Bullying in Florida school has already caused one death and is working on a second.

[Baitball Blogger]

Mom: Boy tormented by bullies wrote suicide letter

"I am going to kill myself," the boy's letter reads. "No one understands me and I get abused. So what do I live for?"

His mother, Melissa Gusaeff, was able to talk him down but said Jordan remains on suicide watch.

"I just told him I love him and I need him," she said. "I told him, 'If you leave mommy, I won't be able to live without you.'"
Lamar Hawkins suicide: Mom says bullies won

snip

She said administrators at Greenwood Lakes Middle School aren't doing enough to prevent bullying. The allegations come a week after her son's friend Lamar Hawkins III shot himself to death in the school's bathroom.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-lamar-hawkins-friend-bullied-20140917-story.html

It is going to be interesting to see how they bring this school into the 21st Century when everything about this local society condones deception and bullying as a way to maintain authority.

[RKP5637]

1. K&R! IMO far too many schools are proud of their bullies! n/t

[BrotherIvan]

3. I'm not sure that's true

What does a school do when there is a bully? Everything has gotten so sticky legally it's nearly impossible to do anything until there is an assault. They can separate the bully out into detention, but trust the bully parents will be screaming about their precious getting picked on. Extra staff such as hall monitors and supervision has been cut to the bone. Parents used to be able to volunteer so there were more adults in the classroom, but now that is illegal in most states. How do they protect kids after school or on the bus when the worst of it happens?

We expect teachers to raise and socialize students and then bitch about how they are failures. How about we start expecting parents to teach their children respect? How about we teach parenting as part of our society because a lot of people think that good parenting is instinctual when it is anything but. When are we going to hold parents responsible?

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Maybe we should ask the kids what they want or need to help protect them.

I'm all for Gotv buttons they can wear. Full transparency works for cops and lawyers. Why not school kids?

[BrotherIvan]

5. Perhaps so

But the laws that state you can raise a bully asshole and there are no repercussions might need to go.

[RKP5637]

6. All excellent points! IMO, the best solution is to hold parents responsible. Yes, I agree,

my statement was a rather broad brush!

[Mnemosyne]

2. Each time it happens, it is so terribly heart-breaking. Each one is too many. nt

[gollygee]

7. :(

Horrible! I'd freaking homeschool in this situation, but most people have to work and need their kids to be in school during the days because they can't afford for child care or to stay home. They're trapped, and their kids are bullied, and most schools don't do enough. I agree with whoever above said the parents need to be held responsible in some way, because they aren't - they look the other way, and in some cases even encourage it, rather than considering that their child could be doing something so horrible as to drive other kids to suicide. Do any schools ever say, "Your child can't return to school until he/she can be here without tormenting other children." Get the bullies psychological assessments and care - often that bullying comes from somewhere. But forcus on the bullies. Get them away from the kids they're hurting and find out what's going on with them.

[LWolf]

8. I know how to bring a school into

a healthier, more supportive way of operating. Doing so, though, first of all requires funding for staff, which you know won't happen, and secondly, a willingness further up the line to restructure the status quo.

[TBF]

9. I was doing a search about that missing

college student in Virginia and happened upon 2 suicides in Northern Virginia (2 teenage males) this month.

The bullying is connected to all the rest of it in my opinion - the glorification and acceptance of violence (ie corporal punishment, worshiping the military, adherence to obeying authority etc ...). We need to look at this as a society and figure out how we can do better.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. I think it's time to recognize that a form a bullying stays with us as we venture into

the adult world. Our society is getting more and more abusive and people are either learning how to block it out, or joining the ranks of the abusers in order to avoid feeling like a victim.

That might explain why so many people vote Republican against their own interests.

[TBF]

11. I agree - the bullying, violence, lack of compassion

(as evidenced by voting republican) - all of that is connected.

Which makes it a huge problem because it's not easily solved. A whole societal paradigm shift is needed.

I know there are many compassionate Americans, but we seemed to be drowned out by the loud, violent types.