Your son comes home after school, upset over being harassed and taunted in the hallway, the lunchroom and before and after school. While on the computer, your daughter is struggling to deal with nasty, explicit comments on Facebook. These situations, and ones like them, are happening in our schools and communities every day.

School bullying is an age-old problem, but with the development of the Internet and social media, the harassment can now run 24 hours a day. Experts estimate that as many as 30 percent of our children are involved as either a bully or a victim – this is clearly a serious problem that can have a devastating impact on learning.

Recently, the national headlines have been dominated by the stories of young people driven to harm themselves, and even take their own lives, because of the harassment and bullying of their peers. Here in Washington, we believe that schools should be safe for every student, which is why our state has taken action to stop bullying.

Since 2003, every school district in the state has been required to adopt an anti-bullying policy to stop school-based harassment, intimidation and bullying. But a 2008 study by Washington State University found that these policies have not made a significant impact. Last year, I led a bipartisan coalition of legislators to pass an update to our state’s anti-bullying law.

The new law requires schools to update and strengthen their policies this year, adopt specific action plans for parents and students to report bullying. And, for the first time, schools will be required to designate a specific school official to tackle school bullying.

These steps will ensure that our schools continue to address this challenge. But, as I have spoken with students, parents and community members, it is clear that we need to take another step to engage more partners in tackling school bullying.

That is why I will be offering legislation this January to create a statewide task force to study how our state can truly eliminate bullying and harassment in our schools. This task force will bring together teachers, parents, students, the faith community and others to examine best practices from around the country and recommend an action plan for our schools.

In the end, no state law can ban bad behavior, but by bringing our communities together, we can make our schools safe for every child. We send our children to school to learn and grow, not to become victims. I hope you will join me in standing up for our kids and saying no to harassment, intimidation and bullying in our schools.

State Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, represents the 21st Legislative District. For more information on how you can support this work, call his office at 425-776-7959 or e-mail at marko.liias@leg.wa.gov.