RI Exposes Dating Violence

There’s a new subject in Rhode Island middle and high school health classes this fall: dating violence. The state recently approved the Lindsay Ann Burke Act to protect those most vulnerable to dating violence—and now mandates that schools educate kids on the subject.

Spearheaded by Rhode Island parents Ann and Chris Burke, whose 23-year-old daughter Lindsay Ann (right) was brutally murdered in fall 2005 by her boyfriend, the act requires every school district in Rhode Island to develop a model dating violence policy and a procedure to address incidents of dating violence involving students.

Some states, such as Massachusetts, encourage awareness education on dating violence, but Rhode Island is the first to require that the topic be incorporated annually into the curriculum for students in seventh through 12th grade.

“Rhode Island has laws requiring a bullying policy in education and a harassment policy as well, so it’s only natural that we have a law requiring dating violence education to complete the violence package,” says Ann Burke, a health teacher in a middle school. “This needs to be taught like teen pregnancy, drug use, and heart disease because you’ll better recognize it and your friends will recognize it.”