GUILTY Pa - One Adult, 20 Students Stabbed At Murrysville High School, 9 April 2014

[faw720]

First, I was appalled that the girl and her father used the horrific and deadly stabbing attack as a soapbox for her situation. And because of their complete lack of consideration of the actual victims in this case, I take her story with a very large grain of salt.

Second, physical assault is illegal. If a parent is not happy with the school's discipline after their child has been attacked, they should call the cops. At least that's the case in my area, not sure if that varies around the country.

Lastly, the assailant was not physically attacked. If anything, someone teased him on Facebook. Solution? Unfriend the person who is annoying you. Taking a knife to school and attacking innocent people is not about the school not doing enough for "fragile" child egos. It's about a young person who is vicious and homicidal. JMO, OMO, MOO.

JMO, I think there was probably a lot of denial going on by the assailant's parents & school officials. Again, JMO, a perfectly normal child doesn't suddenly wake up one morning & decide to maim or kill as many people as possible.

 

[JerseyGirl]

JMO, I think there was probably a lot of denial going on by the assailant's parents & school officials. Again, JMO, a perfectly normal child doesn't suddenly wake up one morning & decide to maim or kill as many people as possible.

It's already proven the school was in denial. Kids are now coming forward and saying, yes, there is a lot of bullying going on in our school, and this is the school's record?!?!? The school is NOT acknowledging the bullying going on in there!

In the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Safe Schools report for 2012-2013, Westmoreland County schools reported a total of 26 incidents of bullying. Franklin Regional reported zero, according to the report.

Linked upthread

bbm

 

[Dogface]

Is there anyway to teach kids to deal with bullying? By this I mean is there any proven method that works to shut a bully down? I feel that often times the process of "tattling" to parents or principals would probably make it worse.

When I first moved to Texas, this one girl I didn't even know hated me, and on a field trip in front of everyone on the bus was saying my mom was such a wh*re(my mom didn't even live in the state) and while everyone was laughing at what she said, I rebutted with "god, I know, I have been telling her to stop being such a wh*re, but she said its hard when your dad won't stop calling her every night", which promptly made the girl shut up, and sit down and her and I never spoke again. It fixed my problem. Interestingly she tried to friend me on fb recently, lol. But there has to be some way to take the power away from a bully. I just don't know what the most effective method would be.

 

[i.b.nora]

Good long article:

Murrysville: Once near-perfect, now shaken, resilient
Lives and a way of life hung in the balance in a school hallway
April 12, 2014 11:44 PM
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
This story was written by Post-Gazette staff writer J. Brady McCollough, based on his reporting and that of staff writers Liz Navratil, Molly Born, Rich Lord, Elizabeth Bloom and Nikki Pena.

"The large swath of farmland seemed ripe for development. You could not ignore the rustic beauty, the rolling hills set on the edge of a dense forest, and yet you would still be just 20 miles east of the city if you wanted to drive in for a game or a show. And the school district? Well, it did not get much better than Franklin Regional, which annually sent its brightest students to some of the top universities in the country."


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/e...-resilient/stories/201404130202#ixzz2ynF4RZGX

 

[LietKynes]

Hoping that this Hribal is charged as an adult.
It bothers me that if he goes through the juvie system -- he could get out by maybe the age of 21 ?
And if that happens, it would seem like a good idea for law enforcement to keep an eye on him. He (Hribal) could "explode" again.
I apologize if that notion seems unforgiving.
Just that stabbing is a very 'up close and personal' attack --- you'd have to be within an arms' length and know how deeply that knife is penetrating. Very vicious and unbelievably cruel.
moo

 

[faw720]

Hoping that this Hribal is charged as an adult.
It bothers me that if he goes through the juvie system -- he could get out by maybe the age of 21 ?
And if that happens, it would seem like a good idea for law enforcement to keep an eye on him. He (Hribal) could "explode" again.
I apologize if that notion seems unforgiving.
Just that stabbing is a very 'up close and personal' attack --- you'd have to be within an arms' length and know how deeply that knife is penetrating. Very vicious and unbelievably cruel.
moo

I agree with you. If, after undergoing psychological evaluation, it is determined that he has mental health issues, he needs treatment until he is cured, if cure is even possible. Mental issues are not going to magically disappear when he reaches the age of 21. If he cannot be cured, he will need to be kept locked away so that he doesn't endanger anyone ever again.

I have even wondered if he might possibly have a brain tumor or have been on drugs that would have caused him to behave in such a vicious manner.

Regardless of what caused him to attack, he needs to either spend the rest of his life in a psychiatric hospital or in jail.

 

[faw720]

Is there anyway to teach kids to deal with bullying? By this I mean is there any proven method that works to shut a bully down? I feel that often times the process of "tattling" to parents or principals would probably make it worse.

