HPISD, Enough with the Bullies. Change Your Policies.
Bullying in any school is/should be unacceptable but there’s something about HPISD and the whole excellence thing that makes me think there should be less tolerance for such behavior. How long should it be allowed to go on after administration has confirmed the bullying is taking place before the child doing the bullying is removed (not the victim)?
I understand the rules and procedures and policies but that doesn’t mean, especially in this resource filled district, that we should expect children to endure while we take baby steps to improve the classroom environment.
I’ve been visiting with families at the boiling point not wanting to make waves with administration but tired of the slow pace taken by school officials.
What do you think? Do we tell them ”enough” or “suck it up?”
My vote: ENOUGH. Zero tolerance.
I’ve heard from several families over the past 2 years that while the district is responsive to children being bullied, a common remedy offered is for the victim to be moved to another classroom/homeroom. I both cases I’m aware of, the child’s family felt that offer actually caused further victimization and was turned down flat. Why should the person being bullied have to move away from their friends in their homeroom, rather than those who are the cause? I think I would agree with them if my child were in the same circumstances. If this is a policy (which it probably is, since it’s been offered at least twice and probably more), then I think the it should be revisited. I also think that there should be a very clear procedure in place where repeat offenders are suspended or expelled. I can almost guarantee if serial bullies thought they’d get the boot from the pleasant campus life at HPISD, they’d stop their behavior from fear alone. Here’s an example…I worked for a huge, Dallas-based company for years. When this company began a random drug testing policy, virtually every one I knew there stopped using drugs. There were almost no positive drug test terminations out of 29,000 employees. Why? Because it didn’t make sense to risk losing a good job. Holding people accountable and enforcing severe consequences really are effective ways to change undesirable behavior.
Few things break my heart more than hearing stories about children getting bullied. The idea to move the victims to a different homeroom makes no sense. If part of the solution is to move someone, it should absolute be the bully. I am definitely in support of a zero tolerance policy.
One of the issues is that the parents of bullies are often bullies, too, and use the legal system to cost the school district additional pain, by suing those responsible for moving sweet little Bruno to another classroom full of potential victims.
So, the school tries to walk a fine line. In Plano, we have been successful in getting bullies both in-school and out of school suspensions on rare occasions.
Merritt, write a column about it. I believe the school district is sensitive to other-than-positive press about the schools. I can think of numerous parents and their children who have had to endure this torment. As well, I know of a student who is now in HPISD because he was not welcome at the private school he had been attending. The reason: he was a bully. Hopefully, a column will start the process and we won’t have to wait until an incident to prompt action. When I moved here many years ago, it was my understanding that parents wanted to know how their kids were acting when they were not around. And I believe the majority still do. But, I agree that bullying should not be tolerated. It is difficult to confront parents. If it is happening to one of your kids, maybe you should confide in someone that is known by both you and the parents of the bully.
Merritt,
A great person to speak to is Richard Bohac. We went through this at the middle school and he absolutely will not tolerate! Have experienced the same at the high school also. They will also not tolerate it but my child is the one that did not want me to interfer because then he would get made fun of more by the bully, etc. something else I dealt with is calling the parent and the parent going crazy towards me, screaming at the top of her lungs at me on the phone and how they “want” him to be that way. I was appalled by her behavior. I could see why her son was like he was because she was worse. Even had the punk follow us home one day from school. I headed straight to the UP Police building and he drove off. I am sure there are cases that aren’t handle as ours was but I know Bohac WILL NOT tolerate it.