My Son No longer Feels Safe at His High School with Weeks Left Until Graduation. Please HELP!

[Anonymous]

Either you take pto and escort him or just don’t go back. His gpa can take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any way you could drive him for the next few weeks?

I would not feel comfortable driving my kid to school because the threat of the saftey is still there. Who's to say that this kid won't have his friends attempt an assault in the bathroom or cafeteria or a stairwell?

This. Don't send your kid back to school until you believe the threat is removed.

Email the Principal and copy your ward council member and David Grosso. If the principal delegates to someone else, you still copy the principal on all communications because the principal is legally responsible for everything in her school. In your email, be clear that these students physically threatened your child and explain how. Use the words "(son's name) doesn't feel safe at school and fears for his physical well being." State that you're very concerned that although you made the principal aware on (x date), the principal refuses to take action.

Get a restraining order.

Your son has an IEP? Call AJE and tell them this. Special needs kids have a whole other layer of protection. As the parent of a special needs kid, I know they get targeted because other kids see them with the aide or getting other supports. There's a discrimination component to this too if you believe the bullies know your son has an IEP and that's the reason they're targeting him. The stolen phone is just a pretext. If you believe this is a factor then put it in your email. If AJE won't help you then you contact a lawyer who can help you today.

OP, I'm so sorry. We went through hell when our special needs child was systemically bullied at a HRC. They school has their playbook of denial, downplay, do as little as possible. Document document document. Show them you're making the case against them. I wish we had a journalist who would expose this. Bullying in general but especially targeting special needs kids. It's so prevalent and the admins know exactly what they're doing when they deny and deflect responsibility.

Hugs to you and your son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Involve DME and ward council member, if necessary.

What are they going to do?

We don't know the extent of the problem. Maybe this is a really dangerous situation, maybe it's not. What is the kid going to do in the meantime? They need to have a game plan for dealing with these degenerates, as these kids aren't going to be stopped by a lawyer or council member. Maybe her son will have to fight one of them? Or maybe he needs to think about how to avoid them and/or stay in a public place when he thinks they are following him.

[Anonymous]

Don’t send your child to school. Look at all of the shootings and stabbings that take place in DC with teenage perpetrators. If your son has already been targeted and chased, don’t take a chance. The PP who said to have a psychiatrist recommend home schooling for the rest of the year is smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who thinks this kid totally overreacted? He got chased. Period. he didn't get threatened or touched. One kid got chased by other kids. Isn't that just ... part of the life of a child?

Nothing bad happened.

The next time a group of people chase you while yelling threats, you should just carry on as if nothing was wrong. If they don't touch you, there's no problem.

While this may be common in most children's lives, doesn't it say something about our society that we accept it as a normal rite of passage?

You are a lunatic. What do you think they boys would have done if he stopped ... talk it out like men!

Are you f'ing kidding me.

A boy at our school was beaten so badly by boys mad about a girl he missed a whole 1/2 a year of school. Concussion so bad he will never be 100% again.

[Anonymous]

Personally... I would pay $1M to protect my son in this situation.

I would not even use Uber. I would hire a cop to drive him to and from school until the last day of school.

You can pay a cop $25/hr ... ask the resource officer for the name of a cop.

I would also ask the officer who took the report to go to each kids house and tell the parents what happened... even if you have to pay him part-time fees to have it done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who thinks this kid totally overreacted? He got chased. Period. he didn't get threatened or touched. One kid got chased by other kids. Isn't that just ... part of the life of a child?

Nothing bad happened.

The next time a group of people chase you while yelling threats, you should just carry on as if nothing was wrong. If they don't touch you, there's no problem.

While this may be common in most children's lives, doesn't it say something about our society that we accept it as a normal rite of passage?

You are a lunatic. What do you think they boys would have done if he stopped ... talk it out like men!

Are you f'ing kidding me.

