The New York City school district may be the largest public school system in the US, but it could be forced to pay tuition for a 12-year-old bullying victim to go to private school. Confused? The girl's family says the public school did nothing to protect their child from relentless torture at the hands of bullies, and a judge agrees.
I'm thinking this could be the best news we've gotten since bullying became the hot topic in education. Wait, let me be clear. It's bad news for school districts, but it's flat out awesome news for parents and kids.
Finally, we have some ammunition to use against the schools! Nobody likes to take a hit in the pocketbook, do they? Next time a principal wants to slap on their blinders when a bullying report comes in, they will have to think about what it could cost them.
I just wish this win for parents didn't have to come at a child's expense.
The stuff this poor girl (she's unnamed to protect her) went through at New York's PS 6 sounds pretty typical of school bullies. She has a learning disorder, and kids would mock her when she raised her hand. Kids called her "smelly" and "ugly." The methods of torture go on and on.
Kudos to her parents for pulling their daughter and putting her in private school to protect her. But they shouldn't have had to take it that far.
And yet, that's what happens all the time. I can't tell you how many parents I've talked to over the years who have found the school district's response to their kid being bullied is to pussyfoot around punishment. The bulk of stories I've heard center around passive-aggressive moves like sending a teacher in to talk to the "whole class" about bullying instead of punishing the specific kids. Some districts take their refusal to get involved to serious extremes -- punishing the parent who reports the bullies, for example. And then there's the ever-popular "blame the victim" for being bullied in the first place.
But if the largest public school district in the United States now has to pay private school tuition for failure to address bullying, it should put all the rest of them on notice. Ignore our kids' needs, and it could cost you big time.
What do you think should be done with school districts that fails to come down on bullies?
Image via shinealight/Flickr
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Comments 38
Agreed. If the situation was so bad that a judge ordered them to pay tuition, oh well, sucks to be the school. Maybe they should have handled it better and they wouldn't have to pay. Hopefully that will make other schools think twice before they turn a blind eye.
I hate to be a cynic, but what happens if/when she is bullied in her new school?
I think that parents need to educate there kids that you will be bullied no matter where you go to school. However if other parents taught thier children better then we wouldn't be having these issues to begin with. Just some basic respect would go a long way.
This is awesome!!! I hope this will make schools actually do something about bullying!
Bullying should not be tolerated -- period!! If this went on in a work environment, the company would settle faster than you could say EEOC. Children are guaranteed the right to an education in hostile-free environment under the same law that protects adults a hostile free work environment. Educators need to be proactive and create an environment in their schools where bullying will not be tolerated by encouraging the 98% of students who are mearly bystanders to band together to tell the bullies that they cannot be bullies. It is complacency by the educators that allow bullying to continue in a school.