" Mattoon does a bang-up job of protecting their students from bullying. Their "zero tolerance" policy on bullying should be renamed "zero action". I know of several students and their parents who have complained to administrators about bullying, and absolutely NOTHING was done about it. In fact, one student who had gone to Mattoon schools since Kindergarten actually moved to her grandparents' house in Arcola during her junior year to escape the bullying because the school wouldn't do anything about it. She is a senior now, and will graduate from Arcola High School where they really don't tolerate bullying. Unfortunately, I think it's going to take a student committing suicide before Mattoon schools open their eyes to the problem and start taking action. "

" Thoughtful, interesting article. I'm not so sure about the school bus idea, though (stopping the bus until an administrator could come out). Innocent students are penalized along with the guilty few. It's the well-behaved students who worry about being tardy for school; those who are bullying probably are not going to be all that concerned. "

" There are many levels to bullying. What isn't mentioned in this article is that sometimes teachers are guilty of bullying too. Threatening or making children feel stupid. Criticizing a child in front of the class. Making examples of the child. Rewarding students for A's and leaving out the child that try's their hardest but can never be an A student in Math. Makes the child feel inferior. Teachers that display rude behavior to children. It happens every day in our schools. It may not be as violent as kids bullying kids but sometimes it can make a kid have as low of self esteem and self respect as violent bullying. "

" Bullying has always come in many different forms, and what is being done today is really no different than what was done 20 or 50 years ago. The only difference is now there are electronic tools that are being used in addition to paper and pen and the in person type.

Yes, this is something parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, etc need to be aware of. "

" Mattoon school bus driver in rural area had a teenage girl with a knife threatening to cut the males private parts off and stab the driver. TWO brave boys told and the girl was off the bus for three days suspension and school. When back she had her friends to bully the boys who told and the boys were ganged on by four girls who would knock them in the lockers and physical force and would watch be sure no teachers or others would TELL. This went on all school year. The boys were threatened with violence if caught off school grounds. The girl ended up FREE and nothing much was done. We all felt she needed therapy considering what her home life was and EVERYONE KNEW how that was as well. The boyfriend of the mothers not PRINCE CHARMING. The person ended up in a lot of trouble with drugs, but we weren't surprised as was told she often PACKED DRUGS TO SCHOOL. She received all the benefits and the boys who told were treated like it no big deal and they would just have to ignore it. Hard to ignore four girls packing knives and shouting verbals at the boys. I hoped things would be better at the High School after all this situation but learned it was just SAME OLE SAME OLE. "

" I agree with Daisy,plus it's not so much of a student commiting suicide but a couple of boys dressed in black re-creating Columbine. "

" We shouldn't have to rely on our schools to solve this problem. Teaching your children to act responsibly in public starts at home. This is just another case of parents abdicating their responsiblity and asking the schools to do their job of proper parenting. Ironically, it's the parents who are doing a good job of this that show up at school functions, while those ignoring the problem are usually the parents of poorly behaved students. "

" Teaching your children to act responsibly in public starts at home. This is just another case of parents abdicating their responsiblity and asking the schools to do their job of proper parenting.
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Comical!

It seems to me that those parents that have "abdicated their "responsibilities at home" have abdicated their responsibilities as a result of the "social experimentation" perpetrated on them when they were public schools students.

You "social experimentation" liberals, along with your teachers union liberals, took God...well...or at least that "evil christianity"...out of the schools decades ago, and now you liberals blame the social-ills in the public school on the parents!

What a hoot!

But hey...I'm beginning to see the "brillance " of liberalism.

Being a liberal means it's always somebody else's fault, you get to take no responsibility for anything, and the only standards that apply are the ones you apply to everyone else. "

" Harry Potter....I'm not blaming the school system for CREATING the bullies..that is the fault of the parents. I AM, however, blaming the schools for allowing it to continue without doing anything about it. These kids continue to behave this way because it is allowed. I miss the days of Elmer Smith slamming a kid into a locker if he was caught bullying someone. When I was in school the STUDENTS were afraid of the TEACHERS, which is the way it should be! Now, the kids are running the school and the adults are simply there to coddle them through the system.

When I told my kids about how things were in the 80's when I was in high school, my 17 year old son said that kids just wouldn't "put up with that" now and would hit a teacher for trying to intimidate them. I of course told him if he ever hit a teacher it would be forever before he saw the light of day again, but most parents think their kids can do no wrong or just don't want to be bothered with any of it.

