Bullied Northwest HS student murdered; mother got no help from BOE

[Anonymous]

That was gut wrenchingly sad. My heart goes out to his mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have a SESES program at Northwest (formerly called the Emotional Disabilities program). Many times kids move from a non-public placement to that program. I wonder if that is what mom is saying? It sounds like he was in a school with a higher level of support and they took that away from him.

Isn’t that the same program that they have at Magruder?

No Magruder has ESESES which is a higher level of support and fully self contained. Until this year Magruder was the only school with ESESES but I hear that Sherwood HS opened an ESESES program as well. The down county SESES is at Norwood HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My heart goes out to this child’s family, especially his mother. I have 100% been in her shoes. Filed the Bullying and Harassment Complaint form and bullying only got worse. School told the bullies to not talk to my son so the bullies then made a point to let him know snitches get stitches.

Half way through high school I paid $26,000 for Junior and $26,000 for Senior year so he would be safe. It was tight and ate at most of the savings we had for college - but I was afraid he wouldn’t survive high school if he didn’t leave our neighborhood school.

Cyber bullying, however, still existed by students at his old school and MCPS would do nothing even with the screen shots because my son was no longer an MCPS student. Screenshots telling him to kill himself were some of the messages sent.

My son learned to block the bullies from social media accounts and filed reports against some students with social media platforms. My son was accepted at his new school and excelled academically once he was out of the toxicity that was MCPS. He earned academic scholarships that helped make up the lack of college funds.

I wished her son would have had the same opportunity to thrive. The Board - the entire Board - should do a gut check and ask themselves why they didn’t do more to stop the bullying. Why don’t they ever do what is needed for children who need protection in their schools. The Board all too often follows MCPS coattails and doesn’t do their own investigation including talking with parents and students. MCPS has had a terrible two weeks for student safety. The Board has let things get this bad that a child has died.

The lack of empathy or urgency, and the general 'shrug of the shoulders' in response to my son's bullying is why he is no longer in MCPS.

They talk a good game. Say the right things in meetings or interviews. But they do literally nothing for bullied kids, and then to throw salt on the wound, blame parents in their official documents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many bad decisions by mcps/BOE and these are the consequences that are coming to light. It’s disgusting and harmful to children and their families. They can talk all they want about ‘equity’ and standing up for vulnerable families but at the end of the day MCPS/BOE has caused so much irreparable harm.

100% THIS! A friends daughter was being bullied and they kept denying to move her to another school. Their restorative justice BS put the perpetrators in a room with the victims which only escalated the attacks. The daughter had a breakdown and MCPS didn't give a shit but they were on board with their extra week of vacation! They can all f themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many bad decisions by mcps/BOE and these are the consequences that are coming to light. It’s disgusting and harmful to children and their families. They can talk all they want about ‘equity’ and standing up for vulnerable families but at the end of the day MCPS/BOE has caused so much irreparable harm.

100% THIS! A friends daughter was being bullied and they kept denying to move her to another school. Their restorative justice BS put the perpetrators in a room with the victims which only escalated the attacks. The daughter had a breakdown and MCPS didn't give a shit but they were on board with their extra week of vacation! They can all f themselves.

Sadly, there are numerous stories just like this one. My daughter's friend (they're in middle school) was incessantly bullied by a boy who also sexually assaulted her. The school's response was to put the victim and the assailant into a room where the assailant got to express his feelings of pain with stories on how his father abandoned him..tears in his eyes and everything. Daughter's friend felt guilty and they literally hugged it out. Two weeks later, the assailant did the same thing to another girl. MCPS response? Move the kid to another middle school. What a load of sh*t!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can people mail sympathy cards to the mother in care of the Northwest Principal at school address?

Is this to make you feel better?

+1 if you want to make yourself feel better, start caring about special needs kids. Start caring about kids who don't do well in a school with 2000 others. Because some times those kids do so not well , they don't even survive

I looking at these principal twitter pages with memes and bs "we stand with ... xyz"
No you don't. You don't stand with them at all.

I have a kid with special needs. I don't need people telling me to care.

I want to send the mother a sympathy card but need some kind of address. Anyone can obtain the school address.

You want to send a card to the school, send them a thanks for nothing card which is exactly what the mother said.
She knew they could have tried to protect her son and they did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many bad decisions by mcps/BOE and these are the consequences that are coming to light. It’s disgusting and harmful to children and their families. They can talk all they want about ‘equity’ and standing up for vulnerable families but at the end of the day MCPS/BOE has caused so much irreparable harm.

100% THIS! A friends daughter was being bullied and they kept denying to move her to another school. Their restorative justice BS put the perpetrators in a room with the victims which only escalated the attacks. The daughter had a breakdown and MCPS didn't give a shit but they were on board with their extra week of vacation! They can all f themselves.

