Archive for the ‘Bullying’ Category

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What Principal Would Ever Approve of this Kind of Bullying?

November 16, 2012

What happened to the all-inclusive school that caters for all personality types and individual learning needs?

Some Declo, Idaho parents are furious over what they call principal-approved teacher bullying.

Summer Larsen’s students at Declo Elementary School needed to meet a reading goal of 10 points, KMVT reports. Those who failed to attain that goal could choose one of two punishments: have their faces drawn on by fellow classmates or miss recess.

Nearly half the class underperformed. Three chose to skip recess, while six opted to have their faces drawn on by peers — artistic choices included names, mustaches and goatees.

One parent tells KMVT that the teacher’s decision teaches students that bullying is OK.

“Not only was my son punished with bullying but the other students were rewarded [for] bullying,” the parent said. “If you ask any 10-year-old or fourth grade student, ‘I get my face colored on or I don’t get to go to recess,’ they’re going to pick get my face colored on, they did not understand what was going to happen to them later.”

The school principal knew about the drawings, KBOI reports. And while superintendent  says the students had a say in the decision, parents’ concerns are being taken “seriously” and an investigation is underway.

This incident may seem light-hearted to some, but don’t get sucked in by it. What this does it tell students who already feel stupid that they should be made to look stupid too. These kids are not stupid at all. No student should be judged by the way they read, speak or add. They should be judged by their character and attitude. Give me a child that tries and is respectful over one that read fluently but treats others poorly any day.

Click on the link to read The Rise of Teacher Approved Bullying (Video)

Click on the link to read Bullies Should Not Be Treated Like Students With Incorrect Uniform

Click on the link to read Social Media: A Playground for Bullies

Click on the link to read Charity Pays for Teen’s Plastic Surgery to Help Stop Bullying

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Posted in Bullying | 1 Comment »

YouTube Video Shows Teacher Being Bullied by Students

November 9, 2012

A video like the one I have posted above can be both a blessing and a curse.

It’s a curse, obviously, because it comes at the expense of a poor, seemingly innocent substitute teacher who was clearly harassed by some of her students. It is quite upsetting that an ever increasing number of students are treating their teachers with the greatest of disdain.

But it’s a blessing too if responded to in a diligent and thorough manner. The wrong way to respond is simply to punish the students involved and leave it at that. The right way to handle such a situation is to realise that such behaviour almost always prevails in an environment that tolerates it. Extreme incidents like this one are almost never one-of-a-kind. I am willing to bet that there have been multiple incidents like this one at this very school that have gone unreported. This footage can make school administrators aware of the likelihood of a bullying culture that can be dealt with by incorporating a number of whole school measures.

Ultimately, a student doesn’t tend to pick on a substitute teacher unless the school culture and his/her classmates tacitly tolerate it. Singular punishments ignores the overriding cultural issues which may be present.

Click on the link to read The Rise of Teacher Approved Bullying (Video)

Click on the link to read Bullies Should Not Be Treated Like Students With Incorrect Uniform

Click on the link to read Social Media: A Playground for Bullies

Click on the link to read Charity Pays for Teen’s Plastic Surgery to Help Stop Bullying

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The Difficulties Faced by Students With Allergies

October 28, 2012

 

In a bid to care for children with strong allergies it seems schools have made allergic children feel socially isolated, different from their peers and vulnerable to being bullied:

TAKARA Rose is the face of a new dangerous fad of playground bullying. The eight-year-old has never hurt or been nasty to anyone, her only “crime” is she suffers a range of allergies.

Mum Alanna describes her daughter’s experience of bullying as terrifying, likening it to having a “loaded gun against her head”.

The year 2 student from Sandringham, in Sydney’s south, is dangerously allergic to nuts, dairy and eggs, meaning if she is exposed to foods containing those ingredients – even brushing past them – she can go into potentially fatal anaphylactic shock.

In a bad week, Ms Rose, 50, is forced to call the ambulance four times because of Takara’s extreme reactions.

