What are the options when a student is attacked?

[Anonymous]

Parent here of a middle school child whose MCPS handled the situation well.

— Echoing what others said about the bullying form: it’s the entry point for anything they do next. So file that ASAP.

— If and only if you fear your child is in danger of being attacked by the student again (Was it serious violence? Threats of more? Stalking?), then file a police report. You can drive to the station. Ask for the incident number. They likely can’t and won’t do anything, and if nobody is in imminent danger then they shouldn’t do anything, but this way you are making a record in case things escalate. Speaking from experience, you do not want to let threatening and harmful behavior escalate.

— Keep a log of anything that happens and save anything digital, like threatening texts.

Our child’s situation became extreme, but when we needed to consider going to court to make it stop we knew we’d need the incident log and police incident info, bullying form, and correspondence with the child’s parents to show we had tried everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent here of a middle school child whose MCPS handled the situation well.

— Echoing what others said about the bullying form: it’s the entry point for anything they do next. So file that ASAP.

— If and only if you fear your child is in danger of being attacked by the student again (Was it serious violence? Threats of more? Stalking?), then file a police report. You can drive to the station. Ask for the incident number. They likely can’t and won’t do anything, and if nobody is in imminent danger then they shouldn’t do anything, but this way you are making a record in case things escalate. Speaking from experience, you do not want to let threatening and harmful behavior escalate.

— Keep a log of anything that happens and save anything digital, like threatening texts.

Our child’s situation became extreme, but when we needed to consider going to court to make it stop we knew we’d need the incident log and police incident info, bullying form, and correspondence with the child’s parents to show we had tried everything else.

No, do not interfere. Let the school handle it!

It is not your job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of those avenues are open to you. I’d file an incident report with the school for sure. Whether the incident results in a bullying report depends on the presented facts. If its a serious attack, you could file a police report, and, depending on the age of the student and the substance of the claim, additional steps could be taken.

Please tread cautiously here. The consequences for the alleged assailant can be truly devastating.

Do you really want to ruin some poor child’s life over what will ultimately be a small bump in the road?

If someone attacks my kid at school, I am calling the police. If the alleged assailant was unprepared for consequences, they should not have attacked. This is nursery school content.

Define "attack"

DP but if you didn't teach your little crotchgremlin to keep their hands to themselves, I'm going to make damned sure they learn that lesson after being foolish enough to touch my kid in any nonconsensual way. And I'm not going to limit my willingness to re-educate your brat to physical attacks, if they think cyberbullying is a loophole.

This is in your child's best interest. You should've taught them to mind their own business long before I needed to get involved to protect my kid.

Fsckabuncha "restorative justice". Your kid owes meaningful amends. If they don't already know that, well, school is for learning.

Thanks for demonstrating my point, Karen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent here of a middle school child whose MCPS handled the situation well.

— Echoing what others said about the bullying form: it’s the entry point for anything they do next. So file that ASAP.

— If and only if you fear your child is in danger of being attacked by the student again (Was it serious violence? Threats of more? Stalking?), then file a police report. You can drive to the station. Ask for the incident number. They likely can’t and won’t do anything, and if nobody is in imminent danger then they shouldn’t do anything, but this way you are making a record in case things escalate. Speaking from experience, you do not want to let threatening and harmful behavior escalate.

— Keep a log of anything that happens and save anything digital, like threatening texts.

Our child’s situation became extreme, but when we needed to consider going to court to make it stop we knew we’d need the incident log and police incident info, bullying form, and correspondence with the child’s parents to show we had tried everything else.

No, do not interfere. Let the school handle it!

It is not your job.

It is the job of a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent here of a middle school child whose MCPS handled the situation well.

— Echoing what others said about the bullying form: it’s the entry point for anything they do next. So file that ASAP.

— If and only if you fear your child is in danger of being attacked by the student again (Was it serious violence? Threats of more? Stalking?), then file a police report. You can drive to the station. Ask for the incident number. They likely can’t and won’t do anything, and if nobody is in imminent danger then they shouldn’t do anything, but this way you are making a record in case things escalate. Speaking from experience, you do not want to let threatening and harmful behavior escalate.

— Keep a log of anything that happens and save anything digital, like threatening texts.

Our child’s situation became extreme, but when we needed to consider going to court to make it stop we knew we’d need the incident log and police incident info, bullying form, and correspondence with the child’s parents to show we had tried everything else.

No, do not interfere. Let the school handle it!

It is not your job.

said a terrible parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I seem to recall that the police don't typically get involved with "school issues" or something like that. Seems like a protocol they want you to follow, starting with the school. I'd go straight to the police for an assault and would be relentless in persuing a conviction. Dcum is going to jump on me and say I'm crazy, but that's what I would do whether the assailant is 17 or 7. I am serious.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of those avenues are open to you. I’d file an incident report with the school for sure. Whether the incident results in a bullying report depends on the presented facts. If its a serious attack, you could file a police report, and, depending on the age of the student and the substance of the claim, additional steps could be taken.

Please tread cautiously here. The consequences for the alleged assailant can be truly devastating.

Do you really want to ruin some poor child’s life over what will ultimately be a small bump in the road?

Without knowing the details, it may be way more than a bump in the road for the victim.