When I first moved to Texas, this one girl I didn't even know hated me, and on a field trip in front of everyone on the bus was saying my mom was such a wh*re(my mom didn't even live in the state) and while everyone was laughing at what she said, I rebutted with "god, I know, I have been telling her to stop being such a wh*re, but she said its hard when your dad won't stop calling her every night", which promptly made the girl shut up, and sit down and her and I never spoke again. It fixed my problem. Interestingly she tried to friend me on fb recently, lol. But there has to be some way to take the power away from a bully. I just don't know what the most effective method would be.

Wow! You did good!! Not everyone is capable of such a quick come back.

 

[Tssiemer]

My poor niece was bullied day in and day out and even caught a juvenile charge of Beyond Control (which is such a bull$hit charge. Parents and schools in Kentucky can get kids taken into custody by filing an Beyond Control order) when she defended herself. She was mostly bullied because her mom was a substitute teacher at her school. My sister was over weight as well as my niece and those kids were ruthless! Neither of them have good coping skills. The bullying followed my niece to New Jersey where she was doing an internet school. This is her first year back, her freshman year and it's still pretty bad. She self isolates which stunts her social development. She is OBSESSED with the Columbine School Shooting and the anti bully program that one of the parents of the victims started. She kind of freaks the school out talking about the shootings so much. We've been trying to teach her that it's ok to be passionate about it, but there's no reason to badger people with it until they agree with you because they may never agree.

 

[lawstudent]

In my experience, the best way to deal with bullying is to ignore it. I know that might not be true in every case, but in most cases I've seen, if you stay out of drama, it doesn't escalate too badly. I also don't believe that mass shooters do so because of bullying. I think there is often a way larger disconnect they have with most students and probably family that makes them feel embarrassed, angry, and hopeless about the future, as well as causes them to lose empathy. This disconnect may make them a target for bullying because they stand out and don't have a lot of people to hang with. Most bullied kids never get close to this point, so I believe it far more has to do with an internal disconnect - it's a resentment for society, not bullies in particular. Bullies just reinforce their feelings about society. I don't know if the disconnect is biological, the result of experiences, or both.

 

[faw720]

My poor niece was bullied day in and day out and even caught a juvenile charge of Beyond Control (which is such a bull$hit charge. Parents and schools in Kentucky can get kids taken into custody by filing an Beyond Control order) when she defended herself. She was mostly bullied because her mom was a substitute teacher at her school. My sister was over weight as well as my niece and those kids were ruthless! Neither of them have good coping skills. The bullying followed my niece to New Jersey where she was doing an internet school. This is her first year back, her freshman year and it's still pretty bad. She self isolates which stunts her social development. She is OBSESSED with the Columbine School Shooting and the anti bully program that one of the parents of the victims started. She kind of freaks the school out talking about the shootings so much. We've been trying to teach her that it's ok to be passionate about it, but there's no reason to badger people with it until they agree with you because they may never agree.

I am sorry about your niece's situation!

I was very lucky to go to a really small school. We had bullies but all the other students were the object of their bullying at one time or another & each of us got our turn on more than one occasion. We did not feel like we were singled out for the bullies negative attention. Also when the principal heard any of the bullying, the bullies paid the price.

This all happened many years ago & it is interesting to look back on those times now. All of the male bullies had alcoholic fathers & I'm sure their family life was very dysfunctional. The lone girl bully had been abandoned by her mother at a very young age & I'm able to understand now that she suffered from severe emotional problems.

I wonder what the home situations are for the bullies of today?

 

[bettiepageturner]

Did you read what happened to the other girl, or watch the video with her?

You know, people are only human. If they are tormented day after day, in school and out (and I don't know that's what happened, just positing a hypothetical situation) they will eventually break. Something has to be the final straw, even if its something like "rat face" that an adult would scoff at.

Not everyone is equal psychologically and environmentally.

Indeed. It's easy to imagine what we would do as adults in that situation. If someone said to me now what some of my bullies had said to me in the 5th or 6th grade, I would chuckle and wish them the best. But brains don't stop developing until the age of 25 or so and back then it hurts so much you beg your parents every morning to let you stay home, you skip recess, forget your gym clothes on purpose, keep your head down on the desk in class because crying makes them laugh harder, then hold it in until you're walking back from the bus stop and you can't see the bus anymore. The whole time you're very aware that you're not supposed to care, that caring means they're winning, but at that age it's a zero sum game and empathy hasn't entered the picture. I just hope I'll be able to teach my kids one day that popularity or approval at the expense of someone else's pain and lifelong memories will never be worth it.

I was skeptical off the bat when reports started coming out that Hribal "wasn't especially bullied." I think these kids know that every time there's violence like this it's the first question people ask, and if they had any part in it they're better off downplaying it. That kind of violent, horrific reaction should never be excused or justified, but when people have made you feel like you're not worthy of being alive it's even harder to admit you need—and ask for—psychiatric help. The stigma makes it hard for even seemingly happy, balanced adults. Maybe we should start teaching children about mental illness around the same time we start teaching them about germs?