Twice, the young girl has been chased by a group of year 6 boys threatening to throw nuts at her, leading her to once lock herself in the school toilets to stay safe.

Takara is among a disturbing number of food allergic children who are being targeted by bullies in Australia, which has one of the highest food allergy rates in the world.

“In her eyes, it’s like holding a loaded gun against her head,” Ms Rose said.

“It’s hard enough to live as restrictive as we do without having the added problem of being bullied by other kids,” Ms Rose said.

Ms Rose also said the school told her the incidents did not constitute “bullying”.

It seems as if the school doesn’t equate life threatening behaviour as “bullying”.  How can we properly protect children when schools continue to make excuses for unacceptable behaviour?

Take this horrible story for example:

Central Coast paediatric nurse and founder of Allerchic website, Stephanie Holdsworth said she knew of one kindergarten child who ended up in the intensive care unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital for four days after having a peanut butter sandwich rubbed in his face by his young tormenters.

These incidents are not simply ‘bullying’ they represent the height of bullying. Nothing is likely to change for allergic kids unless schools are aware of their challenges, actively work to see that they are integrated properly within the school and that the culture of the school is such that bullying and harassment are not taken lightly.

Click on the link to read Doctors Able to Reverse Egg Allergies

Click on the link to read A Nut Allergy is Not a Disability

Click on the link to read Anaphylaxis: The New Form of Discrimination

Click on the link to read Nowadays There is Nowhere to Hide From Bullies

Click on the link to read When Something Doesn’t Work – Try Again Until it Does

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Posted in Anaphylaxis, Bullying | 1 Comment »

Nowadays There is Nowhere to Hide From Bullies

September 28, 2012

 

Even dropping out of school isn’t an insurance policy against being bullied:

A 16-year-old San Diego cheerleader who was repeatedly bullied by her peers says the taunting continued even after she dropped out, ABC News reports.

Katie Uffens left Westview High School earlier this year and enrolled in a home-school charter program after she was told about the existence of a group called the “KKK” — short for the “Kill Katie Klub.”

Mother Giselle Uffens says, however, that there was no escaping the alleged bullies, who proceeded to harass Katie online via social media after she left Westview.

KGTV reports Ms. Uffens collected defamatory photos and comments the bullies made on Facebook and Twitter, and also recorded dozens of allegedly threatening phone calls made to their house, which she turned over to police.

Earlier this month, two teenage boys were arrested at Westview and questioned in connection with the incident. One of them, Nick Aguirre, told KGTV that while he admitted to playing a role in bullying Katie last year, he is actually the victim in this situation, having been taken out of school publicly in handcuffs.

Aguirre said the “Kill Katie Klub” was just a joke he made in passing to a friend, and that he had not talked to her since.

“Basically, what I said to one of my friends was ‘Kill Katie Klub,'” Aguirre told KGTV. “It was a one-liner thing. We never had any intentions to hurt anybody.”

He also denied having any involvement with the threatening phone calls, despite Giselle Uffens’ claims to the contrary.

Click on the link to read The Rise of Teacher Approved Bullying (Video)

Click on the link to read Bullies Should Not Be Treated Like Students With Incorrect Uniform

Click on the link to read Social Media: A Playground for Bullies

Click on the link to read Charity Pays for Teen’s Plastic Surgery to Help Stop Bullying

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Bullies Should Not Be Treated Like Students With Incorrect Uniform

September 6, 2012

Another shocking bullying incident, another tame response:

A Florida school district is looking into an incident in which 13-year-old Melanie Conn was bound in plastic wrap by two of her peers while waiting for the school bus.

Mother Holley Angerson-Conn tells WKMG that the two boys surrounded the middle school girl at the Ormond Beach bus stop, wrapping her 10-15 times to cover her from the waist to over the chin, nearly enveloping her nose and mouth.

“This is not a joke,” Conn said. “This could have become very serious if they would have had a little bit more and nobody was able to get it off of her.”

Conn says the bus attendant was aware of an alleged threat from the boys a few days earlier, but did nothing stop it. Volusia County Schools spokesperson Nancy Wait told the station that the district “takes every reported incident of bullying seriously, fully investigates them and, if substantiated, takes disciplinary action.”

