Is your school following Michigan’s anti-bullying law?
Had Matt Epling, 14, survived being bullied in eighth grade he would be 31 today. He ended his own life in 2002, the summer before he was to begin his freshman year at East Lansing High School.
His father, Kevin Epling worked for nearly a decade after Matt died to get state laws on the books that would prevent another tragic death. Today he’s an anti-bullying advocate who speaks directly to students about the damage bullying inflicts. He counsels parents when they reach out to him looking for help when their kids are bullied in schools around the state.
Nearly two decades after Matt’s death, Epling is still working with legislators to strengthen anti-bullying laws in Michigan.
Epling was deeply frustrated when he read about the recent death of Michael Martin, a Lansing schools eighth grader. Michael, 13, died in January after taking his own life, two months after his mother began pleading with staff at Lansing’s Everett High School for help with bullying he was struggling with.
“It is very frustrating that we have spent time, energy, trying to get people to understand this is a much bigger problem than just addressing incidents as one-off issues,” Epling said. “I think that’s the problem. Schools wait until something happens.”
Epling doesn’t believe school districts are following the Matt Epling Safe School Law. It includes requirements that school districts implement anti-bullying policies that include a process to investigate reported incidents and that they inform school boards of the scope of those incidents every year.
A State Journal investigation of 18 Lansing area school districts shows most aren’t: