Objective: Stop bullying

Now exactly why do these children need cell phones?

This will never stop.. It's a High school thing !!!..

The problem, is it is too easy to be anonymous (like I'm being right now) and say cruel things. It's much more difficult to say things to someone's face. It's too bad some of this new technology is used for negativity.

Come on...we were all kids once. Didn't you ever harass and ruin someone's life when you were a teen? We all did it because there was nothing to do. We ALL did it !!

I'm kidding of course. Just demonstrating a typical foolish Lowell Sun forum response by the usual excuse makers.

There are bullies right here on this forum.

Did the keynote speaker say anything quotable that would have helped any member of a school staff? Apparently not! The only quote and her interpretation of the situation is open to debate. Her conclusion to that kind of scenario would be true sometimes but not always!

The choice of texting but specially her choice of an ambiguous message as a bullying message is of little help when there are less vague instances that are poorly handled.

The focus should be to address the clear (not vague) instances of bullying and to handle them effectively and as efficiently as possible first to establish a culture with a goal of zero bullying. Define clear and incremental goals or else lose the fight because administrators will most likely not see any clear achievements and will get frustrated.

There was no summary of what the message was, or there was no message, or no clear message.

The role that school administrators and teachers play in discipline (behavior) at schools is similar to the role that courts of law play in society in behavior in society, and the root of the problem of why bullying continues and courts are so ineffective is the same: inept and corrupt school staff members, and inept and corrupt court personnel – up and down.

I made a simple suggestion many years ago to some of the members of a school staff and the response was that it would take too much time. It would only in the short run but after awhile the bullies would quickly learn and that behavior would be brought under control.

Relative to behavior in society, cops are typically lazy, uneducated (and some of the ones who have a college degree is a worthless degree as a Boston Globe article years ago reported about how the Quinn Bill prostituted many institutions into creating programs to give out worthless criminal law degrees), and corrupt. Police culture is very dysfunctional, and the leadership seems to be unable to change or UNWILLING to change it. Court personnel, including judges, are very lazy, uneducated and corrupt. Prosecutors are also lazy, uneducated and corrupt.

School personnel and court personnel (cops, lawyers, judges and prosecutors) lazily have no respect for the facts. This is a fundamental flaw of both systems.

There are bullies right here on this forum and it's because it's easy. Some of the comments made would never be made to someone's face. At least we are adults (i hope) and if we don't like the tone of the blog, we are mature enough to stop responding to it.

I had issues with my child in middle school and actually brought in a print out of the offensive IMs and I was told that it didn't happen in school so there was really nothing they could do. Even though a teacher's name came up many times in this communication.
Tyngsboro also had a sexting situation last year. A girl at the HS sent her boyfriend a picture of herself naked and he sent it to all of his friends, who sent it all over the school. The administration did get involved to the extent that they "talked" to the girl but they were more concerned with keeping it out of the Lowell Sun. There were no real consequences. I assume they talked to the boy who sent it all over, but I don't know for sure.

The law is also playing catch-up with cyber-speech and students. The question being how to balance student safety on campus with free speech and the Internet. Teens, take a look at "Teen Cyberbullying Investigated" [Free Spirit Publishing] for real cases of kids in trouble at home, school and with the law over their online behaviors. Think before posting. Regards, Judge Tom.

There's also group mobbing and stalking and smearing by groups targetting a person that needs to be address.

With the quality of public school systems going down the drain maybe it's time to go back to in-home schooling.

It is really sad when schools do nothing about this behavior. There are fights going on and kids record them. There was a gang rape at a school in California and a group watched and did nothing. What is wrong with some of these kids? Nine out of ten times there is no parenting at home.

To: Tyngsboro Mom re4 # 10 – but specifically “There are bullies right here on this forum and it's because it's easy. Some of the comments made would never be made to someone's face.”

To someone’s face in a court of law or not in a court of law?- This criterion is not an appropriate criterion. People should be able to blog about dysfunctional behavior on the part of others – public figures and non-public figures, and it would make no sense. This standard cannot, in my strong opinion, be equally applied when it comes to family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, strangers one runs across the mall, public figures, etc. Therefore your implied definition of bullying is over generalized – inappropriately over generalized to include behavior that must not be classified as bullying.

Involving prosecutors in the task of stopping bullying demonstrates how tragic our situation is. THERE IS NO WORSE BULLY THAN THE TYPICAL PROSECUTOR: A TYPICALLY IGNORANT INDIVIDUAL WITH LITTLE ETHICAL SELF-RESTRAINT, WHO IS BENT ON WINNING BY HOOK OR CROOK, AND WHO IS REWARDED FOR BREAKING THE RULES.

It is like putting the fox to guard the chickens. I get the impression that Rosalind Wiseman, keynote speaker at the School Safety Summit at Nashoba Tech in Westford is a well-meaning but naïve mother who wrote a book on the subject but who most likely has accomplished very little if anything to take us where she would like schools to be at relative to bullying.

Solon-O-Solon wrote:

To: Tyngsboro Mom re4 # 10 – but specifically “There are bullies right here on this forum and it's because it's easy. Some of the comments made would never be made to someone's face.”
To someone’s face in a court of law or not in a court of law?- This criterion is not an appropriate criterion. People should be able to blog about dysfunctional behavior on the part of others – public figures and non-public figures, and it would make no sense. This standard cannot, in my strong opinion, be equally applied when it comes to family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, strangers one runs across the mall, public figures, etc. Therefore your implied definition of bullying is over generalized – inappropriately over generalized to include behavior that must not be classified as bullying.

I didn't mean it to be. I just meant that it's easy to say things when you're behind a computer.

This is so sad. I feel horrible for the kids who are bullied, there is absolutely no reason for children to pick on other children. It can make a happy child into a miserable child who is scared to go to school and so self-conscious. I just wish that children could know now what we know from experience from our younger years.

Thy are also using the Gestapo Tatics or gas lighting movie tactict.