why school does nothing about bullying?

my son was in 5th grade one year and got picked on by high school kids when he was walking home from school i wasnt gonna let him walk but he wanted to be like the rest so i let him and the first time i did like 5 high school kids picked on him and his friends he was walking with them and they tried to steal his game he had off him so him and his friends ran and he was scared when he got home i went to school reported it his school and the high school principal and no one dont nothing about it i love mcdonald school and the town but i think its wrong when certain kids are picked favorites just because who there parend are i feel everyone should be treated and punished equally and i hate to say it but in mcdonald if your parents are well known or whichever then your kids get away with everything but if your someone who minds there own business and dont bother no one and not affiliated with all the little clubs for school well then hang it up your kid gets treated bad been there i know.

Parent Answers to "why school does nothing about bullying?"

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You mention that you have spoken with the elementary school and the high school principals about this problem? Unfortunately, you face the difficulty that many schools believe that once students are off school property, they have NO responsibilities for student behaviors -- and it may be the case under local and state law in your community.

Have you spoken with the local police or sheriff's department? What is their position?

When my daughter was bullied at school, I advised the principal that if it continued, I would file a formal "assault and battery" complaint with our local sheriff's office and pursue a restraining order against the bullies with the district attorney's office. The behavior stopped.

However, you also appear to live in a small town. It may be the case that however much your son wants to walk home, he can't. You'll need to pick him up because you can't depend on other parents and adults to respond to the bad behavior of the older boys in an appropriate manner.

In this situation, I might consider a letter to the local paper -- without names, of course. And showing up at city council meetings to discuss how the city will respond to this problem. Sometimes being a squeaky wheel works.

Good luck.

Too many adults treat bullying as a normal part of growing up, rather than the traumatic experience it can be and I think you as a parent you need to comunicate to the school about this specific kid that bullied your son.

Yes, there needs to be consequences and I think if this was my child I would take measures.

I encourage you to write a letter to the school and share your opinion, I bet you are not the only one.

if you want to tough it out get your son and his friends that this happened to togther and have them pick out the HS kids in the year book in the HS office or they may know exact names. Once that is done make a formal complaint to the school while cc:Superintendent
and asking what their findings are.
if you do not like the answers then make a formal police report. Now all the other kids parents will have to agree to all of the above if it gets to the HS kids parents they do not want the hassle they will take care of them and your boy and the others should be left alone.

I would get the police involved ASAP ! My child has been subject to bullying as well and it's gotten to the point where it's easier for the school to blame the victim rather than deal with the victimizer ! I sincerely wish you luck and personally I would suggest putting you son into a self- defense class, not only would it enable him to protect himself (since the school system lacks the ability to do it's job in that area }but it'll give him self confidence as well, another area that is critically weakened by negligent school systems.

If this is a public school, then they have to have an approved bullying policy in place. Federally mandated that they have it.

Go to the HS and ask the principal to tell you about the program, what their policy is when a parent reports a problem, and hold him accountable. I know this sounds "pushy" but there IS a process they must follow.

If you can't get any satisfaction with the principal, take it to the district.

You may think this is a lot of noise to make and you don't want to be a "troublemaker," but you're not only doing it for your son, you're possibly preventing the problem in the future.

See, the problem with most of the anti-bullying programs is that they are only really working to MANAGE a problem that already exists. We do precious little in our schools to prevent the problem in the first place. Until that changes, we'll be in "react" mode each time an incident occurs, and these days, our kids stand a 1 in 4 chance of being victims of school-based violence of some sort by the time they hit High School.

That's not acceptable.

You know what, when my daughter was in second grade, I arrived at her school that day to pick her up, and you know what I saw? another girl grabbing my daughter's neck against the wall, I tried to find parking to go and talk to this little bully girl, but her parents picked her up, I said, "thats it" I said to my daughter that from now on nobody was going to grab her like that, I put her on Karate classes so she can learn to defend herself from bullies like this one, of course, they teach your kids not to use it like when they get mad and kick someone, but at least if this happens to her again, she will go in action, I wasn't teaching my girl to be aggresive, but if she has to defend herself from somebody, why not.

Sometimes if the school doesn't do anything about it, sadly this is sometimes the way , which I don't agree that much but nobody has the right to hit my child. Sometimes parents tried to talk about this matter to the parents who's child was bullying other kid and what they only say is that they are kids, so they don't do nothing to call the attention to their kids.

My daughter was in 8th grade in a New city and new school. She came home and said I might be getting a call from the Principal. She was sitting in class with a girl knocked off her own pencils and told my daughter to pick them up. She did not do it. Later that day she was cornered in the bathroom by that same girl plus two of her friends. The girl threatened her and came towards her. My daughter grabbed her throw her into the towel dispenser and then cut her with her nails and threw her to the ground and asked if anyone else wanted some. She was never bothered again. I have always told them to walk away but when push comes to shove she did what she had to and she had to do something similar in HS Right? Wrong?

Right, nobody can hurt our kids no matter what.

I'm not a parent myself, but i am an older sister. my younger sister just started 6th grade this year, and bullying for her has been an on going thing since last year, me and my mom have been to the school so many times, and nothing seems to happen, my little sister is picked on daily, and hit on weekly, it's ridiculus. it's so sad, she cries about it every day, and doesn't even want to go to school anymore. i just printed out the bullying laws for georiga and a request to speak at the next board meeting, but i doubt if it will do any good.

misshart, Good for you! Let us know what happened at the board meeting.

It is sad when we find bullying anywhere. It is important that we make sure our children aren't exposed to it by preventing them from the situation. We can't live our lives 'being like other people'...We need to make rules for our selves and our families which protect us and are best for us. It is extremely important to REQUIRE others to treat us with respect by the way we behave. It is unhelpful to tell our children we feel 'less' than others...They will think that is a correct thing for parents to do. We need to pull ourselves up to a very tall position...and 'COMMAND' respect from others by showing them (and our children) how to behave. (rather than telling them)...

What I see as 'right' in this scenario...is that the child solved the problem. It is apparent that she has been taught that she is responsible for the results in life...no one else is. Of course, all children aren't made of the grit...it takes, but they should be taught that noone EVER can be a better protector than their own good thinking.

Hey big sister. You are so caring...It is crucial for you to help your little sister to learn that she will eventually learn how to cope with the bad behavior of other people. One of the greatest lessons we all must learn is to 'IGNORE BAD BEHAVIOR'...No one can control others. It is only our own behavior we can control. I know a young woman who can read upside down because people used to turn her book upside down when she was reading on the way home from school on the bus. She just practiced reading upside down!! Anything is possible...Good luck and you are a great sister!!!!

there is no reason that bulling and harassment can't be dealt with .no matter who it come from. we go through this every day with our 15 year old we been to school ,police ,talked to others ,school board,&filing and injuntion . whats next?

Jean...It sounds to me like you need to
FIND some professional help to get to the source of the problems with your 15 year old. One can't practice the same thing each day and expect something to change if there are problems. I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties your/son are experiencing. See if the school has a Counselor available...This is very important at this age...The help you seek may make a huge difference in his life. A 'problem' of this type...shouldn't be ignored...punishment of someone else can only go so far. It sounds like there is, perhaps, something different which can be done...to change the way your son is seen by others. He needs help to find that difference...

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Parent Answers to "why school does nothing about bullying?"

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