Topical Teaching

We hear about fighting and bullying but not many understand how bad it can get and how passive the bystanders can be:

Florida 16-year-old Chase Cristia was standing up for a friend during lunch, when another J. W. Mitchell High School student threatened her last Friday, Bay News 9 reports. Though Cristia reported the incident to her assistant principal, “no imminent threat” was found and the sophomore was permitted to ride the bus home, as always.

According to authorities, it was there where a 17-year-old student attacked, while another student filmed the brutal school bus beating. The footage was later posted to Facebook.

Addressing how quickly the video was posted to Facebook, Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning told local TV station WFLA, “I think it’s a reality of where we are today in our society and our culture.”

Two students allegedly involved have since been arrested on misdemeanor charges, but Cristia is still considerably shaken by the horrific incident that has been shared countless times on social media networks.

She returned to school on Wednesday, but left early after she was subjected to teasing from classmates, Tampa Bay Online reports.

Though the graphic video in which Cristia is beaten by a fellow classmate on a moving school bus is only 16 seconds long, it will live on the Internet for years to come.

“It’s not like we can recall them,” Dennis Alfonso, an attorney for the Pasco County school board, told the Tampa Bay Times.

According to school officials, the two sophomore students have also been suspended, and the district has launched an investigation into the incident, Fox 13 reports.

Cristia and her mother are pressing charges against the female students involved, and Cristia’s mother also intends to file a restraining order against the two on behalf of her daughter.

However, in an interesting change of events, Cristia told ABC News that she received a brief apology note from her attacker Wednesday morning.

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry, Chase,” the note reportedly read.

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This entry was posted on February 10, 2013 at 12:19 am and is filed under Bullying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.