Does Sherwood HS have a cyber bullying problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, parents can control behavior at home but they are not present at school. If a child has no consequences for bad behavior at school and there is no communication from the school to parents regarding the bad behavior, then how do you expect the parent to intervene?

Saying that there's nothing a school system can do to stop bullying is not a collaborative approach and is not considered an educational best practice to prevent and address bullying.

First and foremost, kids need to come forward and tell their parents and the school when bullying occurs. This girl waited. Other kids haven't bothered to come forward.

Hopefully others will be willing to come forward now that info about the punishment is trickling out. Or maybe not? Probably depends on whether these boys and their friends accept responsibility and magically turn into nice kids, or if they retaliate (which seems to be more likely).

It's scary being the student to come forward. Victims weigh their options and telling a school administrator is a last resort option. If the school doesn't do anything, you betcha there will be retaliation by students towards the student who reported the boys.

Well, then the parents are the cause. If kids aren't comfortable sharing their issues and fears with their own parents, blame the parents and DON'T blame the schools. Learning starts at home. I don't understand today's parenting.

- a teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, parents can control behavior at home but they are not present at school. If a child has no consequences for bad behavior at school and there is no communication from the school to parents regarding the bad behavior, then how do you expect the parent to intervene?

Saying that there's nothing a school system can do to stop bullying is not a collaborative approach and is not considered an educational best practice to prevent and address bullying.

First and foremost, kids need to come forward and tell their parents and the school when bullying occurs. This girl waited. Other kids haven't bothered to come forward.

Hopefully others will be willing to come forward now that info about the punishment is trickling out. Or maybe not? Probably depends on whether these boys and their friends accept responsibility and magically turn into nice kids, or if they retaliate (which seems to be more likely).

It's scary being the student to come forward. Victims weigh their options and telling a school administrator is a last resort option. If the school doesn't do anything, you betcha there will be retaliation by students towards the student who reported the boys.

Well, then the parents are the cause. If kids aren't comfortable sharing their issues and fears with their own parents, blame the parents and DON'T blame the schools. Learning starts at home. I don't understand today's parenting.

- a teacher

I reported to the principal who did nothing to fix the problem and made my child's life a living hell when school staff told the bully who reported him. My child and I regret ever submitting a report to the principal.

MCPS doesn't care about fixing school bullying problems.

- sign a parent who has been there and done that

[Anonymous]

The original post was from a parent who, for some reason, isn’t telling the truth. The principal met with the boys involved and were disciplined. The family declined an opportunity for the boys to meet face-to-face with the victim and apologize. The family members do not want closure but to bash the kids and their families. Is that what’s best for the victim- who is the targeted person? No. Public shaming and threats to go to the boys’ family homes to “end them” with machine guns and books on “how to kill” on the adult brother’s public Twitter account- that’s clearly the message: Let’s crucify the kid, his parents, and his siblings. Let’s ruin their “promising athletic careers.” Let’s reverse bully. Is that the message? Yes. No matter what the kids did or said, inciting retaliatory violence isn’t the answer and, quite frankly, if the targeted individual’s family is rallying to do this, then they’re as much as a problem as the kids who started this- the sad part is the adults who claim they’re daughter/sister is a victim sound more like bullies than the stupid kids who started this by making the remarks that landed them in this predicament.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The original post was from a parent who, for some reason, isn’t telling the truth. The principal met with the boys involved and were disciplined. The family declined an opportunity for the boys to meet face-to-face with the victim and apologize. The family members do not want closure but to bash the kids and their families. Is that what’s best for the victim- who is the targeted person? No. Public shaming and threats to go to the boys’ family homes to “end them” with machine guns and books on “how to kill” on the adult brother’s public Twitter account- that’s clearly the message: Let’s crucify the kid, his parents, and his siblings. Let’s ruin their “promising athletic careers.” Let’s reverse bully. Is that the message? Yes. No matter what the kids did or said, inciting retaliatory violence isn’t the answer and, quite frankly, if the targeted individual’s family is rallying to do this, then they’re as much as a problem as the kids who started this- the sad part is the adults who claim they’re daughter/sister is a victim sound more like bullies than the stupid kids who started this by making the remarks that landed them in this predicament.

They posted online before they met with the school.

Why should the girl be forced to endure a fake apology from jerky boys? And who cares about their stupid football season?

Has it occurred to you that so many others are still angry because they have endured bullying, too? It's widely known these boys didn't let girls sit with them unless they were under a certain weight. And there's a rumor that an athlete at Sherwood assaulted a girl at a party last year...and then the "cool kids" pushed her out of the group.

If you are a parent of any student who runs with the clique of athletes and poms who party hard, then you might want to watch your kid a bit more closely. Olney is a small town, and everyone knows who does what.

PS - when you prioritize sports and popularity, it typically doesn't end well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original post was from a parent who, for some reason, isn’t telling the truth. The principal met with the boys involved and were disciplined. The family declined an opportunity for the boys to meet face-to-face with the victim and apologize. The family members do not want closure but to bash the kids and their families. Is that what’s best for the victim- who is the targeted person? No. Public shaming and threats to go to the boys’ family homes to “end them” with machine guns and books on “how to kill” on the adult brother’s public Twitter account- that’s clearly the message: Let’s crucify the kid, his parents, and his siblings. Let’s ruin their “promising athletic careers.” Let’s reverse bully. Is that the message? Yes. No matter what the kids did or said, inciting retaliatory violence isn’t the answer and, quite frankly, if the targeted individual’s family is rallying to do this, then they’re as much as a problem as the kids who started this- the sad part is the adults who claim they’re daughter/sister is a victim sound more like bullies than the stupid kids who started this by making the remarks that landed them in this predicament.

