Are the Schools Helping or Hurting our Children?
As a former teacher, I believe the schools are where a lot of the responsibility for stopping bullies falls. Also, when many people talk about school violence they think of urban schools. That is not true today; school violence is in all communities, urban, rural, suburban, both public and private schools, and now Indian reservations.
School officials know that concern for student misbehavior is not new. However, behavior problems have become more prevalent, violent, and destructive during the past 10 years. Some of the behavior problems include lack of discipline, student safety issues, and increased violence. These concerns are no longer directed only at middle and high schools. Increasingly, serious discipline problems are at the elementary schools as well. Violence is hardly an isolated act.
Misbehavior is also a topic of controversy. Any school that says, “There is no bullying here” is covering it up. Bullying happens in every school. Why would a school deny it, justify it, or sweep it under the rug? Some believe that the environment in schools (over crowding, over age students, poorly qualified staff) promote violence. The conditions of the school will effect the learning environment.
Schools are too worried about lawsuits and personnel losing their jobs. Many school administrators do not want to acknowledge it is happening on their tenure. Many are worried it will give the community a bad name; the schools will be labeled unsafe. This results in the administration burying its head in the sand.
Whenever the administration is too scared to stand up for the victim then realize you’re dealing with a weak authority. Those in authority positions must support teachers, school personnel, and the victims. A six-year-old boy was picked up by his ears and had his head rammed into the top of the school bus roof. He ended up with a sprained neck and a concussion. The boy identified the high school student who did this to him. The administration six months later is still investigating. This is an example of weak leadership.
Teachers are not trained properly to deal with bullies and many times are not supported by the administration. It is very upsetting as a teacher to do your job and then lose credibility by having your superiors not do theirs. Victims of bullying and school violence do not feel very safe when they report an incident and nothing is done. The bully then feels he can do whatever he likes doing since there are no consequences.
Many of the problems can be solved by spending more money on extra personnel (we know what the schools would say to that) or by asking for parent or grandparent volunteers. These volunteers must be backed up and supported by the school administration or their time at the school will be useless and frustrating. The volunteer’s words must be taken over the words of the students. Many schools do have an action plan for handling bullying. Unfortunately, for those schools that do have an anti-bullying policy, just because you have words on paper does not mean you’re solving the problem. Legislators act as if they’re doing something by passing laws or putting in metal detectors, these are not the solution.
One other small item school districts need to be aware of and that is Davis vs. Monroe County school board of Education. In 1999 the Supreme Court determined that school districts can be held responsible and private damages may lie against a school board when the district “acts with deliberate indifference to known acts of harassment in its programs or activities.” Silence on benefits the bully and the number of solutions are huge. Solutions can be found in my free bullying program called The Compass Program. Derek is a parent coach and has customized programs
for corporations, schools, and parent groups for putting the fun back into
parenting and protecting your child/student from bullying. He can be reached at Parent Smart from the Heart, 1-866-89-SMART or 847-853-4308, or info@randelconsulting.com
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