We are raising a generation of self-absorbed monsters with a sense of entitlement that is out of control. Shut down the bullies and make them accountable for their actions! "

" Only our friend Doh could spin this into liberal bashing. News flash Doh er... Neo, parenting doesn't follow political lines. As bitter as you are, I can't help but wonder how your kids are doing. I just hope for their sake they're not as bitter and angry as you are about every aspect of society and life in general. Must you always see the glass as half empty? "

" Daisy, I didn't say the schools don't have a responsibility. They do. They have the responsibility to create a safe environment for kids to lean, and this includes the issue of school bus safety. The point I was making was that it starts at home.

I do agree with zero tolerance policies (even though the rarely get enforced) in the schools on this issue, but I don't agree with administrators slamming kids into lockers. Elmer was a bully himself. Elmer only pushed certain kids around. Kids with the right connections were safe from his wrath. Like most bullies, Elmer picked on those that couldn't fight back. Selective treatment of problem kids is something that goes on in most communities. It's not just a Mattoon issue. There are others ways for teachers and administrators to handle the situation and using violence is not the way to deal with bullies.

I must have touched a nerve with you, huh? Suggesting that school officials should resort to violence certainly touched a nerve with me, and I suspect it did with other responsible parents. "

" Harry Potter...no you did not touch a nerve. My kids do NOT bully others, but have been victims themselves. I was in school when Elmer was in charge, and he most certainly did NOT pick on kids who couldn't fight back. He picked on the BULLIES! (at least when I was there) While I don't necessarily agree with violence being used by those in power in the schools, I do advocate using some kind of intimidation other than "don't do that again or we will suspend you WITH makeup priveleges". It's ridiculous. One of my kids was terrified to go to school, and when I called to talk to the principal about it I was put on speaker phone and interrogated as if I were the one who had done something wrong.

My point is something needs to be done to make these kids afraid to do bad things at school for fear that there will be consequences....REAL consequences. Our school system is allowing kids to be victimized over and over again without offering any type of protection or safety. It's repulsive to me. "

" Daisy, I agree with you that the schools need to take bullying seriously instead of looking the other way, but I also agree with Harry Potter about who gets away with bullying. Some of the worst offenders -- back when I student taught at MHS under Elmer Smith in the late 80's and when I was a CHS student myself earlier in the decade, as well as what I see in the schools now as a parent -- some of the worst offenders are the kids with connections. One of the biggest bullies in the early 80's at CHS was the principal's daughter! The students who live in the exclusive neighborhoods, wear the "right" clothes, etc., are often extremely cruel to those they consider beneath themselves. And those well-connected students almost never get called on this. Maybe it's because their parents wield a lot of influence in the community, and the teachers and administrators fear lawsuits or unpleasant confrontations with these well-off parents, but until someone stands up to these elitist, entitled brats, school will continue to be hell for those kids not in the popular cliques. The movie Mean Girls may be a lot closer to the reality faced by teens every day than most parents and teachers realize or are willing to do anything about. "

" Mr.Wurtsbaugh was the best bully stopper of all time.He would make the bully and the victim but on boxing gloves,after school on the playground,9 times out of 10 the problem was solved in less then 2min,usually with the vic coming out on top.That other PE teacher was just a paddle swinging sadist,the only thing missing were the leather mask and red ball gag. "

" "Something needs to be done to make these kids afraid to do bad things." Fear breeds violence. You don't stop bullying by putting "the fear of God or anyone else into the bully." Bullies all too often are bullied themselves and their way of showing they aren't frightened, that they are strong, is to bully someone lower down on the totem pole. Bullying is their survival mechanism. The solution to bullying is to teach respect for ALL people and most importantly respect for self. AND that doesn't come from teaching Christianity in schools. "

" I don't think we're very far apart in what we would like to see happen, daisy. I just took exception to your comments that seemed to endorse school administrators using physical violence in dealing with bullies.

I can see your frustration. You have concerns and they are justified. I suspect your Elmer Smith comments were borne out of that frustration. If I appeared too harsh, I apologise to you.

The first step needed is awareness. I looked at that as what occurred and the ROE's recent Teacher Institute Day. Too many teachers and administrators are not aware of the magnitude of the problem. They seem to be taking the approach of "oh well, this has always happened". This may be true, but it doesn't address the fact that this problem appears to be getting worse. Could the problem be compounded because a lot of kids are afraid of getting labeled tattle tales?

