This is long , bare with me! I NEED HELP!!! Well, guess what? Yesterday as this thread was going, my son called me from school crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said "I got beat up again" . I hung up the phone with him and called the principal. She was not there, she was in a conference. I asked for the assistant principal, he was in a conference. Then the lady sent the call to my sons class and the teacher asked how could she help me. I stated my son called crying stating he had been beat up by the same bully he's had problems with ALL YEAR LONG! Her stupid comment was "Kids will be Kids". That blew me away. I told her we need to take care of this right now. She told me to call after 3:30 and hung up just like that. So, I call the Johnston County Sheriffs Office and explain my son was assaulted. It seems only the dispatcher was the only one who cared. When I go to the school, the sheriffs office sent the town police up there. He told me the principal was on her way back to the school. After she arrived, the principal, teacher, police officer, my son and myself were all in the office and my son told what had happened. The principal was writing everything down. The officer wrote NOTHING. I was basically told there's nothing the police can do that the school has to handle it. I even wrote the teacher a letter that morning asking her to keep an extra eye out for my son that day due to the fact we had problems in our neighborhood the previous night and this kid was involved. Same officer responded that night that went to the school , so he knew himself what was going on! I asked the teacher if she got the letter and she said, "Yeah, I threw it away". So the teacher knew before hand and she did not protect my son. I was told by the principal it will be taken care of. We had awards this morning at school, and you know that kid was there. Nothing has been "taken care of" by 10:30 this morning. Now what do I do???
I am telling you AGAIN Enough is ENOUGH..WRAL. I may not have school age kids yet but I am fuming right now.
Do we get what we pay for? Inexcusable to read about the things happening in the schools. People and students need to be held accountable. It's not like the administration is not well paid. http://1270wmpm.com/salaries/1005.htm
I AGREE 100% ! That's like I told the principal yesterday, I send my son to school to learn not to be a punching bag. I'm not getting ANYWHERE with this school. I'm looking to transfer them somewhere else. It's crazy!
Some websites to help communities with school violence http://www.keepschoolssafe.org/ http://www.ncdjjdp.org/cpsv/ http://loveourchildrenusa.org/bullying.php http://www.bullystoppers.com/ http://www.stopbullyingnow.com/ Suggestions we can all follow. As a community maybe all of you who have posted concerns on here can develop a safe school committee that speaks up about such concerns, talks to NC government officials about improvements.
Look I have worked in school systems. I can tell you tons of these teachers are just there because they thought it would be a great job. Then they find out these kids are not going to listen to evey command and then get a rotten attitude about teaching your kids. Some of them are just there for the benefits because the pay is definately not a magnet.
I worked in the school system many moons ago too and I actually had a teacher tell me she wish all the kids would be put on ADD or ADHD meds (don't remember which med) so they would all sit still and listen! I only worked there for one school year... it made me sick.:x
A friend's son was attacked by 3 kids in an empty portable while in middle school in Garner--the principle tried to downplay it also. The parents insisted a police report be written, hired an attorney, and took the 3 to court. The 2 who already had police records were expelled and the other one was suspended for the rest of the year. The child was in 7th grade.
I have been reading this thread. The schools are not going to protect our kids. Going to the media as an individual parent stands a chance (especially for those in the middle and high schools) that the children involved will suffer retaliation and further teasing from the perpetrators. Going to the media as a group of parents, however is a horse of a different color. Even more so since it's obvious this is a problem that crosses school systems (Wake and Johnston Co.) There are certain points that I do think we can talk about to the media that won't put any specific incident in play, but will emphasize the school system's refusal to act on this issue. Apathy towards the violence as "kids will be kids". The fact that parents must report through "resource officers", yet those resource officers won't take any action. The absurdity of the NC DPI rules, such as: - A school need only report an act of violence if it results in serious injury requiring paramedic attention. The stats show we have "safe" schools because they are only reporting things like weapons and drugs found...and do not report the daily fights and violence against individuals that doesn't result in requiring paramedic attention. - The school must report an incident if a teacher is tapped on the arm by a student...but not if a student brutalizes another student to the point of requiring urgent care attention for X-rays and such after the kid gets home from school. There is more we can talk about. Any parent on this board who is interested in discussing taking such action, please contact me via PM and give me your name and email address. I think it's time we got together and had a chat.