A boy at our school was beaten so badly by boys mad about a girl he missed a whole 1/2 a year of school. Concussion so bad he will never be 100% again.

A little off topic, so I apologize but as a mom of a middle schooler in a small charter, is this really what is common, or even happens a couple of times a year, at DCPS high schools and charters? Schools like Wilson, Latin, etc included? This is horrifying if even close to commonplace. No child should ever be chased, threatened and beaten at school. Fights sometimes, maybe but not beatings. And even more scary that the school(s) aren't outraged as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who thinks this kid totally overreacted? He got chased. Period. he didn't get threatened or touched. One kid got chased by other kids. Isn't that just ... part of the life of a child?

Nothing bad happened.

Spoken like the kid that stands behind the bully and laughs-- too weak to do the bullying himself or stand up for someone in need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who thinks this kid totally overreacted? He got chased. Period. he didn't get threatened or touched. One kid got chased by other kids. Isn't that just ... part of the life of a child?

Nothing bad happened.

The next time a group of people chase you while yelling threats, you should just carry on as if nothing was wrong. If they don't touch you, there's no problem.

While this may be common in most children's lives, doesn't it say something about our society that we accept it as a normal rite of passage?

You are a lunatic. What do you think they boys would have done if he stopped ... talk it out like men!

Are you f'ing kidding me.

A boy at our school was beaten so badly by boys mad about a girl he missed a whole 1/2 a year of school. Concussion so bad he will never be 100% again.

A little off topic, so I apologize but as a mom of a middle schooler in a small charter, is this really what is common, or even happens a couple of times a year, at DCPS high schools and charters? Schools like Wilson, Latin, etc included? This is horrifying if even close to commonplace. No child should ever be chased, threatened and beaten at school. Fights sometimes, maybe but not beatings. And even more scary that the school(s) aren't outraged as well.

Here is a link to a gang related death earlier this year associated with a small charter:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/shooting-on-georgia-avenue-in-northwest-washington/2017/11/09/74f2e1f6-c539-11e7-aae0-cb18a8c29c65_story.html?utm_term=.dd89e43db6cd

There was another for a young man I thought from a KIPP school earlier this year as well.

Violence is real - and children are threatened and die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who thinks this kid totally overreacted? He got chased. Period. he didn't get threatened or touched. One kid got chased by other kids. Isn't that just ... part of the life of a child?

Nothing bad happened.

Well, you and the kids who were doing the chasing think that. None of the reasonable people posting on the thread agree, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Involve DME and ward council member, if necessary.

Yes this is a good idea. As is the hiring of a cop.

[Anonymous]

Try the mediation and/or the psychiatrist recommendation. Those are clever solutions.
If it doesn't work, hiring an off-duty cop is also a good idea if you don't feel up to accompanying your child.

But frankly, some of you posters are over the top. These threats unfortunately happen routinely, you can't expect politicians and higher-ups to come up with a personalized solution just for OP's son, unless OP has special pull.

[Anonymous]

So you’re almost 18 year old adult aged son is so terrified for his life at the prospect of being chased that you are attempting to involve police escorts and politicians in an attempt to protect him from an unknown threat? If he were over 18 (which maybe he is already) there would be nothing you could do anyways because it would be his issue to deal with as an adult. How in the world do you expect him to survive in college without police escorts or mommy and daddy showing up to defend him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Involve DME and ward council member, if necessary.

Thank you, will do. This is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you’re almost 18 year old adult aged son is so terrified for his life at the prospect of being chased that you are attempting to involve police escorts and politicians in an attempt to protect him from an unknown threat? If he were over 18 (which maybe he is already) there would be nothing you could do anyways because it would be his issue to deal with as an adult. How in the world do you expect him to survive in college without police escorts or mommy and daddy showing up to defend him?

You are horrible. You sound like you don't have kids in DC public schools and have no idea how vicious kids can be. Also I don't know if OP's son is a POC, but it can be especially rough for black/Latino boys in DC publics.