My bullied son's last day on Earth =[

Everyone is at fault on a major level and need to make sure that they just don't talk the talk in stoping such behavior between students, staff and at home, but also take the actions needed to ensure that their child doesn't bully others at school, to ensure that when at school no students bully eachother, and to ensure that their children are not bullied at school. And in turn they all must hold eachother accountable if there is to be a 'safe' educational environment. Otherwise go piss on that motto because words hold no merrit alone.

"Bermudez said she thinks her son felt like nobody wanted to help him, that nobody stood up and stopped the bullies."

This line above is the exact same thing that I have heard from every parent who has had a child that was bullied or from someone who was bullied. The stories are so consistent that they are frightening.

The schools always side with the bullies and blame the victims. When parents complain, they are viewed as annoying troublemakers.

Putting anti-bullying awareness programmes into place is viewed by many teachers as a convenient cover, for now they are able to say that there is no longer bullying as it's under control, and they can just look the other way and let it continue.

Until teachers, administrators, principals and counselors take strong action to stop bullying, it's not going to stop.

not all kids look the other way. When I was in elementry school I nearly got kicked out several times for putting bullies in their places (violently), once in high school too. I cant stand to see people putting others down for their own amusement, how can people hurt others for no reason? Empathy seems to be only found in a few.

what happened to the days when a bully just pushed you on playground b/c you were the kid w/ a big nose?

the point is- where the hell are these kids learning to be so awful? parents, or lackthereof- the discipline isn't enforced at home, and parents don't take control of their kids anymore and teach them how to be right. and the schools...well they're not babysitters....and i'm not saying, RCS that they shouldn't listen better to parents, but the acting out really does start at home and is taken to school. so ultimately i don't put as much responsibility on the school as i do the parents.

At some point you have to think homeschooling is an option...

perhaps its different these days...

but when i was in school even teachers bullied..

my kids homeschool... I hated school.

I dont think i took a deep relaxed breath ever between third grade and college.... I really hated school.

dont make your kids do something they hate.. its hard to keep your soul alive if your forced to go!

this is why i think giving a kid a clip round the ear is a lot better than a kid thinking he can get away with anything because he will get no repercussions from his actions, maybe a couple of weeks grounded with his x-box, that isnt a punishment, thats a god-send to kids now. Kids need to learn respect and unfortunately the only way thats worked in the past is with a bit of caning, i think a couple of bruises on one reckless kids ass is worth it to not have several kids commiting suicide. And like ashgallager said it should be upto the parents not the teachers, your kids are more important than the latest episode of lost!!

I ran across an article in "The Daily Mail" that shows how any school child, even a famous one, can become a victim of bullying. It just shows even more how much of a problem this is.

I just posted it on Current.

http://current.com/items/89994459_school-bully-threatens-to-break-legs-of-britis...

I don't think that discipline is the the important thing that is lacking. I believe that the lack of love is probably a bigger factor. Lack of love and lack of control of their own home situations. It all starts with the parents or maybe even the grandparents. We need to reach out to kids who are being bullied and make sure that they know they are loved and accepted regardless. Also we need to somehow demonstrate to the bullies how it feels to be bullied. Unfortunately the only people who have the ability to fix this problem are the parents because the job is way too big for anyone else to step in and take care of it. If parents don't start loving and guiding their children more, we are screwed. I wish there was a PA system for the world, I would get on it and do what I could.

It is a shame that we have bullies. Either the kids kill them selves. or they do like the students did at Columbine.

My heart aches for the family.

So sad.

this makes two 11 year old boys bullied in to killing them selves(I can't use the term suicide for a child!)in a month.

My deepest sympathy for the mothers.

Try to imagine the following scenario: A particular co-worker or group of co-workers targets you for ceaseless harassment, making specific threats of violence, creating an environment in which it is virtually impossible to work effectively, and threatening even worse repercussions should you go to management. What do you think would happen in this situation? The co-worker would be fired immediately and in all likelihood arrested, for starters. If management refused to act, you have the option of leaving the company and filing a lawsuit.

If such a situation is unacceptable in the adulthood, why is it routinely tolerated when it involves children?

