When Judges Bully Students

How to Stop Bullying in Schools

Diane Tran is an honor roll student who is serious about grades--her younger brother is number 8 in his class, and she wants to help him do better. In fact, 17-year-old Diane takes care of her siblings by doing more than just helping with homework. She works two jobs to keep food on the table. And Judge Lanny Moriarty put her in jail.

He wanted to make an example of her, he said.

Texas laws dictate that a student shall not miss more than 10 days of school in a 6-month period. But after Diane's parents divorced, it was up to this child to provide food and pay for bills.

That's not how Judge Moriarty saw things. He saw an adult--17 being legal adulthood in Texas, apparently--and he feared that if he did not put Diane Tran in jail, then an onslaught of truant teenagers would follow her example.

So from Judge Moriarty, all of you 17-year-old kids out there who are working 60-hour weeks to keep food on the table while still making some of your classes and getting A's on your tests, you had better not miss 10 days of school. Because there must be a wave of kids in exactly that position just waiting for a good excuse to miss a class.

You can read the full article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-honor-student-20120529,0,589866.story

The Many Fronts of Bullying

How to Stop Bullying in Schools

By Mojdeh Henderson, assistant principal, Jay M. Robinson Middle School

I feel that bullying is an issue in our schools that impacts students in a variety in ways: from their ability to focus in the classroom, to their feelings about themselves, to the overall school climate. My concern is that bullying is not addressed in the home where students learn appropriate and inappropriate social interactions. Children many times do not believe that put downs, insults and gossip damage their peers and their relationships. They view it as just part of middle school and not a “big deal”.

However as a society we know that there can be minor and major impacts to bullying: from avoidance of school, self isolation to depression and even suicide. This issue is of major importance to all schools in America. As an administrator it is my responsibility to ensure that instances of bullying are addressed. As a district and a school we have a no-tolerance policy towards bullying and work to counsel bullies and bring their parents into the discussion. Many times bullies do not stop at the first consequence and more severe consequences need to be issued. We must continue to address issues of bullying. In many instances parents and students attempt to handle the issue on their own and then make the school aware when they are frustrated. Early intervention is the key so that bullying does not escalate.

As a society the issue of bullying must be addressed on multiple fronts: in the home, the classroom, the school and the district. Character education and empathy need to be taught so that students develop sensitivity towards others and understand how their actions and words impact their peers. This also needs to be modeled in the home and mandated by parents as the only option of behavior. If parents and schools can work together we can bring about a decrease in the amount of bullying within our schools.

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For more information on bullying prevention and available resources to support your efforts, sign up today for the FREE professional development webinar for educators presented by the School Improvement Network, Bullying: Understanding the Problem, Defining Solutions on May 30th 2012, 3:00pm with Robin Young of the National Crime Prevention Council.

Click here to register for the FREE webinar:http://www.instantpresenter.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=EA57D783884f

My Bully Is Not Your Bully

How to Stop Bullying in Schools

By Tresa Magee, Assistant Principal, Phillis Wheatley High School

As a 45 year old African-American female, my perception of bullying is vastly different from those acts of bullying that takes place today in 2012.

As a child, my bully was someone who, for whatever reason, decided that I should not participate in any of the campus’ “Reindeer Games,” and my bully made certain to spread the word to my peers in hopes that I would never be given the opportunity to participate. There were definitely days when the bully’s wish came true, and there were days when it did not. The irony of the situation is, although I was shunned on the school’s play ground, away from school, whether it was a game of street ball, or a series of STOP sign relays, I was ALWAYS a member of a team: not to mention, winning team.

I will admit that the treatment I received, while a little girl growing up and attending school in Mississippi, made me feel as if I was an outsider and un-liked. I had grown to hate RECESS because it was the time of the day that I was ridiculed and made to feel worthless.

Today, as an administrator in the largest school district in Texas, I witness and am privy of acts of bullying that actually makes me gasp for air.

Just recently, I handled a situation of Cyber Bullying that was multifaceted and that had been ongoing for at least four years. The situation had come to a “head” within the last five to six months, and was reported to administration. Fortunately, once reported, the situation was resolved within a few days.

Needless to say, some resolve was reached and all parties involved are safe, secure and mentally as well as physically, intact.

What is so astonishing about this incident of cyber bullying is the fact that my school’s principal found it very difficult to grasp. Not because of the intricate details involved, but rather because it was Cyber Bullying. The principal had expressed that cyber bullying was not an issue that he had ever experienced personally nor had he ever dealt with such. He could not fathom how cyber bullying came to be, nor could he fathom how the Information Highway and all that it entails could be the vehicle of such malice.

