We send our children to school hoping that they will be safe. But an alarming statistic is being noted that more violence, aggression, and sexual assaults are occurring on the school ground. A new game is also making its way into high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools that you should be aware of. It involves the use of a video camera phone, or video camera, the random selection of innocent victim and a bully making a video name for him or herself by smacking, beating, punching, harassing, or sexually bullying an innocent victim while the game is being filmed. Later that video makes its way around the social networking sites, or by instant message to the chagrin and harm of the victim and to the intense amusement of the student body. Not to mention the intense physical and emotional harm it can cause to the hapless child.
Schools are overcrowded and more and more schools are joining different levels of children from elementary, middle schools and sometimes high schools in the same complex. The age difference of children, from much older children to much younger sets up an environment that puts the younger children at risk.
If you read the newspaper, or watch TV, the news media are filled with incidents of older children bullying, harassing, attacking, and sexually molesting younger children. There has been too many of these incidents lately including a few cases of sexually active boys assaulting a mentally incapacitated female because they can. They were not expelled from school but only received a suspension. No criminal charges were filed.
The younger children are often unaccompanied to the bathroom and other out to the way areas, and they can become easy targets of the harassment of older boys. I was watching Montel Williams and a mother of a seven year old boy, described her son being jumped in the bathroom by four older boys under the age of twelve, who raped her son, and tried to force a stick up his rectum. She didn’t know of the assault for 30 days, even though she noticed something drastically wrong with her son’s behavior she couldn’t get him to communicate what was wrong because he was shut down. She also learned that another seven year old boy with her son in the bathroom ran for help and found a school monitor and asked for help for his friend. The school monitor told the boy that it was just bullies and to leave them alone. No help was given to the boy alone on the floor in the bathroom. After finding out, she confronted the school board, about the attack and then she went back numerous times to get the school and school board to take action against the boys. How frustrating for her to know that the other boys were not even expelled from school. Since that day, in a follow up show that aired the school still did not expel the students who have also attacked and harassed several other boys to date.
Another dangerous trend is that more and more school age children are bringing all sorts of weapons to school. Here are some of weapons that children brought to school, that I remember recently from the news: They include steak knives, box cutter, duct tape, real hand cuffs, handguns and rifles. Of course many dire consequences are possible including a discharge of a loaded gun, or one child using a weapon brought from home against other children or teachers.
I’m informing you of this new trend because only with awareness can you make changes to our present school system. Unfortunately school and boards do not make any changes to policy until too many incidents of violence have been registered. More than likely schools tend to deny that serious in nature incidents are occurring on school grounds. They will push things underground until more and more parents take actions to change the rules that govern schools.
My suggestions to parents would be to take a look at the board policy of children bringing weapons to school, or harassing or bullying other children, or acting in a violent or sexual aggressive fashion to other classmates.
Inquire what is the result of that action? If you don’t like what you are being told, speak up, vote to change the board rules, also listen to your child’s complaints of others being rough with him or her at school, ride with him or her on any school bus or transportation he or she is riding on to see how the atmosphere is, how the monitor reacts or what is going on? Is it possible for any cameras to be mounted to view what is going on the bus? These are all things to consider in an effort to keep your children safe. They trust us and their teachers to keep them safe? Are school staffers doing what is needed to do that? Are we?
Have a discussion with your children when they get older that they are not allowed to bring any weapons of any kind to schools and these household items are not for fun. Also make them aware how you feel about other children bringing those items to school.
Instruct your children to tell their teacher and you about it if they see another child with something sharp from home, or anything that is not allowed and doesn’t belong in school.
One more thing to take notice of and that is how do you children get to school? Do you know where your children are walking? Or who they may be encountering on that walk? Children tend to take short cuts to school if they may walk. You don’t know how many children I see taking short cuts on bridge over passes, desolate underpasses, across the playground, or empty fields, and on bikes, or on roller blades near major highway. I know we don’t have a lot of time with children in the morning but ask them how they walk to school? Become aware of any short cuts they are taking. Take a walk around your neighborhood, and educate children how desolate and remote these areas are and that you prefer that they don’t take short cuts through remote areas.
Lastly, don’t brush off your child’s words. Listen to his or her concerns, talk to a teacher if you think someone is bullying your child. Look out for older children or adults that may be intimidating him or her. You have to let your child know that you are really there and that you will protect him or her and listen to her, and if something does occur, take immediate action to change the situation so that your child will once again be safe. That action could include counseling for him or her, a request to change of class or school, and request for harsher action against school bullies.
source http://bitcoinswiz.com/how-safe-is-your-childs-school-environment/
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