The US is a nation full of bullies...of all ages and sizes. Notice the current debate we are having about torture. Many people in this society think that it's a great thing to torture someone for the sake of retribution (everyone knows it is NOT a reliable information gathering practice). And one doesn't have to look very far to see the violence behind many of the comments here on Current. i'm sure some of the more beligerent commenters on this site have kids in school who are bullying others. Until we get a handle on the glorification of violence in our media and our everyday lives, there will continue to be those who are bullied into submission....in one way or another.

i hate that our society nutures from an early age such a stigma toward homosexuals. i was raised knowing that there was nothing wrong or different with people that are homosexual, so when people tried to use "gay" in a negative way, it didnt make since to me or phase me. granite i was never harrassed or called such things, i think that the growing drive to include awareness and education regarding homosexuality in schools is a good place to start change. it's similar to racial issues back in the day (we still deal with them now but not nearly as bad). From what I've seen, new LBGT Alliance Groups in schools are already affecting students and communities in a positive way.

HowieGreen- i like the last line of your comment. very well put.

our schools and communities and neighborhoods have become very harsh and violent environments....it is up to those of us that stand for what is right to stand up for those that are weaker and protect them from the madness.....it is up to those of us that have the strength, courage and vision to change how things are and make knowledege, compassion and imagination the things we respect....

This really breaks my heart. I remember in middle school we had a bully free day and it seemed really great. But the bullying barely changed despite the awareness. I'm in high school now and I really see people stand up for themselves or others at school or work.
My condolences go out to the family.

well considering Dekalb county just about lost their accredidation last week makes complete sense. Somewhere it was said they were surprised because of anti bullying campaigns, I'm not surprised, these schools have repeatedly come up in local news as terrible institutions for your child to attend... Dekalb County = shit hole
oh and you can't say the USA as a whole is a bunch of bullies, some people have done nothing but fought against bullies their entire lives, and this country gained independence from one of the largest bullies in the history of mankind, it's called adolescence and it's called tolerance and when you don't teach your kids proper values whether you're religious or not this is what happens. Normal bullied kids don't just go hang themselves, there must have been something else wrong with the kid that maybe every adult neglected, which doesn't surprise me considering the area in which they live. Dekalb is a county full of crime and poverty, greed and corruption and that kid would have never had access to the doctors or drugs he needed. (and I doubt these 8 year olds consciously understand homophobia, they just make fun of difference, that's why it used to be the fat kid but now everyone is fat, sooo....)

Very sad story. My condolences go out to his family. The schools always side with the bully, I do agree. When will the school systems do something about this? Bullying is a huge problem. Anyone who thinks it isn't has never been in school. As someone who used to be bullied a lot in a Christian school I would come home depressed and wondering, if this is how life is going to be I don't know if I can deal with this all my life. This was even more encouraged with the fact that parents, the ones who tried to be "Christian examples" for the students would side with bullies and punish me! I don't mean to offend with this statement in anyway, but when I was in school and Columbine happened, I was shocked, but when I found out they were picked on by the jocks and "elitist" students, I was kinda happy that someone showed the bullies "don't fuck with those who are different!" like I said, I don't agree with their intentions, but when I went to school the next day no one was talking shit me to me.

We as adults need to fix our view on the word "gay" and make it something that cannot be used to harm another person. Humans intimate each other kids intimate adults

Condolences to the family. I too have dealt with bullying, me the victem, and as everyone says the schools blame me and do little to nothing to stop this from happening to someone elses child. luckily i developed a "TOUGH SKIN" to many of these remarks and as such have become popular with all of my classmates and younger/older students. However my younger brother faces the same situation as i did. Unlike me we all as a family know of this problem and are taking actions to stop this. some have included legal intervintion, others being pep talks. I, myself, do make fun of him alot about his weight and etc.. but only because i care for him, i have known that one day he might endure the same things i have, and so i tried to help give him a "TOUGH SKIN" too. It seems to help but now he gets into fights. I don;t know what to do.

Is it me, or am I the only person who thinks school should be outlawed? Okay..I know that is extreme. But I think the world needs to realize that most of the traumas experienced in life happen to us at school. School was so traumatic for me,. I know I would home school if I had a kid.

It's obvious why we have incidents like Columbine , Jonesboro and Paducah ..These kids are snapping.They either kill themselves or they kill others..

This woman should sue the schools. Only when these people lose money do they pay attention to what needs to be done. Sadly, it's not going to be because they FAILED to protect this boy, and punish his bullies.

And yet some Christians demonized last week's day of silence designed to draw attention to bullying. I don't get it.

With many schools experiencing budget cutbacks, there is a tremendous strain on teachers to provide a 100% safe environment for our children to grow up in. I see this as a situation where is proper parenting were to be given to all of the children, you wouldn't have to worry as much about cliches of kids acting like the bullies. They'd have already been raised to know this is wrong and the overburdened teachers wouldn't have to control yet another thing in their short times with our kids.

A friend of mine lost his daughter this same exact way.

breaks my heart.