[ZTWsquared]

oldeguy,May 5 2009, 07:43 AM Wrote:I work for a School Board, and I see these type of "people", Principals, who are afraid to make decisions which teach the old school justice, they don't want to screw up their pensions. Not to defend him/her/it, but, we have to remember that they have never been out in the real world, they've always been in school. :blink:
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This is exactly why parents have to be informed, active and engaged with their kids' school ... thankfully in the case of the Korean kid the outcome was eventually the right one. WTF - not only did the other kid abuse him verbally, he actually punched him the face first - under the circumstances a left hand in response should be considered measured and controlled.

My son was the victim of a bully in school and it took 3 meetings and 2 letters with the principal of their school and an "incident" before they would 1) acknowledge the bully had a problem, and 2) do more than pay lip service to their anti-bully program and actually engage the bully's parents - who apparently had no idea their son was acting like that.

What brought the whole thing to a head was when my daughter (blue belt Tae Kwon Do and tough as nails) caught the bully hitting my son at recess and took him down giving him a bloody nose and sprained wrist in the process. This was one of the few circumstances where she knows she is allowed to use her skills in public.

She was of course sent to the office and I was called. The meeting started with "your daughter should not be doing such things" ... but after my controlled but heated input ended as "we're sorry Mr. Webster we will do better to control this bully" and "of course there is no consequence for you daughter."

There's a lot to be recommended for a society that trys to focus on non-violence as a response to aggression ... but my kids know that in a physical attack they have the green light to do whatever it takes to subdue the attacker - whatever it takes no holds barred; and they know that whatever the outcome I will go to the mat for them.

Amd now the school knows that in the absence of their controlling a situation, my kids know they have my permission to take care of it themselves.