Those nasty bullies who tormented an innocent 68-year-old school bus monitor with comments about her weight, sexual acts and family members killing themselves, finally got their due. A one-year suspension from school, time in some type of rehab facility and community service with the elderly.
A one-year suspension is huge. It seems just and appropriate for a bullying offense. But why does it still not feel like it's enough to pay for what they said and how they actually did it? Maybe because it's not. Once you say such terrible, mean, and hurtful things as they did, you can never take them back or make good on them, no matter how harsh the punishment.
Those taunts will live on the Internet and in the heart of poor Karen Klein forever, no matter how many vacations she gets to take or how many days those boys miss school.
The four middle-schoolers apparently waived their right to a hearing. After a week of talking about the incident, which went viral around the world, the school district near Rochester, New York, issued a statement last night on how to deal with the deviants.
In addition to the suspension and community service work, the boys have to go through a bullying prevention program. Usually, being suspended (or expelled) from school does not mean they miss a grade, it just means they attend an alternative type school where they are still required to complete classwork requirements to be able to keep on track with their current grade. But in many districts, it's not nearly the equivalent of instruction they get while attending regular school, and they miss out on all the social and extra-curricular activities as well. So yeah, it's a real blow to a kid.
But whether the boys will "learn their lesson" from this punishment is unclear. It still doesn't seem to bridge to the larger crime of human decency and respect. Nothing really does. There just is no appropriate punishment for what those boys did to Mrs. Klein ("official" punishment, that is).
Do you think the boys got the punishment they deserved?
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Comments 72
I think it is fair and appropriate. Hopefully, it will turn into a learning moment for all involved and for the nation.
I think it's very fair and appropriate as they are being held accountable, but are children and are being held accountable as a child should be held accountable. Plus, all of their peers know who they are and what they did and they have to live w/that as well.
The real punisment for these kids is going to be the work of overcoming the fact that the whole world knows what kind of creeps they were. David's plea in Psalm 25 to "remember not the sins of my youth" was a lot easier before the internet!
Better to give them a lifetime ban from the bus and leave them in school where every decent kid will ostracize them. It will hurt them more but won't screw them for life.
I'm glad to see these kids being held accountable.
Only thing that bothers me is, with my experience with bullying, most kids were bullies. Even if they weren't bullies on a regular basis, they were still part of the mob mentality. If they saw kids get bullied, they would join in.
I've had a few occasions where the entire class would join in on bullying.
I don't know how we can reach everyone and make it stop for good. And if they catch entire classes doing that sort of thing, are they going to punish the entire class like that? I'm not sure if they should or not.