Martha's Vineyard teen left school to avoid bullying

[MaureenN]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1246758

My personal opinion is that bullying needs to be treated as what it is - criminal harassment, stalking, physical assault, etc.

If a child breaks a law, no matter where they are when they do it or how many other people/children are also doing it, they should be held accountable for their actions & words.

So tired of hearing 'this is what kids do'. Well... not *my* kids! If I ever learned that my child was calling another child names, for any reason at all, I would not shrug it off as 'thats how childhood is' - I would take the opportunity to parent my child, teach them how to treat others with respect and how to live with a clear conscience.

That may be 'what kids do', but people seem to be forgetting 'what parents are supposed to do when kids do what kids do'.

 

[concentric]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1246758

My personal opinion is that bullying needs to be treated as what it is - criminal harassment, stalking, physical assault, etc.
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I agree. I said much the same thing when I started that categories of bullying thread and realized that the "bullying" we are lumping everything into really breaks down into specific crimes.

What has been done, is to lessen or "buffer" the severity of the offense by terming it "bullying."

What I am wondering, however, is what juveniles can be charged with and what the sentencing will be.

 

[Lou Cyper]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1246758

My personal opinion is that bullying needs to be treated as what it is - criminal harassment, stalking, physical assault, etc.

This is an excellent point. If this was happening in public, the police would be called. We had a resident in our building harrassing people, including myself to the point where I had to have a restraining order on him.

Yet at school, we're told to tolerate it, ignore the bullies or become physical with them.

 

[1SweetNov]

My grandson endured almost a year of inschool bullying which escalated to two physical assaults waiting for the school bus. He defended himself and was knocked out by a second attacker. My son wrote an email to the vp that he would concerned about my grandson's health/safety and he would not be returning to the school. He then received a letter from the school expelling my grandson for fighting because in defending himself, he then was just as guilty as the attacker. Tomorrow my son/grandson are meeting w/ police assault investigations and visiting the School's District Offices.

 

[1SweetNov]

I just wanted to update my previous post.The School District sided with the high school w/ the promise his expulsion would not be on his record. My son moved his family across town to a new school dist. The new school said they wd have to consider him as a student since he was expelled-so the previous SD didn't keep its promise either, failing once again now on the District level. Fortunately, he was accepted. His first report card this year is all A's and B's in stark contrast to a year of bullying and failing grades. More importantly, he said he can't remember being this happy in a long time. I heard Dr. Phil is taking on Bullying this year, and I think bringing it all out on the table and making schools and bullies accountable will help. One major diff is this school dist is block classes which minimizes time in the halls-and his subject classrooms are right next to each other. These two standards have helped. All of us have to step up and demand an end to bullying now. Also, the police didn't do anything but take a report six months ago, as far as we know.