Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Mean Girls



My very dear friend Melinda posted this on Facebook a little while ago. She said I could share. In fact she asked me to share this with as many people as possible. Bullying has to stop. Now. This particular case makes me so especially sad. If you knew Sierra like we do, you'd know that she is a sweet, compassionate, sincere little person who was so looking forward to starting middle school this year that she actually cried when the start of school was delayed by our local emergency in August (Disaster on Our Doorstep). She doesn't deserve to be treated this way, nor does any child. She's a tall, beautiful girl, and I'm thinking the other girls are just jealous. And mean. Really mean. Is it wrong to label eleven and twelve year old girls bitches? Because they are. And they need to stop. Now.


Here's Melinda's post:


I've been silent on this for a while, but it was suggested today that my silence may not be the best thing. Sierra has had a difficult year transitioning to middle school. To compound this, she has been having to contend with bullies. My sweet little girl goes to school every day where she is called a whore, douche bag and worse. They hide her backpack, punch her in the stomach and follow her to the library to torment her at lunch. The school has given me great lip service,but nothing has changed. The problem has only gotten worse. I know what I need to do and am exploring different options at keeping Sierra in a safe environment. Twelve Bridges Middle School has failed to provide my child with a safe environment and quite frankly I don't give a shit about their budget cuts and limited resources.


I told her she needn't worry about the school's budget cuts and their limited resources. They're not protecting her child, and she needs to get her the heck out of there. Our first priority is our children. Always. Long-term bullying is death to a child's self-esteem. In fact, Sierra has already told her mother she doesn't want to leave her school. If she leaves, "they'll just pick on someone else." And they probably will. But that's not Sierra's problem. Sierra deserves to be in a safe environment. Every child does. Sierra and every child needs to feel valued for his or her individual gifts. Every child is special. Every child is precious.

The hatefulness and the meanness needs to stop. It should not be tolerated anywhere in our society, least of all in our schools where children are supposedly being taught to be good citizens. To be a productive part of our society. I think the schools are teaching the wrong lessons.

4 comments:

  1. We had the exact same thing happen with our son who is Aspergers syndrome when he was in the sixth grade in another district. The final straw was when he was attacked in PE and accosted in a bathroom. The boys who accosted him lied to school officials and said that my son exposed himself to them! The school refused to protect him and consistently took the word of the spiteful mean students. We finally got an attorney named Peggy Broussard. She really became our champion for him.

    He is turning 21 tomorrow and is a second year student at Sierra College. He made a comment the other day about how much he loves college and wished he could have gone to college instead of Junior High. So there is a hope and a future. Hang in there and know that others have gone through many of the same things.

    Call Margaret (Peggy) Broussard!

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  2. Thank you for your comment! We had a similar incident (on a smaller scale) with the neighborhood kids. Check out my blog "Autism: Being the Kid on the Outside" (see listing on the right). Kids were bullying my son and when I confronted the mom, she told me her son thought he saw something on Jack's phone that was inappropriate. Was baloney but still didn't excuse her kids being so mean.

    Glad to hear your son is doing well in Sierra College. That gives me hope!

    Hugs,
    Debbie K.

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  3. We struggled with a bully this year too! It is so sad and heartbreaking that this happens. I think Sierra is a very brave girl and feel terribly that people have treated her so badly. I question what causes these children to be mean like that?

    We were lucky and after a visit from my husband to the Principal, and other parents, including myself, the bully was addressed and the children protected from him. The sad reality is, there are more bullies around the corner. :( I agree that it needs to STOP!

    Hoping everything is well now.

    All the best!

    Heather

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  4. Sierra is in a new school this year, one with a stronger community and a firm no-bullying policy (but then, doesn't every school have one of those these days?). As her mother was putting her to bed after her first day at the new school, Sierra told her, "I can't wait to go back to school tomorrow! It's my happy place!" We hope she continues to be happy there.

    dk

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