The boys have been suspended, and one of the mothers says she doesn’t understand why her son did what he did, himself being victim to years of bullying.

Suspensions are an unsatisfactory consequence. Kids are suspended for wearing incorrect uniform these days. How will this send the required message?

Click on the link to read The Rise of Teacher Approved Bullying (Video)

Click on the link to read Don’t Even Try to Huminise James Holmes

Click on the link to read How Can Facebook Allow James Holmes Tribute Pages?

Click on the link to read The Need to Blame Anything and Everything for the Colorado Shootings

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Posted in Bullying | 1 Comment »

When the School Bus Mirrors a War Zone (Video)

August 31, 2012

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_oL7B9Manq4

I think it’s highly appropriate for the police to take incidents featuring physical bullying like the one above very seriously:

The argument on a Franklin Township school bus wasn’t particularly unusual. One student had taken a seat that another wanted for himself.

But to Lora Hoagland, what followed was horrifying — a 15-year-old attacking her younger, smaller son for nearly a full minute, the image captured on a cellphone video taken by another student on the bus as it left the parking lot at Franklin Township Middle School East on Wednesday afternoon.

The video, posted to Facebook, was cited by Franklin Township Schools Police in arresting the 15-year-old on preliminary charges of battery with injury and disorderly conduct. It also has left Hoagland with doubts about the safety of her two children, both students in Franklin Township.

She didn’t send either of them to school Friday, likening the scene on the bus to a war zone.

Click on the link to read The Rise of Teacher Approved Bullying (Video)

Click on the link to read Punishments Handed to Children Who Bullied Bus Monitor. Now What?

Click on the link to read The Kids Who Bullied Their School Bus Monitor Shouldn’t be Punished: Nelson

Click on the link to read Video of a Bus Monitor Being Bullied by Middle School Children Goes Viral

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The Rise of Teacher Approved Bullying (Video)

August 31, 2012

When a teacher decides to be circus ringmaster to a bullying free for all, one wonders how the authorities can do anything less than ban him from the classroom indefinitely.

Instead, they point out his record. This is his first blemish.

I would argue that this is not a blemish – it’s a gaping scar.

Click here to watch video.

 The parents of a Washington state teen want their son’s teacher fired after learning that the student was terrorized in a bullying attack by peers — and at some points, by the teacher.

The incidents occurred in February at Gig Harbor Middle School, but cell phone video of the attacks surfaced just this week. Footage shows more than a dozen students dragging the then-eighth-grade boy around the classroom, carrying him by his arms and legs, burying him under chairs, writing on his feet and stuffing his socks in his mouth. The antics last about 15 minutes while teacher John Rosi watches, and later joins in.

Rosi pokes the teen in the stomach and pretends to sit on him, chiding, “I’m feeling kind of gassy.” The class Rosi was supposed to be teaching is a half-hour course for reading and math preparation, The News Tribune reports.

After district officials learned of the incident in February, Rosi was suspended for 10 days without pay, given new classroom management training and moved to a different middle school.

But that’s not enough for the boy’s parents, Randall and Karla Kinney, who have requested a criminal investigation and are calling for Rosi’s termination. Joan Mell is representing the victim, who was 13 at the time of the incident.

“It was a teacher-led bullying incident of epic proportions,” Mell told KIRO 7.

Acting Superintendent Chuck Cuzzetto said he was horrified by what he saw in the video, but contends that while Rosi displayed “inappropriate classroom management,” it was an isolated incident in an 18-year career, and the district acted appropriately in disciplining Rosi.

“We took what we think is pretty significant disciplinary action against the teacher,” Cuzzetto told the station.

 

Click on the link to read Explaining the Colorado Movie Theater Shooting to Children

Click on the link to read Don’t Even Try to Huminise James Holmes

Click on the link to read How Can Facebook Allow James Holmes Tribute Pages?

