Did you know that Nebraska has a law requiring all public schools to have policies and procedures to address teen dating violence, including educating staff and students on teen dating violence and healthy relationships?
The law, known as the Lindsay Burke Act, was passed in 2009.
History
Lindsay Ann Burke was a 23-year-old woman from Rhode Island. Her friends, family, and hometown community described her as someone who cared deeply for others and led through compassion, honesty, and trust. This started in childhood and prevailed throughout her young adult years. She had plans to follow in the path of her family, many of whom were educators, and got degrees in elementary school education and special education.
When attending a wedding, she met Gerardo Martinez, who would later kill her. The relationship started like many, but quickly devolved into classic warning signs of abuse. Lindsay’s parents recognized that he was isolating her, controlling her, reinforcing rigid roles within their relationship, had extreme mood changes, and took no accountability for his actions. After two years, Lindsay was preparing to leave him. Her parents became concerned when she didn’t show up to work, and after working with the police, they found she had been killed.
Lindsay’s experience has been described as a textbook example of abuse. After her death, one of Lindsay’s former teachers talked to her parents and shared that healthy relationships and domestic violence prevention weren’t any lesson plans, and he wished that abuse and domestic violence had been taught about in school. To honor her legacy of education and kindness, her parents believed she would want people to receive education on dating violence to hopefully prevent this from happening to anyone else. Through tireless advocacy, the Lindsay Ann Burke Act was created and first passed in Rhode Island in 2007.
To learn more about the advocacy work around the Lindsay Ann Burke Act and school education, check out the Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund.
The Law
The Lindsay Ann Burke Act was first passed in Rhode Island in 2007. It is currently a law in 21 states, including Nebraska.
In 2009, the Nebraska legislator declared “that all students have a right to work and study in a safe, supportive environment that is free from harassment, intimidation, and violence.” To address this issue, each school district was responsible for creating policy and procedures to address dating violence. These should be accessible in handbooks across the state. In addition to school policies, the school should provide education to staff on teen dating violence and age-appropriate information and education on dating violence and healthy relationships to students.
You can explore the law in full detail in Nebraska Legislative Bill 63.
Explore What’s Happening in Your Community
Every school district in Nebraska was responsible for creating its own policies and procedures and for identifying training that met the requirements. This means that every district and school is implementing the Lindsay Ann Burke Act differently, and some schools may not be meeting the requirements at all due to the lack of resources.
To explore what is happening in your area:
- Contact your local school and ask what their policies and trainings look like in relation to the Lindsay Ann Burke Act
- If your local school is implementing training and education, explore how long they have been using the same materials
- Find your local school’s handbook and look for domestic violence policies and information on how students and staff receive education
- Talk to young people in your life about what they are learning in school in relation to healthy relationships and dating violence
- If your local school has not been able to fully implement the Lindsay Ann Burker Act, ask how you can help. This might look like providing time or financial resources or advocating at the district or state level.
The Lindsay Anne Burke Act was a step towards ensuring that young people in Nebraska, and across the country, have the knowledge and tools to recognize warning signs before a relationship becomes dangerous. But a law is only as effective as its implementation. By staying engaged with your local schools, asking questions, and offering support where it’s needed, you can help turn this legislation into real, life-saving change in your community.
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