A teenager tried to do the right thing and got punished for it. High school senior Stormy Rich got banned from the school bus after reporting the bullying of a special needs student.
For months, Rich watched as they treated a mentally challenged middle school girl cruelly, telling her she couldn't sit in certain spots and feeding her food they had put in their mouths. "Just because she doesn't understand doesn't mean that should be happening to her," said the Umatilla High School student, who was riding a later middle school bus because she didn't have a first period class.
When the bus driver did nothing, the horrified 18-year-old took her complaint to school officials. She and her mother both wrote formal letters but weeks went by with no response.
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In her frustration, Rich told the bullies if the school wouldn't do anything about it, she would. That's when officials finally got involved, telling her she could no longer ride the bus because she was displaying bullying behavior. Their stance: two wrongs don't make a right. They went on to say they didn't get involved because the girl supposedly being picked on never complained herself and that she is capable of doing so.
Sorry, I'm not buying that excuse for a failure to act on behalf of a special needs student -- or any student for that matter. How many times have we seen victims of bullying remain silent out of fear. And in this case, it is unclear if the girl really understood what was happening to her. Does that make it any less wrong? At the very least, they should have looked into the matter.
It was appallingly irresponsible to dismiss Rich's complaints. Then to punish her for standing up for a girl she didn't think could stand up for herself is both shocking and sad. How can we teach our kids to do the right thing when the adults they come face to face with do not.
Were school officials wrong for banning Stormy Rich from the bus?
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Comments 110
The school is all kinds of wrong and deserves to be be the center of a media shitstorm.
Thank you, Stormy & mother, for doing what was right....and not taking inaction as a solution! The school officials should be embarrased about this---you are both very special people....which we need more of in this world. Walk with your heads held high....and might the inept school officials get it together and figure out they were in the wrong!
We are raising an entire society that is so into teaching 'personal reponsibility' and 'boundaries' that it has lost it in the totally wrong direction using that philosophy as their excuse!!! The 'victim' must always come up to it and learn to understand. Society isn't expecting the bullies and abusers to see what they are doing. "..the love of many will wax cold.." Jesus words.
This the contributing teaching. Know that it is right to protect!
Even those who can 'stand up for themselves" need support and a witness!
So you suspend the child that is HELPING the kid when the school district didn't??????? WTH is wrong with our schools today? No wonder some of these children carry guns and weapons to school! I really cant blame them for wanting them to protect themselves!! KUDOS to that kid who tried to help!!
All this teaches young people is to not get involved, not be heroes, not to take personally the wrongs inflicted on others, and to not get involved. When we complain that society is cold and uncaring, all we have to do is look at examples like this. What a terrible thing to learn at school. I bet the bullied child's parents are grateful that SOMEONE noticed and put herself on the line. I was a bullied child and was not retarded--just shy and didn't think anyone would care. This poor child was retarded to boot--those who are bullied often do not speak up out of fear. Maybe she learned not to say anything because she felt like no one cared. Obviously the school didn't.
I believe the school is totally wrong in banning Stormy from the bus. After all, she and her mother wrote letters to the officials; they DID NOT touch the bullies or say anything to them. The school mentioned has joined the ranks of those who blame the victim and justify whatever the bullies do. Two of my own children were victims of bullies in an Indiana high school where the principal was ineffective, so this is not just a Florida problem. I was so totally frustrated by the injustice that I ordered my children to tell the bullies that I, their mother, would take a baseball bat to them (the bullies) and that the bullies had better watch out when going around any corner in town. The bullies never bothered my children again.