Sunday, October 08, 2006

Bullies?

Recently, there have been some instances at my children's school, where another child was/is being bullied. Other children have witnessed it and the mother of the child has witnessed it. "Supposedly", we have a no tolerance policy. The perpetrators have been called into the office and spoken too. The children continued to bully the other child. The mother has been told that letters have been sent home, but she hasn't seen a copy of it. It has been said, by people who would know, that it has not been handled in the best way. The child being bullied has been a total wreck and the child's doctor said to pull the child out immediately for medical reasons. This child also has special needs. So far a week has passed and nothing has happened.

I can say at the Montessori school where I work, this is not tolerated at all and is immediately put a stop too. I don't understand why this has been going on for so long. Actually, I don't understand bulling at all.

A question: How is bulling being handled at your children's school? What are the consequences? Have any of you had personal experience with this or know someone who has? I would love to hear what you have to say. You can either leave a comment or email me. Any suggestions to help this mother would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We haven't had that problem so I have no advice. However, Kitten took some karate/self-defense classes and the bully topic was approached. And Mr. Cat and I talk to her about standing up for herself and standing up for someone who is being picked on.

BlondeBrony said...

I wish that I could comment. All I know is we have a zero tolerance policy. the school just did a parent information night, but I wasn't able to go.

Our local paper always has ads and stuff.

Interesting articles:
http://www.chroniclet.com/Daily%20Pages/100906head9.html

http://www.safecanada.ca/link_e.asp?category=28&topic=165 (tons of information and downloadable files)

Good luck

Undercover Mother said...

I handle bullying by homeschooling. That's only one reason of so many why I do it. But bullying is not handled on the public school level. The administration does things to try to make the parents feel as if something is being done, but they can't refuse to take a child, like a private Montessori can. The public school can shuffle the bullies around from campus to campus, but they can never be expelled totally from the system barring a criminial act where the juvenile system removes them.

So much of what is being done at the public school level is so much smoke and mirrors. At the end of it all are the very tired, underpaid teachers overwhelmed with children with all kinds of personalities and needs, and having had their room aides cut years ago, often alone. It's just so sad.