Disturbing story, amazing response

Yesterday I was extremely depressed after reading the article about the NY bus monitor who was bullied to tears by students. As if reading about it isn’t bad enough, there the entire attack was caught on camera & uploaded to YouTube.

I heard about this story for the first time yesterday morning… and it was hardly in the national news at all. A fund for the bus monitor, Karen Klein, had just been started and had just reached the $5,000 goal.

I woke up this morning to see this story on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, and all other major news outlets. And that vacation find for Karen? As of right now, it’s at $146,847. The support for this woman has exploded over the past 24 hours. It gives me chills just thinking about it.

Below I’ve pasted a CNN article about the bullying, the outcry, and the outpouring of support. You can find the video on any news website… but I am not going to post it because it was just too hard for me to watch.

Middle schoolers bully bus monitor, 68, with stream of profanity, jeers

By Faith Karimi, CNN

(CNN) — A profanity-laced video of middle school students in upstate New York verbally abusing a bus monitor is sparking an outpouring of support as strangers worldwide rally to her side.

Students taunted Karen Klein, 68, with a stream of profanity, insults, jeers and physical ridicule. Some boys demand to know her address, saying they want to come to her house to perform sexual acts and steal from her. Another said, “you’re so fat.”

One comment from a boy aboard the bus was especially painful. He told her that she does not have family because “they all killed themselves because they didn’t want to be near you.” Klein’s oldest son took his own life 10 years ago, according to CNN affiliate WHAM.

The bullying continues unabated for about 10 minutes in the video, reducing Klein to tears as a giggling student jabs her arm with a book. Recorded by a student Monday with a cell phone camera, the brazen example of bullying went viral and spurred international outrage.

The incident occurred in Greece, New York, near Rochester. Klein is a bus monitor for the Greece Central School District and the harassers hail from the Greece Athena Middle School, media reports said.

Teens charged in alleged bullying of student who later committed suicide

Klein described her tormenters “regular, normal kids” and “one on one, they’re OK.”

“Just don’t get a bunch of them together. That’s when the trouble starts,” she said.

As the intimidation unfolded, she said, she tried her best to disregard the harassment and didn’t hear everything that was uttered. But she said the hazing hurt deeply. At one point, she said, she told two children, “I am a person too. I shouldn’t be treated this way.”

Klein told WHAM that she doesn’t know if bullies can be charged. But, she said, “they should have some form of punishment.”

CNN attempts to reach all parties involved Wednesday were unsuccessful.

The video prompted an outpouring of support and a fundraiser by an international crowd funding site that had gathered more than $100,000 by early Thursday.

Teen expelled for using stun gun against bullies

“Let’s give Karen a vacation of a lifetime. Let’s show her the power of the internets and how kind and generous people can be,” the fundraiser’s organizer said on the website. The organizer did not respond to CNN requests for comment on the website.

The school district said its bullying team and the local police are conducting an investigation.

“We have discovered other similar videos on YouTube and are working to identify all of the students involved,” the school district said in a statement.

Teen says bullies beat him, sues New York schools

It did not elaborate on whether the additional videos are related to Klein’s case.

“While we cannot comment on specific student discipline, we can say that students found to be involved will face strong disciplinary action,” the school district said.

The students are minors, according to the school district. CNN does not name minors involved in alleged crimes unless they are charged as adults.

Officials involved in the investigation will hold a news conference Thursday.

Klein said she hopes the spectacle “might help other people.” And, she said, she hopes that these children “get their share of someone bullying them.”

“I hope what goes around comes around,” she said.

My shameless plug (for a good cause!)

I have recently started volunteering as the Social Media Coordinator for the A4K Club, an anti-bullying organization that just recently got started in Alpharetta, GA. I really want to spread the word about this amazing opportunity for kids & parents alike. A4K holds anti-bullying classes, provides anti-bullying resources, and encourages kids and teens to start A4K Club chapters in their own communities.

I’d love for you all to help get the word out

Please visit the A4K Club website, as well as their Facebook page & Twitter page.

Thanks for helping to support an amazing cause!

BULLY

Bully, a new film coming out at the end of March, documents the epidemic of bullying in America’s schools & shows the dire consequences when nothing is done to stop it. (The preview alove will probably leave you in tears.)