They posted online before they met with the school.

Why should the girl be forced to endure a fake apology from jerky boys? And who cares about their stupid football season?

Has it occurred to you that so many others are still angry because they have endured bullying, too? It's widely known these boys didn't let girls sit with them unless they were under a certain weight. And there's a rumor that an athlete at Sherwood assaulted a girl at a party last year...and then the "cool kids" pushed her out of the group.

If you are a parent of any student who runs with the clique of athletes and poms who party hard, then you might want to watch your kid a bit more closely. Olney is a small town, and everyone knows who does what.

PS - when you prioritize sports and popularity, it typically doesn't end well.

How would people know that the boys met with the principal and were disciplined? Along the same line, how would people know that the girl and her family declined to meet face-to-face with the boys? This information sounds like it’s coming from a parent of one of the boys involved. It sounds like you are trying to turn this around and paint the victim and her family as the problem. You referred to the cyber bullying as a “predicament” the boys are in. What an odd choice of words. Social media was the platform used to deliver the bullying. Ironically, social media is also the platform being used to inform the community of the boys’ actions. There are real life consequences for poor choices, and the public shaming aspect is part of the consequences in this case

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original post was from a parent who, for some reason, isn’t telling the truth. The principal met with the boys involved and were disciplined. The family declined an opportunity for the boys to meet face-to-face with the victim and apologize. The family members do not want closure but to bash the kids and their families. Is that what’s best for the victim- who is the targeted person? No. Public shaming and threats to go to the boys’ family homes to “end them” with machine guns and books on “how to kill” on the adult brother’s public Twitter account- that’s clearly the message: Let’s crucify the kid, his parents, and his siblings. Let’s ruin their “promising athletic careers.” Let’s reverse bully. Is that the message? Yes. No matter what the kids did or said, inciting retaliatory violence isn’t the answer and, quite frankly, if the targeted individual’s family is rallying to do this, then they’re as much as a problem as the kids who started this- the sad part is the adults who claim they’re daughter/sister is a victim sound more like bullies than the stupid kids who started this by making the remarks that landed them in this predicament.

They posted online before they met with the school.

Why should the girl be forced to endure a fake apology from jerky boys? And who cares about their stupid football season?

Has it occurred to you that so many others are still angry because they have endured bullying, too? It's widely known these boys didn't let girls sit with them unless they were under a certain weight. And there's a rumor that an athlete at Sherwood assaulted a girl at a party last year...and then the "cool kids" pushed her out of the group.

If you are a parent of any student who runs with the clique of athletes and poms who party hard, then you might want to watch your kid a bit more closely. Olney is a small town, and everyone knows who does what.

PS - when you prioritize sports and popularity, it typically doesn't end well.

How would people know that the boys met with the principal and were disciplined? Along the same line, how would people know that the girl and her family declined to meet face-to-face with the boys? This information sounds like it’s coming from a parent of one of the boys involved. It sounds like you are trying to turn this around and paint the victim and her family as the problem. You referred to the cyber bullying as a “predicament” the boys are in. What an odd choice of words. Social media was the platform used to deliver the bullying. Ironically, social media is also the platform being used to inform the community of the boys’ actions. There are real life consequences for poor choices, and the public shaming aspect is part of the consequences in this case

I also thought the details of the post was odd. It could be a family member of the boys or it could be a MCPS administrator. Clearly someone trying to deflect and cast blame on the victims.

[Anonymous]

The message regarding the “original post” is the stepmom of one of the boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The message regarding the “original post” is the stepmom of one of the boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While bullying is a problem in MCPS, I have also heard students say they were going to fill out the bullying report falsely just to get another student in trouble. Then I had to fill out the form.

The parents of one of the boys involved are both bullies. Easy to see how this happened.

[Anonymous]

Very very disturbing. Almost like "13 Reasons Why" disturbing.

[Anonymous]

We are starting middle school next year.So far all points at Tacoma Park school.Had bad experience bullying.Want to know does everyone had bad experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very very disturbing. Almost like "13 Reasons Why" disturbing.

I had the same thought about the JV football locker room rapes at Damascus HS .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very very disturbing. Almost like "13 Reasons Why" disturbing.

I had the same thought about the JV football locker room rapes at Damascus HS .

It makes me worry about how bad the environment a typical MCPS high school has become. With all the talk about emotional and social wellbeing, it seems that little is done when bullying is reported.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are starting middle school next year.So far all points at Tacoma Park school.Had bad experience bullying.Want to know does everyone had bad experience

The spelling makes me think you are the same poster asking about TPMS on another thread. It is worth reiterating what someone else said there - if you are counting on admission to the TPMS magnet, you need to be aware that the competition is very very steep. Unless you could credibly say that your child is the top of the class without peers at their home school, there are no guarantees.

With that said, TPMS is broadly very good on bullying. It is still middle school, but the administration takes the issue seriously.

[Anonymous]

Unless the cyber bullying posts come from a school computer why is it any business of MCPS?

If there was a party on a Friday night and five boys spent the entire night viciously mocking a fat girl would that be MCPS’s problem?

I have always wondered why victims of cyber bullying don’t just delete their Instagram, Twitter, or whatever accounts?
They keep their accounts open because they can’t stand not to know what others are saying about them.

Do principals or counselors ever suggest this when trying to resolve these issues?

If I was the superintendent I’d announce that if it didn’t occur on our property we aren’t interested.