Prior to writing my last blog post, (Jan. 16th) I had sent an e-mail to all of my kids teachers asking them what we could do to bring up his grades as he's missed so much school and how his being bullied had and has been affecting his grades and attendance. Here is a snip-it of what I wrote, it was sent to 6 teachers:
...I am writing to see if there is anything he can do to
bring up his grades. He was out very
sick, we all were sick ....
I see that he's missing a ton of work, and I would like to
see if he can make it up even though the new term just started. I realistically know that he can't bring them
all up to A's, but I am hoping that he can bring them up to passing so that he
can move to the next grade ...
very concerned about something that has been
going on there. He has told me that he's
being bullied by another older student ...
reported it to the school counselors, but I am a
bit dismayed at the fact that the school
never informed me that it was reported, nor did they report that anything was
going to be done about it... I don't want to
hear that my child has been hurt or killed because his cry for help went by
un-noticed .... and lets all work together to put an end to any children
being bullied! It's not right, and I'm
very unhappy with the school for not doing anything about it!! ... Please let me know what kind of ideas if any you
have, and if he can do anything to bring up his grades. I am willing to meet with each of you if
needs be along with a school official (principal, counselor, etc.) so that I
can help my child succeed...
Out of the 6 teachers that were e-mailed, I got a response from only 1 teacher (the very same day), here are some snip-its from what she had to say:
Grades have been finalized for last term. ... I
think if he can focus on this term, start out fresh and turn in assignments and
not have excessive absences, that will be better to focus his attention.... I understand your concern about being bullied. I
have never seen anything occur in my class, so I hope at least he feels safe
there. I would be happy to speak with the counselors to see how we can prevent
this from happening. Has he given you a specific name? The more specifics we
can get, the better we can deal with the problem. ... His absences are a concern and do affect his schoolwork
and grades. If we can help him feel safe, then I hope this will encourage him
to want to come to school. Send me any names or details and I will see what I
can do. ... Let me know if you feel comfortable with this plan.
I was thrilled to have a teacher respond to me. I was super unhappy though that not a single other teacher took the time to e-mail me back. It is a sad day and age when the schools push to use the internet to reach out to them, and they don't even bother to respond.
I responded to this teacher writing her a really long e-mail (it ended up being over 2 pages) detailing what had happened, just as I have on my previous blog post. I didn't hear back from the teacher, but I got an e-mail from a student counselor at my sons school stating that his teacher had brought this to her attention, it was like it had never been brought up before. Here is the e-mail mostly in whole:
From:
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 12:17 PM
To: julianneltaylor@gmail.com
Subject:
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 12:17 PM
To: julianneltaylor@gmail.com
Subject:
Julianne,
My name is ... and I am the 7th grade school
counselor.
Mrs. ...(...English teacher) advised me that
...has been having a hard time at school and that you were concerned about
some bullying issues. I looked into the
situation and I wanted to just let you know some follow-up.
I called ... into my office today and apparently an
8th grade student had been bullying ...and his friend ..... Your son, ... told me most of this
happened about a month ago. I asked him
if he was still having problems with the other student and he told me no. He said he doesn't see him very much
anymore. I also do know that back in
December the school principal did talk to the 8th grade student and also the
other school counselor spoke with both ... about what to do.
I would like to call .... back into my office in a
couple of weeks just to check in on him and see how he is doing. Please let me know if I can help in any other
way before then.
Thanks so much,
....
Salem Jr. High School Counselor
7th Grade Counselor
8th Grade A-K Counselor
*** please note that all names have been removed to protect them***
I have not responded to this yet, because my initial response was f*** you! His attendance and grades are a direct reflection of what's going on at that school. I need to respond to it, and I've started but I am not done yet.
So, at this point I am not sure what to do. The above e-mail sounds like as always it is more concerned about attendance, and not about what is going on. It sounds like the original reporting of the incident, that was reported to the male counselor at the school that is over 8th & 9th grade, didn't pass it on to the person over seeing my child's grade.
I am so very upset about this! I have had suggestions that I should contact the media and let them know what is going on. However, I am thinking that I need to see what kind of response I get from the school first. Their policy is so loosely worded that I'm not sure I could get them to back anything up that was written it.
The worst part about all this is that we moved away from California so that our kids could have a better chance at life, and get away from all the violence and gangs. And here we are a year later in a quiet rural setting and he's getting bullied worse than he ever did in California. Looking back over the school year, he has had his bike tires slashed repeatedly. To the point that I am tired of replacing them (we've even bought the expensive ones that aren't supposed to pop).
Help us out peeps! Who's had to deal with something similar? I remember being bullied when I was a kid, but not like things are now days!
--Me
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