Middle school and high school students in Rhode Island may soon be required to undergo dating violence education as part of the public school curriculum if proposed legislation is passed by the General Assembly.
The legislation, which has been introduced in both the House and the Senate, is called the Lindsay Ann Burke Act, after a 23-year-old woman who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in September 2005. He was convicted of the murder in January.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Eileen Naughton, D-Dist. 12, and Sen. Beatrice Lanzi, D-Dist. 26, at the request of state Attorney General Patrick Lynch '87.
"A moment is presented to us coming out of the tragic case" to attempt to prevent dating-related violence among young people, Lynch told The Herald. He said he believes an educational program is especially appropriate because Burke was training to be a teacher.
Under the legislation, each school district would be responsible for incorporating dating violence education into its health education program for grades 7 through 12. Additionally, schools would have to establish guidelines and disciplinary procedures for dealing with acts of dating-related violence on school grounds or at school events, according to a press release from the attorney general's office.
"It's alarming, the amount of dating violence that occurs in schools," Lynch said. "Worse is the silence associated with it. People are afraid to recognize it and reach out." He added that most schools in the state have a "lack of a proper educational curriculum" to deal with the incidence and severity of dating violence.
Terry Thornton, a student assistance counselor at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence, runs a violence prevention program at the school called Students Against Violence Everywhere. Thornton's program is designed to teach students "the consequences of violence" as well as "the skills of nonviolence" such as conflict resolution and anger management, she said, but does not emphasize dating-related violence.
"The earlier you can start teaching kids about these things and skills to deal with the pressures, the better you are," Thornton said. But, she said, a dating violence education program could be difficult to implement in Providence schools.
"Schools in Providence are behind, academically," she said, "It's a tall one to fit in." Thornton said she has been advocating for more nonviolence education in Roger Williams, but that "teachers are tapped out, so you have to bring people in, and that costs a lot of money."
But, Lynch said, "no one thinks costs are going to be very high at all." He said the bill's benefits - "saving one high school or middle school student from the horrors of domestic violence by encouraging them to speak up" - is worth whatever cost the program might bear.
"The cost of saving that child is priceless," Lynch said.
The Katie Brown Educational Program is now developing a standardized curriculum and a program to train teachers to provide a similar dating violence education program, said Andy Robinson, an educator for the program. A nonprofit based in Fall River, Mass., it teaches a five-day dating violence education program for grades 5 through 12 in schools across southeastern New England, according to its Web site.
Though Robinson said he supports the legislation on dating violence, he said actually implementing it in school districts may be expensive. His program costs $500, but educators will teach for a reduced rate at economically disadvantaged schools if their schedules allow it, Robinson said.
Frances Mantak, Brown's director of health education, said she believes it is best to begin educating people about dating violence when they are young. "We have to be learning about it all the time," she said, though she warned that such education would be "not effective if it's not age-appropriate."