Nothing gets a school board's attention like the threat of a lawsuit. Perhaps parents of kids getting bullied need to use that type of threat in order to get our schools officials to seriously address the problem.

By law, schools are mandated to provide a safe environment for students, and with this ever growing problem, even locally, it appears this is not happening. "

" The saying "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" applies here. Most of the school bullies hear this stuff from their own parents. I've heard on many occasions where a parent points and laughs at the "fat lady" on TV or the "ugly bald guy" or the "nerd" walking down the street. I've heard parents talk about the "vermin, the ugly bag, the low lifes and creepy old man" and laughing while they do it. So yes, it's mostly the parents fault because they do these things with their children in tow. And Neo, I've heard these parents talk like this about people IN CHURCH too so there goes your no christianity anymore theory. In fact, some of the worst offenders of people talking about others behind their backs were (so-called) Christians. "

" Becky, I would imagine Neo's negative attitude has rubbed off onto his kids, if he has any. Let's hope he doesn't. Kids have a tendency to do what their parents do. lol!

And STRANGER, the idea of having a bully and his victim put on boxing gloves ranks up there with the comment about the principal slamming kids into lockers. It merely gives the bully another chance to victimize his prey. Having two kids put on boxing gloves to settle a dispute, as long as both parties are willing, may not be such a bad idea, but not when it involves some little kid getting picked on by a bully who is usually a lot bigger. I would imagine the outcome of those bouts was pretty one sided, in spite of your claim to the contrary. "

" HP, the after school bouts were in a controlled enviroment,other than that Mr.Wurts would make bullies lives very unpleasant, by making them run laps or in school suspension/with him,or even expulsion.Fred Hash was Principal and he also had 0 tolerance for bullying.
Times have extremely changed since then. "

" In Humboldt Grade School, the principal had a problem with one good sized male who would intimidate smaller students.
Mr. Edwards saw the bully hitting one of the smaller and a big as the bully student took hold of the bully, and did a ROWDY RODDY PIPER on this bully. He told him if he touched another smaller student, he would be back. One less bully problem from then on. YOU know the bully didn't have brains enough to stop and tried hit after other boy turned his back, so he got it again.
We had to laugh. Of course, school had pretend take all into office, but we still remember and laugh how no more problems. GOOD GOING MR. EDWARDS, lol. "

" " Becky, I would imagine Neo's negative attitude has rubbed off onto his kids, if he has any. Let's hope he doesn't. Kids have a tendency to do what their parents do. lol!
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Harry...yeah...it has...they're good conservatives...ya oughta see'em handle firearms and such...and they do EXCEPTIONALLY WELL in school...even as we've had to intervene and correct some of the nonsense that has come their way from the classroom.

Becky...the "Christianity" aspect I am referring to is an aspect of principles. Parochial schools still maintain certain principles and that's why their testing scores, let alone lesser disciple incidences, across the board, far exceed those of public schools. These principles were once found in public schools, but they're only marginally found there now.

As for the "bullying problem"...it's my observation that there is no "bullying problem" with the local schools. You wanna see bullying problems...visit some large city schools...you'll see "bullying problems" there. Around here it's merely a "bully problem"...singular bully's terrorizing other kids.

Aspects of bullying can be minimized similarly to crowd control and people management found in the workplace, take for best example, the prison system. Take away opportunity, motive, certain interactions and redesign school room/hallway/facilities and you can substantially minimize bullying problems...but of course you'd also have to re-define those precious union contracts the teachers and support-staff live by and make them do some other things... "

" As parents it is our responsibility to teach our children, at a young age, how to treat others. No one is better than anyone else! It is not okay to belittle, make fun, or hit another kid. In the end it doesn't matter if we have name brand clothes, or if you were most popular. Parents need to play a bigger role in teaching children how to treat others. "

" " As parents it is our responsibility to teach our children, at a young age, how to treat others.
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That's just craziness...We all know it's the governments responsibility.

Just ask any liberal! "

" cad1984, well said! Too many parents send the wrong messages at home by being materialistic and judgmental themselves, and still others turn a blind eye to their children's bad behavior and could never imagine some of the hurtful things their children say and do to others. It's an epidemic, esp. among teenage girls, who can be downright vicious to each other. "