Chair Doherty, members of the Committee, my name is Gordon Clay and I have a home in Brookings, Oregon. I've worked around the issue of bullying for years, first with the Curry County Commission on Children and Families and the Curry County Drug Free Communities Coalition until they were defunded by the state of Oregon in 2012 and now on my own. (vitae)

March 26, 2012, there was an aspiring thespian acquaintance of mine by the name of Dorothy Schull. She had come out as bisexual during her junior year and was constantly bullied for it. She committed suicide. We placed a granite head stone in the lawn of the high school in front of a "buddy bench" in her memory.

I am aware of multiple other issues regarding bullying and harassment from students and parents in my district. I personally filed a complaint with the district on February 21, 2013 strictly following the procedures outlined in board policy GBNA/JFCF-AR and nothing happened. I appealed to the Oregon Department of Education and finally on January 4, 2016 I was informed that ODE's hands were tied and there was nothing they could do. (Timeline)

June 19, 2013 10 students and parents form the JV and high school girl's basketball teams tried to speak about being bullied by their coaches at the regular school board meeting. (It is painful listening to the audio account of that meeting.) The board stopped the process and promised to set up an Executive Session where they could all talk freely. That never happened. Two parents took it to ODE and on November 17, 2014 ODE issued a 26 page report "Findings of fact, conclusions and final order" (case reference 1013001) Another six months went by and in the end not one person or group in the report was held accountable nor accepted responsibility for their actions.

Brookings has received a gold star for their policies. However, there doesn't seem to be any consequences when the district ignores the policies and fails to immediately act to protect students. Districts must be held responsible to follow their policies and be accountable for the outcomes. This needs to change and I'm hopeful that this bill will create necessary oversight to ensure all students remain safe at school.

One of the things we emphasize with students and adults - don't be a bystander. Be an active part in ending bullying when it is happening by being an upstander.

I hope I have encouraged all 10 committee members to become upstanders today. Here's a little gift as a reminder. I hope that you will all vote yes on this bill.