The problem is, the MPAA gave this film an “R” rating. Therefore, in the words of this Change.org petition, “most kids won’t get to see this film. No one under 17 will be allowed to see the movie, and the film won’t be allowed to be screened in American middle schools or high schools.”

Katy Butler, the petition’s creator, continues her petition by stating:

“I can’t believe the MPAA is blocking millions of teenagers from seeing a movie that could change — and, in some cases, save — their lives. According to the film’s website, over 13 million kids will be bullied this year alone. Think of how many of these kids could benefit from seeing this film, especially if it is shown in schools?

“If enough people speak out and ask the MPAA to give Bully a PG-13 rating, maybe we can get them to change their minds. Will you sign my petition to the MPAA asking for a PG-13 rating instead of an R?

“From what I understand, the MPAA ruled by ONE vote that Bully deserves an R-rating because of “language,” robbing many teenagers of the chance to view a film that could change their lives, and help reduce violence in schools. This makes me really mad. It means that a film documenting the abuse that millions of kids experience through bullying won’t be seen by the audience that needs to see it the most: middle school students and high school students.

“Please sign my petition and demand that the MPAA give “Bully” a PG-13 so this important film can be seen by as many kids and adults as possible.”

I encourage you to visit the online petition at Change.org to help get Bully a PG-13 rating, which will help expose the film to more teens so they can learn about this terrible epidemic!  

 

New Tennessee bill will now make bullying legal??

A proposed bill in Tennessee will “create a loophole in state schools’ anti-discrimination laws that could protect students who engage in harassment if it falls under their religious or political beliefs,” according to a CNN article.

The article is pretty long, so I won’t paste it on the blog, but be sure to read it here. It absolutely makes my blood boil…

This is a ridiculously bad idea. Let’s just stick up for the bullies… whatever their religious and political beliefs, they can harass whoever they want as long as there is no physical assault. A perfect quote from the article: “If made into law, [this bill] would give students a ‘license to bully’ that allows them to hide their irrational biases behind an extreme religious belief.” Have we not learned anything from all the teen suicides in the past??

So sad. How terrible can high school students be??

NY teen killed by bus had suicide note, police say; family alleges bullying.

Bullying sexual abuse victims — have we hit a new low??

This article just makes me so angry, yet so so sad for the victim. How can teenagers — one year away from going off on their own to college — be so cold-hearted and cruel to someone in obvious pain?

Alleged Victim In Sandusky Case Leaves High School Due To Bullying

The first known alleged victim in the Jerry Sandusky case, known as “Victim One” was forced to leave his school because of an onslaught of bullying, The Patriot-News reports.

Mike Gillum, psychologist for the family, told the news source that officials at Central Mountain High School didn’t step in and provide guidance to the boy’s classmates, who began to blame Joe Paterno’s firing on the 17-year-old.

Victim One testified he was forced into multiple sex acts between 2006 and 2008. During that time, Sandusky was also assisting the high school with their varsity football program, the report states.

Gillum told The Patriot News that name-calling and verbal threats at the school, which is located about 30 miles northeast of Pennsylvania State University, became too much for the boy to bear.

The Centre Daily Times wrote the 23-page report by a state grand jury investigation alleges that Sandusky molested at least eight boys over a 15-year period, beginning with “Victim 1.” In the report, the victim testifies that Sandusky began a physical relationship with him during sleepovers at his house, where the accused would blow on the boy’s bare stomach and crack his back.

The boy later testified that the relationship became sexual, with Sandusky performing oral sex on him more than 20 times, according to the Centre Daily Times.

Former FBI director Louis Freeh was tapped Monday to lead the inquiry into the child sex-abuse allegations, an investigation Freeh says will go as far back as 1975.

The 17-year-old has left the school in the middle of his senior year, and the Keystone Central School District issued a statement to the Centre Daily, saying it would be said “inappropriate” to comment on the case publicly.

The allegations have also led to the removal of long-time football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier.

Photographer refuses to photograph ‘ugly’ people –

– and I completely support her decision!

