The frustrated father whose daughter was bullied on a Florida school bus was justifiably upset, but wrong in how he approached the issue. Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right James Willie Jones made national news this past week when a school bus video captured him yelling at students and the bus driver, and gesturing in anger […]
Category Archive: Bullying
How the Media is Contributing to the Bullying Fad Craze
A father is labeled a school bus bully to fight for his child who is being harassed. Five teen suicides focus questions on bullying. A state legislator plans for more legislation on bullying while Congress has introduced its own federal anti-bullying laws. “We talk about bullying every week now,” one local news anchor said in […]
Why Teen Mental Health, Not Bullying, Must Be Suicide Focus
The headline, “5 teen suicides put focus on bullying issue in Mentor,” should have read, “5 teen suicides put focus on youth mental health issues.” This Monday Plain Dealer article in Cleveland, Ohio, is the latest in a number of national news stories linking bullying with incidents of teen suicide. I first addressed this last […]
Bullycide: Death by Bullying or Deeper Mental Health Issues?
Does bullying cause suicide? You would think so if you read and hear some of the headlines, comments, and advocacy by anti-bullying law special interests following several suicides completed by youth who were reported victims of chronic bullying at school. I certainly do not question whether these kids were bullied. I do not question whether the bullying added significant […]
Cyberbullying & Sexting: Expectations for School Principals
“Principals can’t police the Internet all night and all weekend.” I hear this a lot from school administrators. Parents, however, often have a different (and unrealistic) perspective on the matter. My take is that school administrators cannot be expected to police the Internet all night and all weekend. Parents should also not view school administrators as the […]
Gunman at TN School: Do You Want Police or a Climate Survey?
A 62-year-old gunman pointed a .380 semi-automatic gun in a Tennessee Principal’s face yesterday. The School Resource Officer (SRO) drew her gun and shielded the Principal’s body with her own. The principal, Melanie Riden, was able to flee the area. The SRO, Sheriff’s Deputy Carolyn Gudger, lured the gunman into the empty high school cafeteria — a more contained […]
Pipe Bombs & Shooting Threats: Violence or Incivil Behavior?
High-profile school security incidents this week included: A pipe bomb disabled at a Los Angeles school. A teen arrested for a mass schooting plot at a school. Texas schools on the Mexican border preparing for stray bullets from Mexican drug cartel wars. Is this violence? Or is it a manifestation of bullying, harassment, and “incivil” […]
What Constitutes Comprehensive School Safety Policies, Programs, and Funding?
The “bullying summit” held by the U.S. Department of Education this past week drew attention, praise, opposition, and spirited debate depending upon who you talked with about it. As legislators, bureaucrats, educators, media and others jump on the “bullying bandwagon,” what constitutes a more comprehensive and balanced school safety plan? I revisited my July 9, 2009, […]
Why a Proposed Federal School Safety Grant Does Not “Replace” the Eliminated Safe and Drug Free Schools Program
In a local Cleveland news interview last Thursday, I spoke about the elimination of the state grant component of the Safe and Drug Free Schools program. As the public attention on school budget cuts center around teacher layoffs, reductions in transportation, and elimination of sports programs, cuts to school safety funding are going on behind-the-scenes […]
Why Parents Believe Educators Are Ignoring Bullying
Does your child stop a negative behavior after the first and only time you tell him or her not to do something? Or do you need to revisit certain misbehavior, address issues more than once, etc.? For most parents, at some point they have to discuss a particular misbehavior more than once over a period of time. This […]