Bullying In The News

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had a hard time finding any research papers on bullying trans-students. After I wrote that I found two news stories on bullying, one on a straight girl who commented suicide and another on a trans-student. I think that the two articles graphically point out how pervasive bullying has become in schools.

6 teens indicted in fatal bullying
The Republican
By SANDRA E. CONSTANTINE

NORTHAMPTON - Six young people have been indicted on charges ranging from statutory rape to criminal harassment in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe N. Prince, who hanged herself in January after months of intense bullying at South Hadley High School.
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Prince's harassment was common knowledge to most students, faculty, staff and administrators, Scheibel said. The district attorney's investigation determined, however, that the school officials' actions, or lack of action, did not rise to the level of criminal conduct, she said during a press conference at her offices.

Meanwhile a bill in the Massachusetts legislature that address bullying is hung-up because of conservatives who object to the fact that the bill also addresses bullying against transgender individuals.

Justice for Phoebe
By Boston Herald Editorial Staff

Lawmakers can tinker with state law to their heart’s content but the strongest anti-bullying message was the one that was delivered yesterday by Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel.

That message was that the old excuses - “It happens in every school” or “It’s part of growing up” - are simply no defense against the systematic harassment of a 15-year-old girl who should have found safe haven in the hallways of her own school.

Meanwhile, in New York state this news article about a bullying case against a trans-student was settled.

Settlement reached in lawsuit against Mohawk school district
By David Robinson
The Evening Times

Mohawk, N.Y. -

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of a gay student alleging that the Mohawk school district failed to protect him from threats and physical assaults and ignored repeated bullying.
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Both the NYCLU and school district released statements on the settlement.

“This lawsuit affirms that school districts nationwide have the responsibility to protect children from bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender non-conformity,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “No child should live in fear of going to school.”
Responding to the accusations of deliberate indifference to harassment, a statement from Caputo maintained the district’s position.

“The school district has steadfastly and consistently denied those allegations, many of which were wholly unsupported by independent evidence,” she stated in an e-mail.

The federal lawsuit alleged over the past two years, prior to this school year, the student was subjected to relentless verbal and physical abuse, culminating in another student bringing a knife and making a death threat.

A failure by district officials to formally investigate harassment, discipline students, or even inform the student and his parents of their right to file complaints under Board of Education grievance procedures is also part of claims made in the lawsuit.

To read more about the affects of bullying of trans-students read the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) report “Harsh Realities Finds Transgender Youth Face Extreme Harassment in School”