Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!

CM at Cardinal said it didn't happen. Not the 2 times my kid came home bloody. Not the time somebody ripped up his art. Not the times he came home crying. County admin hasn't done anything. Would love ideas.

I’m curious what grade your child is in - mine is also at Cardinal and while has not experienced bullying, he has had kids rip up his papers. On school property. No consequences. It seems the admin has an aversion to discipline? I will also say, I know the perpetrators’ parents and they are clueless - in conversation they comment on how awful certain events are without realizing their kids are the cause.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!

CM at Cardinal said it didn't happen. Not the 2 times my kid came home bloody. Not the time somebody ripped up his art. Not the times he came home crying. County admin hasn't done anything. Would love ideas.

Honestly, if my kid was getting physically bullied like that, I would talk to the bully's parents. I'm assuming its someone at your bus stop or in your neighborhood since the art wouldn't be likely to have happened in the school. If that doesn't work, you can apply for an administrative transfer to go to a different neighborhood school (switch to Ashlawn or Tuckhoe or Nottingham).

My instinct would be to talk to the parents too. I had a friend whose kid was being bullied in Fairfax and when she asked for the parent’s contact info, the school wouldn’t provide it- not even an email address.

Talk to the teacher, the counselor, the principal. If you get no where and the principal isn't receptive/helpful, go to his /her superior who would be:

Kimberley Graves
703-228-6008
kimberley.graves@apsva.us

She manages the principals.


Push like hell to get your kid into a safer environment. They need you to be their advocate, and it sounds like you are. Keep working until things get better.

Can't speak to APS but in FCPS it was really, really bad for our youngest. My kid kept it bottled up inside for months, was throwing up before school due to anxiousness. NOVA has a school bullying problem -- not just mean kids, there can be mean girl teachers, too. It's the pond everyone in NOVA is swimming in, I think. It's contaminated with entitlement.

My early grade elementary daughter was being picked on by 2 girls repeatedly in extended day. I told her to say something to her teacher who helped her talk to the head of extended day and the extended day person talked to the 2 girls. I did not really have a preferred outcome when I told her to speak up, but that's what they ended up doing. Which says to me everyone already had these 2 girls number. But I think a reasonable first step is for the administrators to get all sides of the story and try to mediate a resolution.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!

CM at Cardinal said it didn't happen. Not the 2 times my kid came home bloody. Not the time somebody ripped up his art. Not the times he came home crying. County admin hasn't done anything. Would love ideas.

I am not sure who the CM is. Have you physically gone to school and had a meeting with the school principal and counselors? If yes and that is no help. I would e-mail Kim Graves who is the Chief of School Support.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!

CM at Cardinal said it didn't happen. Not the 2 times my kid came home bloody. Not the time somebody ripped up his art. Not the times he came home crying. County admin hasn't done anything. Would love ideas.

Do you mean CB? Who is CM?

Raise it higher if that's what's going on. Not acceptable. Email a School Board member. They are all assigned a school. Reid Goldstein used to be McKinley. Not sure if he transitioned to Cardinal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!

CM at Cardinal said it didn't happen. Not the 2 times my kid came home bloody. Not the time somebody ripped up his art. Not the times he came home crying. County admin hasn't done anything. Would love ideas.

Honestly, if my kid was getting physically bullied like that, I would talk to the bully's parents. I'm assuming its someone at your bus stop or in your neighborhood since the art wouldn't be likely to have happened in the school. If that doesn't work, you can apply for an administrative transfer to go to a different neighborhood school (switch to Ashlawn or Tuckhoe or Nottingham).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!

CM at Cardinal said it didn't happen. Not the 2 times my kid came home bloody. Not the time somebody ripped up his art. Not the times he came home crying. County admin hasn't done anything. Would love ideas.

go to school board

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!

CM at Cardinal said it didn't happen. Not the 2 times my kid came home bloody. Not the time somebody ripped up his art. Not the times he came home crying. County admin hasn't done anything. Would love ideas.

My daughter was being bullied in third grade in extended day. I let the extended day staff, teacher (it was a person in her class), and the counselor/principal know in the same email. Counselor and teacher worked with my daughter to come up with “coping strategies”, which I thought was a good life lesson. I don’t know if they ever did anything with the bully, but my daughter learned some strategies that helped her avoid situations where she was getting bullied. I can give you more details if you want. I was happy with how they handled it.

Anonymous wrote:Can you give the age you are asking about? It varies widely by age.

It would be upper elementary. I don't want to give many details.

Can you give the age you are asking about? It varies widely by age.

I found out after the fact that there is a bullying report that needs to be filled out after each incident. Ask if the school/teacher has done this, if not, you can fill it out as the parent. I had to complain almost daily about what was happening to my kid. After the bullying went on for a year and half, not much happened, and we disenrolled my son from APS.

I am curious about your experience with bullying in APS. I am asking both perspectives, if your kid was bullied or if your child was accused of being a bully. I don't need to know the bullying details, but am interested in the steps the school took (don't need to know the school). Thanks!