I am a very worried parent.
I never thought it would hit our home. I never thought the term bullying would be uttered in my household—not on my watch. But, here we are today and it is the biggest obstacle we currently face as a family.
My child is being bullied relentlessly at Great Neck South Middle School, and the school is doing nothing to protect him. This has been ongoing for six months and is getting worse.
The school has shown deliberate indifference, and their response has been clearly unreasonable in light of the circumstances. I use legalese because, in fact, the prevailing legal opinion suggests that schools are culpable for any harm done to your child if it is a result of bullying and if the school has shown deliberate indifference and if their response is clearly unreasonable.
The strange thing is, rather than using this legal tenet to protect my son, the school has undergone a systematic and deliberate campaign of misdocumentation. The final straw has been the school rewarding the bully with air time on a highly coveted TV piece about multiculturalism at the school. The true irony is that the nature of bullying heretofore has been extremely homophobic.
I feel so helpless, and I simply wanted other parents to know their rights under the DASA [Dignity for All Students] Act as well as the current prevailing legal opinion regarding school liability if something were to happen. The situation, also affecting other victims, has actually been getting worse recently and several families are furious.
Information and transparency equal power, and the opaque and criminal behavior by the Great Neck South Middle School, as well as the district, should be brought to light. How many more children need to commit suicide before we take this issue seriously?
—A South Middle Parent
Just as GNPS admin doesn’t suspend students who vape at South High on school property…
I have heard another parent complaining that not enough was being done when her child was being bullied at the north middle school too. This is a very serious problem that can have very dire consequences and needs to be addressed more seriously by school officials on a district-wide level.
Unfortunately, there are no details in this letter There is also a lack of any information as to which rights given by DASA that are not being abided by.
It’s always terrible when a child is teased or bullied. Certainly the school should do everything they can to support the child. With that being said, a school can’t tar and feather a kid, throw a student out because they don’t like them or in any way take away due process from the accused student.
Without more information, this sounds like another case of an understandably upset parent looking to lay blame. S
Steve i don’t think you know what you are talking about. The issue is that the school is letting the bullies run rampant with no ramifications or repercussions.
If the school won’t act I suggest that parents start suing the parents of the bullies as they are responsible the actions of their children
Your kidding, right? Just wow. Hopefully you don’t ever find yourself in this situation. If you do, I know the author would have empathy for you. Me, not so much.
This is shameful and this is why I strongly advocate for homeschooling as an legal alternative to public schools.
This is shameful which I why I strongly support homeschooling as a legal alternative to public education.
nothing has changed it is getting worse and the district and administration is doing nothing to stop it