I have contacted WRAL and ABC Thanks Magnolia, for seeing my point. Gathering a group of concerned citizens was my hope in originally posting this thread. As many of us have said, there is strength in numbers. I have a call in to WRAL and ABC. (Remember ABC recently did that story on school bus safety) Hopefully I will hear back by Monday from both. I have directed them to this thread and will see what they say and what they may do for us. I also mentioned that a protest is not out of the question. I did mention the main objective is the children’s safety. We need to get much more supervision for the children, and hold the school responsible when the supervision is so inadequate that a child is attacked in or on school grounds. I stated that parents and students alike are becoming increasingly fearful of their safety at school and frustrated at the school’s apparent lack of concern…for good reason! I did mention that if necessary, I could gather a small group for interviews. I already have around 13 committed citizens willing to help in whatever way is necessary. (Anyone wishing to be contacted, please pm me with contact info) For those who are uncomfortable giving out private info to me, I will post a thread, as well, if it comes to a news group wanting to interview a bunch of concerned parents/. Strength in numbers! I have at least a dozen supporters already, who are willing and ready to do whatever is necessary. And Magnolia, you certainly opened my eyes with regard to the NC DPI Rules. That helps me understand alot of the behavior that occurs with administration. We need to work on that as well. Where did you go to find them? I'll let you all know the minute I hear from either news station. Keep your fingers crossed!!!
You have my support, too! Joannenc, I sent you my number in a pm. Please call if you need any support at all. THIS NEEDS TO STOP!!!! WE NEED TO PROTECT ARE CHILDREN!!!! To say it simply, students need to feel safe at school, and they don't. Since this thread started I have been asking many school age children that very question. 99% of the answers were, "no I don't feel safe at school".
I was thinking more in terms of written media, rather than television news. Television news will not provide what we need. In the small amount of time that would be allotted for this on local news, it becomes nothing more than a sensational 2-minute sound-byte. By it's nature, televison news needs to "grab" quickly, and thus the focus will be on that which is sensational..."hysterical", angry parents - and the mention of protest just adds to that. The focus will not be placed on the root cause of the problem...which is what we need. Threatening a protest - and subsequent protesting, will do nothing other than make people see the parents as demanding and attention-seeking. Television news will not focus on what we are trying to bring to the forefront. This is too multi-faceted for that. What we need is a forum that allows for the relaying of information and facts, in a rational, informative manner. A forum that provides the time to inform people of the various issues that are being experienced by the kids and the parents, the multiple ineffective and apathetic responses from the schools and the school systems, as well as the fact that it's not just one school system. I have kept someone at the N&O in the loop as I've been researching this issue for some time, and I believe it's time to colloborate with this person on this. Lastly...and this is very important...I would ask that media not be directed here to 4042 to read this or any threads to get "information" on this issue. 4042 is our community "back porch", where we discuss things amongst ourselves. We don't need media reading through this thread or this forum and trying to characterize the parents involved based on highly emotional postings in this forum. We want them to get information regarding this issue by talking to us directly...not by their interpretations of what they perceive by reading posts here.
I think both the television and print news combination is an even better approach! We get the attention grabber of the TV news, and then follow up by having people read about this problem in the N&O. Perfect! We present the image we choose to present with the media. I personally will not be portrayed as hysterical or angry. Concerned, yes. Very concerned. Perhaps if my child were seriously injured I would be angry or hysterical, rightfully so. A group gathering would expose many different emotions, reflecting many different experiences. I think that this is a good thing. I also believe that ABC had a huge part in preventing school bus drivers not to use their cell phones while driving, hence me seeking their help with this issue. The facts are there. We need to expose them and look for the solution. The protest idea is another attention grabber. Of course this would be of a last resort. The idea is to get the word out just exactly how unsafe our schools are, hopefully get loads of citizen support and make changes. If enough people write their congressman, senator, School Board, who knows what we can do. I do know that we will be heard. The more people involved, the better our resources. The stronger our voice will be. Just throwing ideas out there, NEVER meant to offend anyone. As far as exposing this forum to the press, I am fairly certain that the local press is well aware of this web site and has been for a long time. Anything you place online in any type of public forum can be read by anyone, at any time. Hence using screen names, not real names. I also do not believe that a story will be created based solely on the threads here. Perhaps that is my mistake. I merely wanted them to realize that there is indeed an issue, and take it even further to really root out the facts and present them to the public. I apologize if I have offended anyone or if they feel that I overstepped my bounds in this forum. I never meant to do that. I am continuing trying to learn the ediqute of online conversation. Thanks to all who supported my efforts! I appreciate it.