Bullying can affect anyone: It can and will rear its ugly head to the valedictorian as well as to the football jock. Mean and intentional ugliness is spewed to the “out crowd” as well as to the “in crowd”. No one has immunity. If a person comes into contact with another, then he or she is susceptible to being bullied.

The realization that my bully was and is unlike the multifaceted bully that today’s student experiences grounds and forces me to come to turns that bullying has been around for ages and that it recreates “itself “with each new invention and technological or biological advancement.

The challenge ahead of us: Awareness and acceptance that the “art form” of bullying exists, and becoming proactive in the realization and elimination of such a demon. We as administrators, as teachers, as parents/guardians, as counselors and as club/organization sponsors must actively seek information and programs that promotes awareness.

We mustn’t turn a blind eye to that which we are unfamiliar. We must arm ourselves with knowledge and must actively disseminate gained knowledge to our kids, to our students and to our community.

The remedy: directly facing the challenge(s) that lie ahead with a continuous forward movement. If we take proactive and precise measures, we will have taken the first steps to combat societal issues that plaque our classrooms and that carry over onto our play grounds. The key is to be persistent and relentless in the fight to recognize, understand, resolve and eradicate the actions of the bully; thereby dismantling the being of such a bully.

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For more information on bullying prevention and available resources to support your efforts, sign up today for the FREE professional development webinar for educators presented by the School Improvement Network, Bullying: Understanding the Problem, Defining Solutions on May 30th 2012, 3:00pm with Robin Young of the National Crime Prevention Council.

Click here to register for the FREE webinar:http://www.instantpresenter.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=EA57D783884f

Cyberbullying in Schools, at Home, and in the Community

How to Stop Bullying in Schools

 By Trey Crews, former principal of Clarksburg High School, TN

As administrators know, sometimes more often than not issues we deal with start away from school but inevitably end up in our office, commonly Monday mornings.  A parent may bring a photocopied Facebook page of comments another student has posted about his/her child and expect us to deal with it.  We may tell the parent that because this incident occurred outside of school, we are not going to address it and they need to contact their local law enforcement. Generally if we don’t, usually a problem will occur from this that becomes school related, so it would be better to address it at the beginning at least monitoring the situation more closely even though it started off campus. You would be wise to apply the old saying “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” as you consider how valuable is your time. 

Not only does bullying occur in the community with students, sometimes it also occurs with adults in the workplace.  So we know bullying is all around us and can take on many forms, and can be a very deceptive monster.

One way it can be deceptive is students’ misuse of technology. This is a main reason why most school districts hesitate to allow or put limited restrictions on personal communication devices and other advances of technology in schools.  Some peoples’ misconceived mindset when using technology is that we think we are alone but in reality we’re more exposed publicly and comments and actions are more concrete than ever.  As far as cyber-bullying or technology use goes, there needs to be a push for students to learn appropriate ethics when using this tool.

My philosophy as administrator on the topic of bullying is that we must be progressive. It may seem to some that this can be time consuming but in my experience to be reactive to situations concerning bullying can devour extreme amounts of time.  A step we took was to place an anonymous suggestion “bully box” in hall by the school counselor’s office, to let us be aware of situations that can be monitored.  Also a progressive step to aid prevention is having a strong school counseling program and the teachers and principal getting involved in students' school life through interactions by creating a healthy professional relationship with the students.  When dealing with a discipline problem or a bullying situation, sometimes we will just sweep it under the rug or let it go this time, because our patience has run out and we just don’t want to deal with it. Most often when it happens, it come back to bite us, those small issues are now out of control.  Teachers with the help of students are really the front lines on combating bullying. Our counselors are instructing students how to spot bullying and what to do. Administrators should allow training for teachers to be receptive to their students’ conversions and body languages.

I know our goal is to stop bullying and even in a “bully free zone” we should not think that we have annihilated bullying because when we do, there will always be transit students or even the exception to the rule, some situation that we have not thought of yet. So be sober and vigilant.

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For more information on bullying prevention and available resources to support your efforts, sign up today for the FREE professional development webinar for educators presented by the School Improvement Network, Bullying: Understanding the Problem, Defining Solutions on May 30th 2012, 3:00pm with Robin Young of the National Crime Prevention Council.

Click here to register for the FREE webinar: http://www.instantpresenter.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=EA57D783884f