Click on the link to read The Need to Blame Anything and Everything for the Colorado Shootings

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Posted in Bullying, Professional Conduct | 4 Comments »

The Time When I Don’t Care About Bullying

August 28, 2012

If you are being bullied, or have been bullied, you are entitled to the greatest of sympathy and support. But there is a scenario where bullying doesn’t entitle you to the least bit of sympathy. People who take out their hardships on others by shooting them in cold blood deserve no sympathy for their actions.

I’m sick of bullying used as an excuse for evil and repulsive behaviour:

A suspect is in custody following a shooting at Perry Hall High School in Maryland Monday morning, and sources say the incident may have been motivated by school bullying.

“It appears this was a one-on-one grudge situation,” a police source told CBS News.

A student reportedly entered the school cafeteria and shot another student in the back by firing at random, according to WJZ-TV. Students report that teachers tackled the suspect, and an estimated 200 students were in the cafeteria at the time. One student was shot and has been flown to a hospital for treatment.

One Facebook page that is being passed around as belonging to the suspect bias this last update: “First day of school, last day of my life. t(~_~t), f— the world.”

An unconfirmed post on a Democratic Underground forum notes that the suspect was bullied over the summer, and “was one of the all-in-black/trenchcoat types.“

“We send our students to school to be safe and this is a horrible way to start a school year,” Maryland State Schools Superintendent Lillian Lowery told Perry Hall Patch.

Click on the link to read Explaining the Colorado Movie Theater Shooting to Children

Click on the link to read Don’t Even Try to Huminise James Holmes

Click on the link to read How Can Facebook Allow James Holmes Tribute Pages?

Click on the link to read The Need to Blame Anything and Everything for the Colorado Shootings

Click on the link to read Insensitive ‘Parent Bashers’ Take Aim at Grieving Colorado Parents

Click on the link to read Leave Imperfect Parents Alone!

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Karen Klein Gives Back

August 22, 2012

Well done to Karen Klein, the bullied bus monitor, who has put some of her donated earnings into an anti-bullying foundation. There were a lot of rumblings from sections of society about the extent of her earnings as a result of the notorious bus incident. Hopefully, the negativity surrounding Ms. Klein can be put to rest:

A bus monitor made famous after video of her being bullied by students went viral in June is using her experience to make a difference.

Karen Klein has received more than $700,000 in donations from around the world.

And she says she’s using some of that to launch an anti-bullying foundation.

“We’re hoping to get other people to put money in it, and this is going to be for education for people that have been bullied, for people that just — for people that need it for this situation,” says Klein.

Though Klein hasn’t finalized the details of her foundation yet, she took part Sunday in the “Strike Out Bullying Ball Game” at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York.

She threw out the opening pitch for the minor league Rochester Red Wings.

The team is working with local organizations to teach fans about the dangers of bullying.

Click on the link to read Teachers Who Rely on Free Speech Shouldn’t be Teachers

Click on the link to read Punishments Handed to Children Who Bullied Bus Monitor. Now What?

Click on the link to read The Kids Who Bullied Their School Bus Monitor Shouldn’t be Punished: Nelson

Click on the link to read Video of a Bus Monitor Being Bullied by Middle School Children Goes Viral

 

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Posted in Bullying | Leave a Comment »

Social Media: A Playground for Bullies

August 3, 2012

 

For all it’s benefits, social media is an invitation for bullies to wreak havoc:

The Internet can be a hostile place, and Twitter is no exception. According to a new study, about 15,000 bullying-related tweets are posted every day, meaning more than 100,000 nasty messages taint the digital world each week.

To further understand what happens in the virtual world, researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison trained a computer to analyze Twitter messages using an algorithm created to point out important words or symbols that may indicate bullying. In 2011, during the time of this study, 250 million public tweets were being sent daily — a number almost 10 times the population of the state of Texas.

Click on the link to read Teachers Who Rely on Free Speech Shouldn’t be Teachers

Click on the link to read Bullying is Acceptable when it’s Directed to a Teacher

Click on the link to read Punish Bullies and Then Change Your Culture

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

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