mean names," Jorgensen said.
Jorgensen is a Homestead High School senior, and currently serves as Miss High School America. She shared her story Sunday night at St. Alphonsus about being bullied on Facebook.
"When I saw what was being posted online and I saw the things being said that weren't true, I called everyone to my house -- which is kind of scary to do at first, but I called everyone to my house and we sat down and really talked through the problems about what was going on," Jorgensen said.
Jorgensen's story ended on a positive note, but not all do. The documentary "Bully" reveals the lasting emotional scars.
"We've had kids that have committed suicide because they have been cyber-bullied so much and the parents didn't know anything about it," James Dean said.
A new bill in Wisconsin is taking on cyber-bullying. Current law prohibits someone from sending threatening emails or messages.
The bill, if it became law, would prohibit someone from posting a threatening or obscene message online, where others can view it.
"I would completely support that. I feel especially posting something publicly where many people can see it and many people can be involved, it's something that really needs to be -- put a stop to it," Jorgensen said.
The cyber-bullying bill is already moving forward in Wisconsin. Just last week it passed the Senate Committee on Education unanimously.