Stopping a Bully
My daughter has been getting bullied at school by students. She is in 6th grade and they are in 7th and 8th grade. It's been going on since school started, but she only told me about it yesterday when it got worse. Yesterday a group of older boys surrounded her and started barking at her and yelling at her "bark b!tch, bark b!tch". She said a couple of older girls have been in on it too.
So this morning I sent my email to the school. I had a conference with the principal and school counselor about 2 hours later. Things are going smoothly. It appears that the situation is taken seriously and steps are being taken resolve it.
There is something else about it though that is really bothering me. This group of boys intimidate female teachers I learned. They have made a number of female teachers cry. The school counselor said they aren't as bad when other male teachers are around. I heard from a parent that works at the schools that one boy in particular is the worst. I was told that back in the 4th grade he would make his teacher have a nervous breakdown almost every day. I brought all this up to principal and he quickly denied there being very little truth to it.
Why are students allowed to behave this way towards teachers with no consequences? The rules that schools have set against bullying needs to be applied to everyone. If they really say they have no tolerance for bullying then they have to show it. Bullying has to take place in an environment that supports it. If they ignore and dismiss students bullying school staff then the bullying will continue. If the staff can't stand up to the bullying as a unified force of authority then bullies will take advantage of this weakness. They will continue to terrorize their victims and will eventually escalate the abuse.
So this morning I sent my email to the school. I had a conference with the principal and school counselor about 2 hours later. Things are going smoothly. It appears that the situation is taken seriously and steps are being taken resolve it.
There is something else about it though that is really bothering me. This group of boys intimidate female teachers I learned. They have made a number of female teachers cry. The school counselor said they aren't as bad when other male teachers are around. I heard from a parent that works at the schools that one boy in particular is the worst. I was told that back in the 4th grade he would make his teacher have a nervous breakdown almost every day. I brought all this up to principal and he quickly denied there being very little truth to it.
Why are students allowed to behave this way towards teachers with no consequences? The rules that schools have set against bullying needs to be applied to everyone. If they really say they have no tolerance for bullying then they have to show it. Bullying has to take place in an environment that supports it. If they ignore and dismiss students bullying school staff then the bullying will continue. If the staff can't stand up to the bullying as a unified force of authority then bullies will take advantage of this weakness. They will continue to terrorize their victims and will eventually escalate the abuse.
