Bullying at College Gardens ES

[Anonymous]

http://www.wtop.com/index.php?sid=1854583&nid=226&pid=0

[Anonymous]

So, how can parents know if there is bullying going on at their child's school -- or any prospective school?

So how does a parent gauge how effective a school is when it comes to handling bullying? In Montgomery County, one reference is the "School Safety at a Glance" report. But after reading the report, the parent was surprised and angry.

"Not only had it not been categorized as bullying, it didn't appear on that form at all. Hitting, kicking, punching, body-slamming, slapping, pushing her into wall, pinning her to her chair, giving her a sexual nick-name, none of that appeared -- anywhere."

Once again, the parent says she was left feeling that bullying wasn't taken seriously at the school.

Stephen Zagami, director of Student Services at Montgomery County Public Schools, says there's some confusion over how the reporting is done. The section of the "School Safety at a Glance" report she's referring to is restricted to specific types of incidents -- those that require medical attention or police response, according to Zagami.

[Anonymous]

This post is quite disturbing. IMO, this goes beyond bullying (i.e. teasing), and constitutes physical abuse/assault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, how can parents know if there is bullying going on at their child's school -- or any prospective school?

The problem is that bullying occurs everywhere. As you can see from the article, data on bullying incidents can be collected in different ways and give parents a false sense of security. The truth is that bullying doesnt have to escalate to violence for it to be disruptive/hurtful for a child. Daily teasing, exclusion, etc. is enough to push many kids over the edge. IMHO no parent can ever get a full picture of a school's climate by looking at data the schools collect. What may be more helpful are the student surveys that are sometimes done - where they ask kids if they feel safe and if they have witnessed bullying. The bottom line is there is no way to avoid it and we as parents need to help our kids be prepared to deal with it.

[Anonymous]

The WTOP article is so one sided that you can't help being concerned no matter where your child is at school. If the school had been able to respond to questions, I think we would have gotten a more accurate and perhaps less disturbing portrayal of the situation..