Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, hold a sheaf of papers while speaking in the Alabama Senate on Feb. 13, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Smitherman sponsors SB 34 that would create a conflict resolution course for middle schoolers. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill creating a conflict resolution course for middle schoolers.
SB 34, sponsored by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, originally applied to high school students, but an amendment requested by the State Department of Education moved the course to middle school. The department would create and administer the course, according to the bill. A request for comment was sent to the department Wednesday morning.
“They don’t have any kind of way understanding how to deal with conflicts and resolution, but the end result is you have a gun to do something,” Smitherman told the Senate Education Policy committee.
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Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, said he is supportive of the move to middle school.
“What we have found statistically in middle school is where we’re having the majority of the problems emerging, particularly around seventh grade,” Hatcher said.
Smitherman said that students will react to a comment on social media with violence. Hatcher said he sees the bill as a proactive measure.
“The conflict resolution piece is, in my view, proactive,” Hatcher said. “Because what it means is that if you have this happening in middle school, there’s less of a chance for us to have these kinds of serious impacts that can happen when our babies get to high school.”
Committee Chair Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, said his bill banning cell phones in school and creating a social media safety course would be in committee next week, accompanied by cell phone and social media experts.
“With what our students are exposed to in our schools today, next week, in this committee, we’re going to have a couple of experts on social media and cell phones come in and speak to our committee about some policies that other states have adopted,” Chesteen said. “We plan on adopting that in this state.”
The bill goes to the full Senate.
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