Sorry for the ranting yet again. Do you guys think any more information will be released about warning signs that may have been missed? Could there not have been any? (I'd be surprised, I'm just curious and not well versed in psychology etc.)

 

[MissUnderstood]

I think we need to expose our kids to more everyday situations. Let them do things and fail. Let them lose and deal with it. Send them out to do things they haven't done before. Build there confidence. Let them problem solve out situations, not do it for them. I think a lot of these kids do have good intentioned parents, but just because your kid doesn't come to you with problems doesn't mean there isn't any. Talk to your kids about the uncomfortable stuff, include them in things, make them feel worthy and important. I think parents forget sometimes that kids are people to and they want all the things we do. If your in tune with your kids you would notice changes big or small.
These types of school yard attacks seem to be kids who have no idea how to work things out on there own. Moo of course, but all these kids seem to have the same kind of traits!


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[gxm]

Is there anyway to teach kids to deal with bullying? By this I mean is there any proven method that works to shut a bully down? I feel that often times the process of "tattling" to parents or principals would probably make it worse.

When I first moved to Texas, this one girl I didn't even know hated me, and on a field trip in front of everyone on the bus was saying my mom was such a wh*re(my mom didn't even live in the state) and while everyone was laughing at what she said, I rebutted with "god, I know, I have been telling her to stop being such a wh*re, but she said its hard when your dad won't stop calling her every night", which promptly made the girl shut up, and sit down and her and I never spoke again. It fixed my problem. Interestingly she tried to friend me on fb recently, lol. But there has to be some way to take the power away from a bully. I just don't know what the most effective method would be.

LOL. When my son was a teenager, he wore his hair long and used to get teased with "are you a boy or a girl?" His response would probably get me a timeout. But it involved performing a certain act in order to find out. That shut them up real quick.

 

[gxm]

I think we need to expose our kids to more everyday situations. Let them do things and fail. Let them lose and deal with it. Send them out to do things they haven't done before. Build there confidence. Let them problem solve out situations, not do it for them. I think a lot of these kids do have good intentioned parents, but just because your kid doesn't come to you with problems doesn't mean there isn't any. Talk to your kids about the uncomfortable stuff, include them in things, make them feel worthy and important. I think parents forget sometimes that kids are people to and they want all the things we do. If your in tune with your kids you would notice changes big or small.
These types of school yard attacks seem to be kids who have no idea how to work things out on there own. Moo of course, but all these kids seem to have the same kind of traits!



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I completely agree with your post. That said, I really feel this kid has a lot more going on. One doesn't go on a stabbing spree without having a huge lack of empathy. It's way too close and personal and IMO it takes a particularly vicious mind.

 

[Tssiemer]

I am sorry about your niece's situation!

I was very lucky to go to a really small school. We had bullies but all the other students were the object of their bullying at one time or another & each of us got our turn on more than one occasion. We did not feel like we were singled out for the bullies negative attention. Also when the principal heard any of the bullying, the bullies paid the price.

This all happened many years ago & it is interesting to look back on those times now. All of the male bullies had alcoholic fathers & I'm sure their family life was very dysfunctional. The lone girl bully had been abandoned by her mother at a very young age & I'm able to understand now that she suffered from severe emotional problems.

I wonder what the home situations are for the bullies of today?

Same for me. There was 83 people in my graduation class and 50 something in my husbands. We all got rigged on and rigged on others.


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[Tawny]

I personally feel that we are approaching the issue of bullying in the completely wrong manner. We are emphasizing the victims which makes the bullies feel stronger, even when the bullies get in trouble.

It's not easy for everyone, and I completely understand that plenty of kids/people are... "meeker"... for lack of a better word, but we need to start focusing on how to handle/shut down/"disarm" a bully, rather than just telling kids to tattle on the bully. That gets a kid exactly nowhere, but teaching kids how to handle the bully and how to get through the torment will build a stronger character and a more adaptable individual, IMVHO.

 

[faw720]

I completely agree with your post. That said, I really feel this kid has a lot more going on. One doesn't go on a stabbing spree without having a huge lack of empathy. It's way too close and personal and IMO it takes a particularly vicious mind.

I agree completely! He is dangerous.

 

[passionflower]

Just read by tweets. School resumed today.

 

[pghbrandi]

Just read by tweets. School resumed today.

The teachers are back today. Students can go tomorrow and walk the halls then Wednesday all classes resume.

My son's friend came home from the hospital Saturday!!! He is doing pretty good all things considered!

 

[faw720]

The teachers are back today. Students can go tomorrow and walk the halls then Wednesday all classes resume.

My son's friend came home from the hospital Saturday!!! He is doing pretty good all things considered!

I'm glad the end of the school year is near. Going back has to be traumatic for both the students & teachers.

Am glad your son's friend is well enough to be home!