It’s not what you think. Photographer Jennifer McKendrick found out that some of her upcoming clients, who were scheduled to have their high school senior pictures taken, had been bullying fellow classmates online. So what did she do? She took screenshots of the girls’ disgusting comments online, sent them to the girls’ parents, and canceled their appointments.

This woman could have just ignored the bullying and gone ahead with the senior pictures. Afterall, this is her profession and she has to make money. But she is an amazing example of how sometimes your values and principles need to take precedent.

The article, from Huffington Post, has been copied below. The links are from the original article, but some portions have been emboldened by me… just because this woman’s quotes are so awesome.

 A Pennsylvania photographer has chosen not to photograph a group of high school girls for their senior portraits after she found evidence of the teens bullying other students on Facebook.

Jennifer McKendrick, from Indiana County, Pa., wrote on her own Facebook page earlier this week that she came across another Facebook page with nasty comments from four high school girls whose names matched her scheduled clients.

She emailed the girls and their parents to cancel their senior photo shoots, while including screenshots of their comments to explain why she was calling off the session.

McKendrick wrote more about her decision on her personal blog in a post titled “I Won’t Photograph Ugly People.”

“I mean how could I spend two hours with someone during our session trying to make beautiful photos of them knowing they could do such UGLY things,” McKendrick writes. “Realistically, I know by canceling their shoots it’s not going to make them ‘nicer people’ but I refuse to let people like that represent my business.”

The photographer told WTAE-TV that the comments she saw were more than just targeting other students for appearance.

“It was beyond ‘your clothes are ugly’ or ‘you don’t have any brand clothes’ or ‘you are ugly, your hair is not right,” McKendrick told WTAE-TV. “It was vicious. It was talking about sexuality.”

Her Facebook page has since been flooded with hundreds of comments from people supporting her decision.

McKendrick blogs that she hasn’t received backlash for her decision so far, but she’s prepared if she does. Two of the teens’ parents responded to her with apologies, noting that they were surprised by their daughters’ actions.

“If you are ugly on the inside, I’m sorry but I won’t take your photos to make you look pretty on the outside … I simply don’t want to photograph ugly people,” she writes.

Teen bully speaks out

Teen bully speaks out, posted with vodpod

I wrote about bullying, and the Phoebe Prince case, when I first began this blog, and now one of her alleged bullies is speaking out on the ‘Today’ show. After serving just two months probation for harassing a fellow student to death, Sharon Chanon Velazquez now wants to “set the record straight.”

At first I thought she was going to talk about how she has learned her lesson, or she would have some sort of “anti-bullying” message that she could share with other students… but I was really wrong. This girl basically went on a nationally televised program to proclaim that she is the victim, too. She repeats over and over and she wasn’t “bullying,” she was just “arguing.” And she says that she is “a really caring person” who was “trying to help out a friend,” so she is misunderstood by the public. I didn’t realize that “helping out a friend” meant harassing and degrading a girl that this “friend” didn’t like because they both had the same feelings for a boy. I didn’t know that stalking a girl, throwing things at her, and calling her names “stupid slut” and “Irish whore” was just considered “arguing.” Boy have I been doing it all wrong these past few years. That’s how you become a good friend? That’s how an argument goes? Ohhhh, okay, got it.

Sharon now says that she would have helped Phoebe if she would have known that “she had so many problems.” So many problems? Who wouldn’t have problems when a clique of girls constantly followed you, threatened you, cornered you in bathrooms, and cyber stalked you? How do you not notice that the girl you are bullying is physically hiding behind friends when passing you in the hallway. I call the BS card on basically everything this girl is saying.

The real kicker is Sharon claiming that she was a victim too, and her mother talking about how difficult this trial was on her. Her mother also was so upset by the trial because she couldn’t help stand up for her daughter. Well, I’m pretty sure Phoebe’s parents felt pretty helpless in their situation too… except your daughter still gets to come home every day from school. Theirs doesn’t. And their daughter doesn’t get to stick up for herself when people go on television to tell their side of the story.

Apparently some people will never learn their lessons, and some parents will always blindly support their child and instill an “I can do no wrong” attitude in their child as well. What these kids and their parents need to learn is one word: accountability. I don’t care if you are a high schooler or a fifty year old… if you bully, harass, threaten, and terrorize another human being, you should have to pay the consequences.