I am very sorry there are teachers who have the attitude that kids will be kids. I know there ARE teachers like me who are the opposite. When my son was bullied in second grade, the other student "disappeared" from the school for awhile. (I couldn't be told the consequence due to the Federal Right To Privacy Act, but my son could tell me!) Bullying is one of the very few things that actually make me very angry as a teacher. It is NEVER acceptable for ANY child to feel uncomfortable about going to school because of how others treat them. I do know that some parents of bullies think it's a sign of their son or daughter's "toughness" and they see nothing wrong with physical or emotional bullying. Going to them for help will only inflame the issue for your child. (For middle school girls, shunning is a severe form of emotional bullying where a girl is treated as if she does not exist and no one will acknowledge her presence. Too many parents don't see it as an issue, and won't help prevent it.) I personally had a student who had blackmailed one student and received an appropriate consequence. Yet, when caught bullying another student physically, the father screamed at me "How dare you call my son a bully! That is an unacceptable label!" (If the shoe fits.....) Unfortunately, with some teachers, it appears they do not take the firm stance that I and my teammates always did. For that I am VERY sorry. I do not know what recourse to do EXCEPT through the court system. I do know that in other counties, the police can and do get involved if parents want to press assault charges against bullies. Communicating threats is also against the law. Perhaps anyone who has children being bullied should show up at the next school board meeting (call and get on the agenda first!) to address the issue with them. Going to the very top might force these principals and teachers to actually do their job enforcing the rules.
I don't understand the legal system. Is there some law that says that if violence occurs on school property, only the school can handle it? If my child was assalted physically or sexually anywhere else, I can handle it through the police and have charges brought up but in school, I can't do that? I know that if I had a child in public school, and she came home with some of the stories you have all told, I would call the principal first. If that was handled very quickly and efficiently, I'd stop there. If not, I'd be calling the police and insist that they DO something about it. That something would have to involve the other child's parents and have real consequences, esp if the behavior was repeated. Bullying happens only because it's allowed to-by the school system (which usually looks the other way), by the bully's parents (who really need to step up to the hard job of active parenting), by the legal system and sometimes even by the victims themselves if they don't have any options or are too scared to do anything about it.
Essentially, that is correct. NC schools have "resource officers". These are officers assigned to the schools. If anything occurs on school property - including school buses - the school resource officer is to handle it. If you call your local police, they will take down the information and forward it to the resource officer. Then it's up to the resource officer to contact you. Unfortunately, they often don't and the parent is left trying to reach the officer. Many of these officers are assigned to several schools (in Wake Co.) and may not be at a school for days. Reaching them is next to impossible. And to be frank, they don't appear to be that concerned about something they see as trivial as a one-on-one that didn't result in serious injury. I believe they see so much of it in the schools, that they are sensitized to the seriousness of it on an individual level. Be forewarned that you should make yourself very familiar with the extent to which the school follows "zero tolerance". In many of our local schools, this is interpreted as "everyone involved is responsible and gets punished equally". It works well for the principal because there are no parents calling him and claiming discrimination for only one party getting suspended. It also makes their suspension reports look more balanced. Legally, there isn't a lot to stand on. I'm not as familiar with Johnston Co. as I am Wake co. at this point, but I can tell you that Wake co. school system is so large it's like a government unto itself. It makes it's own rules. They also have most of the attorneys in the triangle locked up. This means that parents looking for an attorney for a Wake Co. school incident must often go outside of Raleigh to find an attorney because there is a conflict of interest issue for most of the education law attorneys in Raleigh due to the fact that they are retained by Wake Co. schools for one little thing or another.
