For the last year and a half, my 12 year old has been kicked, hit, slapped, and bullied, at our local elementary school and on the bus, by one child in particular. We did EVERYTHING we could do to resolve this problem, from reporting the incidents to the school, to speaking with the mother of this child on 2 occasions. Even though my son has learning disabilities, as well as nuerofibromatosis (a genetic disorder) he is mainstreamed and doing well, even making honor roll during one marking period in 5th grade this past year.
After the school took repeated actions against the bully, including referrals, ISS and OSS, the bullying continued. This past May 4th the child was sitting in front of my son on the school bus and for absolutely no reason he turned around and punched my son in the chest, just below his throat. This left my son in tears, and also left a huge fist print in his chest. At that point we immediately reported the incident to the school, but we also filed an assault charge against the bully. The bully was removed from our bus, but was just placed on another bus, where we feel he will just find a different target for his aggression. As both children are entering middle school this year we felt we had to resolve this issue once and for all.
We are hoping that the juvenile court will take the necessary action to get it through this child's head that bullying is WRONG. We went to court last Tuesday, August 9th, but it was rescheduled due to the mother feeling she might need a lawyer for her son. While we hate having to go through the courts, as we feel this might lead to further bullying, we have to do all we can to protect our son.
The repeat show about bullying was uplifting, and informative. I had my 12 and 14 year olds watch the show, being sure to stress that if they see bullying happening to someone else, and they stand by and do nothing, they are just as wrong as the bully. The schools need to take bullying more seriously and take immediate action the FIRST time it occurs in an effort to stop it. I will be doing all I can to make this an issue that is addressed by the school this coming year.
Thank you Dr. Phil, Jay and Clay Aiken!!