Sadly, there are numerous stories just like this one. My daughter's friend (they're in middle school) was incessantly bullied by a boy who also sexually assaulted her. The school's response was to put the victim and the assailant into a room where the assailant got to express his feelings of pain with stories on how his father abandoned him..tears in his eyes and everything. Daughter's friend felt guilty and they literally hugged it out. Two weeks later, the assailant did the same thing to another girl. MCPS response? Move the kid to another middle school. What a load of sh*t!

That is restorative justice. Its about the bully and it revictimizes the victim.

[Anonymous]

Will the county care of you are bullied if it’s not over a protected category ? If you are bullied for being a dork you’d be lucky the teacher called you a loser and does nothing . That’s what happened to me in middle school in Mcps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will the county care of you are bullied if it’s not over a protected category ? If you are bullied for being a dork you’d be lucky the teacher called you a loser and does nothing . That’s what happened to me in middle school in Mcps

A girl from Sherwood was bullied and it was handled well and she was not a protected class. I'm not saying MCPS sucks at this but sometimes they do get it right.

I'm not saying kids with SN should or shouldn't get "more protection" but they may need more protection depending on the situation. They are definitely a target for bullying, even from teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Man. I feel like MCPS is falling apart.

OMG the sky is falling!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many bad decisions by mcps/BOE and these are the consequences that are coming to light. It’s disgusting and harmful to children and their families. They can talk all they want about ‘equity’ and standing up for vulnerable families but at the end of the day MCPS/BOE has caused so much irreparable harm.

100% THIS! A friends daughter was being bullied and they kept denying to move her to another school. Their restorative justice BS put the perpetrators in a room with the victims which only escalated the attacks. The daughter had a breakdown and MCPS didn't give a shit but they were on board with their extra week of vacation! They can all f themselves.

Yes, we need to bring back the lash and the paddle!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many bad decisions by mcps/BOE and these are the consequences that are coming to light. It’s disgusting and harmful to children and their families. They can talk all they want about ‘equity’ and standing up for vulnerable families but at the end of the day MCPS/BOE has caused so much irreparable harm.

100% THIS! A friends daughter was being bullied and they kept denying to move her to another school. Their restorative justice BS put the perpetrators in a room with the victims which only escalated the attacks. The daughter had a breakdown and MCPS didn't give a shit but they were on board with their extra week of vacation! They can all f themselves.

Sadly, there are numerous stories just like this one. My daughter's friend (they're in middle school) was incessantly bullied by a boy who also sexually assaulted her. The school's response was to put the victim and the assailant into a room where the assailant got to express his feelings of pain with stories on how his father abandoned him..tears in his eyes and everything. Daughter's friend felt guilty and they literally hugged it out. Two weeks later, the assailant did the same thing to another girl. MCPS response? Move the kid to another middle school. What a load of sh*t!

MCPS isn’t alone in this, unfortunately. Look at the recent rape case in Loudon County. Our kids are victims of really, really bad progressive policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many bad decisions by mcps/BOE and these are the consequences that are coming to light. It’s disgusting and harmful to children and their families. They can talk all they want about ‘equity’ and standing up for vulnerable families but at the end of the day MCPS/BOE has caused so much irreparable harm.

100% THIS! A friends daughter was being bullied and they kept denying to move her to another school. Their restorative justice BS put the perpetrators in a room with the victims which only escalated the attacks. The daughter had a breakdown and MCPS didn't give a shit but they were on board with their extra week of vacation! They can all f themselves.

Yes, we need to bring back the lash and the paddle!

Well, the current system clearly is not working for our kids. Let’s consider some alternatives. Nobody said anything about paddling.

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry for this young man, and his grieving family!

My son has ADHD/HFA and was bullied in elementary school. His MCPS school addressed it as soon as they were aware, but it was difficult for me to identify the bullying because he was so non-verbal and passive as that age that he didn't even tell me until it got really bad... I actually witnessed the last incident myself and that's how I realized the extent of it.

Ever since it's been fine. He doesn't respond to insults, he's not on social media, and the small group of acquaintances he has is not the bullying kind. But there will always be that fear, since he's a rule follower, and automatically tends to obey what he perceives to be rules and people in authority. A hierarchical superior could EASILY bully him - he might never try to defend himself or think of leaving.

I've been trying to teach him to stand up for himself without coming across as whiny, and to try to be self-aware enough to realize how he comes across: many times, he presents as such a naive, clueless individual, that peers who would never have thought of teasing and bullying just can't resist. I am very aware of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will the county care of you are bullied if it’s not over a protected category ? If you are bullied for being a dork you’d be lucky the teacher called you a loser and does nothing . That’s what happened to me in middle school in Mcps

A girl from Sherwood was bullied and it was handled well and she was not a protected class. I'm not saying MCPS sucks at this but sometimes they do get it right.

I'm not saying kids with SN should or shouldn't get "more protection" but they may need more protection depending on the situation. They are definitely a target for bullying, even from teachers.

Do I remember correctly that her brother or cousin stepped in on social media and called out the bullies into stopping? They shared screenshots of all of the messages and there was no room to dispute. Everything was out in the open. I don’t know if the bullies families were aware of how bad it was.