So now the state legislature wants to make Washington school districts investigate and mete out punishment for inappropriate private e-mail and instant messages some students send to others. Senate Bill 5949 adds the following "cyberbullying" provisions to existing state law requiring districts to have certain anti-harrassment policies in place.

By August 1, 2006, each school district shall amend its harassment, intimidation, and bullying prevention policy...The policy shall clarify that acts of bullying, harassment, or intimidation that are conducted via electronic means need not occur during school hours, occur on school property, or involve school computers as long as the incident has an impact on the student or educational environment....If a school district has internet use policies, the act of bullying, harassing, or intimidating another student via online means shall be included as a prohibited act and be subject to disciplinary action.       ...As used in this section, "electronic" or "electronic means" means any communication where there is the transmission of information by wire, radio, optical cable, electromagnetic, or other similar means. "Electronic" and "electronic means" include, but are not limited to, communication via electronic mail, internet-based communications, pager service, cell phones, and electronic text messaging.

Sponsors are Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), Sen. Paull Shin (D-Edmonds), Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-Vancounver) and Sen. Dave Schmidt (R-Snohomish County). A hearing was scheduled for this morning in the Senate Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education Committee.

Legislative overreach is hinted at in this Seattle Post-Intelligencer story on the bill:

The Internet offers technology-savvy teens many ways to stay in constant contact with friends, from instant messaging to private chat rooms. It also provides new forums for malicious gossips and school bullies. Cyberbullying ranges from ridiculing classmates on Web sites and spreading rumors through blogs to bombarding someone with harassing instant messages or publicizing their personal information.

...Kohl-Welles' bill (...stipulates that...) cyberbullying would not have to occur on school property, during school hours or with school equipment to be covered by the measure, as long as it has an adverse effect on a student or school.

...Discipline for violations would be up to the school. Aftab (Parry, a New Jersey attorney and executive director of Wired Kids, a nonprofit organization that seeks to prevent cyber abuse) said such laws can be problematic because they collide with schools' authority to regulate off-campus activities and speech.

(Fourteen-year-old Seattle student Stephanie) Gallardo solved her problem by cutting back her computer time.

No kidding. Additionally, parents can at least insist their kids not share passwords with anybody, to prevent the practice known as "spoofing," or publishing false or malicious content in the name of another. And as for enforcement: where salacious, vituperative, violent or libelous electronic content is documentably directed by one student toward another, police and prosecutors should deal with it, not school districts.

School districts have much higher priorities without being further dragooned into surrogate parenting. Schools must maintain discipline and behavorial standards, certainly. But mandatiing that they regulate off-premises private electronic communications of students is absurd.