Nebraska lawmakers are pushing a bill to get schools to take a tougher stance on bullying, to send a clear message to those who come to school with intentions to threaten and intimidate.

These days, bullying extends far beyond school hallways and classrooms, which is why lawmakers want school officials to upgrade their disciplinary guidelines.

Two Ralston High School students recently received threatening messages. One was left on a cell phone voice mail (“If I see you in my eyesight again, I will kill you"), the other posted on a MySpace page which read, "I'll straight up kill her."

The family took legal action. If Legislative Bill 205 becomes law, Nebraska school districts will have to develop a policy that outlines bullying and its consequences. That includes physical, verbal or electronic abuse anytime the student is on school property or at a school function.

Some districts, like Papillion-La Vista, are taking a pro-active approach.

"We tell them that at the beginning of the year if they are using those tools to harass others, then that becomes a school issue because it's disruptive to our school environment and we will suspend or expel regarding that," says La Vista Middle School principal Tom Furby.

The school policy protects students every minute of the day, even after the bell rings. "We want students to feel that they can step forward and report incidents,” says Furby.

“If they are fair game when they leave our school grounds, then they're gonna be much more reluctant to report anything."

At Wednesday’s first reading of the bill, 39 were in favor of LB 205 and one was against it. The measure still has two more readings to go before a final vote.

To find out if your school district already addresses this issue, the best thing to do is pick up the phone and give administrators a call.