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Dakota

FORUM BITCH / Beloved Cunt
Bold Member!
Bullied boy's parents say West Islip school responsible

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Patrick Kohlmann was scared. For more than a year at Udall Road Middle School in West Islip, the soft-spoken 13-year-old had been taunted and shoved, chased through the halls and slammed into lockers.

Then one day last month, Patrick says, one of his regular tormentors said, "I'm going to kill you tomorrow."

The next morning, Patrick's mother says, she warned the school's vice principal about the threat. That afternoon, Patrick says, the bully struck him on the head with a rock.

He suffered a concussion.

"In the beginning, I would just let it happen and ignore it," Patrick says. "Now I scream, 'I want you to keep your hands off me!' and I shove back."

Patrick's parents, Beth and Harry Kohlmann, have filed a notice of claim against the West Islip school district.

Pointing to the school's code of conduct, which prohibits bullying and assault, Beth Kohlmann says: "Why is this continuing? This is about change. ... We want them to say 'We are willing to do the right thing, and make it right.'"

In the month after the attack, Patrick worked for a month on a video to show his teachers.

In the montage, which features pictures he found online, Patrick writes: "I have gone to the school before for help, yet the violence got worse. ... Now I am telling you what is going on ... asking you for help."

Since he posted it on YouTube last week, the video has been viewed nearly 6,200 times. [over 21,000 now]

West Islip school district spokeswoman Nancy Lenz said yesterday the video will be shown to the faculty in the fall.

Patrick says the response to his video has given him more confidence - and new friends. A classmate told him: "If you need anything, just come to me."

Now, Beth Kohlmann is talking to a state legislator about proposed anti-bullying legislation. And Patrick is handing out blue bracelets at school. They say: STAND UP to bullying!

Yesterday, his favorite teacher was wearing one.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/crime/ny-libull135725249jun13,0,2480072.story

Patrick's video:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6xH4kAF68M"]YouTube - Through My Eyes[/ame]

My both my daughters were bullied in school, albeit not to the extreme this boy experienced. We are very lucky to have a school district that is very proactive on the issue and things were resolved quickly.

Is bullying a bigger problem than it was or are we just being made aware of it? I wonder how many kids get no help from their school when things get to the extreme.
 
Thanks for posting that Dakota. Bullying exists everywhere and it has to be taken seriously. School boards, teacher's, administrators, parents and students have to work together. I know it is a cliché but "It takes a village" is absolutely bang on when it comes to bullying.

I wont go on a big tangent here because I don't know if this is a topic many here at DD deal with in their lives or not. Myself and 3 colleagues several years ago addressed this issue with the school boards here and I deal with this issue often because I focus on high risk kids. All 3 school boards adopted a "hands to yourself" "no touching" policy with zero tolerance. Of course we hit bumps in the road along the way. For instance in high school with teens dating. When I went to high school couples held hands or walked with their arms around each other etc. Personally for me I have no problem with 2 teens holding hands but many teacher felt zero tolerance should mean just that. Some teacher's wanted to go overboard in my opinion and make students keep a distance of 6" apart from each other at all times. Thankfully the majority ruled and that was voted down. The purpose is not to alienate the kids but to teach them about respecting personal space. We have mentoring programs where older students help out in the lower grade classes. We ask those students to observe the younger kids and reach out to those who seem to be left out, unpopular, loners or the kids everyone picks on. Younger kids look up to older kids very much. Having the mentor seek out the kids who need it most and use them in some way during the class that gets the other's focused on someone other than the bully or the class clown or the smart kid etc.. This builds self esteem in the child who is getting the attention and over time the other kids begin to be nicer to the kid they were picking on. The part I had to fight for was getting them to allow high risk kids who often were bullies to be part of this program as mentors. It wasn't an easy sell I will tell you that. The first year I was allowed to put 2 students through the program and let me tell you there were a butt load of people just waiting for on of these kids to fuck up so they could shut me up and do it their way! To make a long story short the program is now 50/50 and it has made a huge difference in the bullying problem in this community.

If you have a child being bullied and the school does nothing, my advice is don't stop there. Go to the administrators then the school board and if that doesn't work call the local newspaper and get some reporters interested so they start making calls for a story. You would be surprised how effective that can be when your board members are elected.
 
Wow. I about cried when I saw that video. That is the bravest kid I have ever seen, and he will grow up to be a fine man. In fact, if he reads this I got a 12 year old daughter. In about 5 years please come look us up!

I never dealt with bullying in high school. I was always really popular. Cheerleader, lots of friends, boyfriends, etc. But I hated what I did see out of my friends. I was told who not to date, what not to wear, who not to talk to. Until I couldn't handle it and quit cheerleading my senior year and told my "friends" to fuck off! I have said it before, the geeks rule! I have the most awesome man in the world, and he had a rough time in school, like this boy, because he wasn't "perfect" Those men generally make the best friends and lovers. Gentle, kind, considerate. Because they have been there.

I did have one girl when I was 28 hack my email and send it to everyone in our company, president and ceo on down. Because she just didn't like a friend of mine. These were some pretty frank emails about my sex life. I ended up getting laid off. They wouldn't admit that was why, but it was. So I kknow how this feels. But oddly enough, my man was dating that girl at the time, and even though he did not personally now me (we hadn't met yet, it was a big company) he found what she did so reprehensible he told me it was her and dumped her on the spot. So, thank you Michelle, for trying to bully me and instead giving me the best thing I have in my life. My man.
 
I was one of the ones that was bullied. A lot of counseling and a lot of years later, I'm able to stand up for myself in most situations.
My heart goes out to the kids who are still getting bullied. Nobody deserves that kind of abuse. :(



~ceisdsgil

Ps: thank you for posting this.
 
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i was bullied. i was fat, poor & smart. bad combo. didn't fit in anywhere. which might account for my attitude now. good for that boy & Goddess help whoever tries to bully any of my (now) 3 sons.
 
Wow. I about cried when I saw that video. That is the bravest kid I have ever seen, and he will grow up to be a fine man. In fact, if he reads this I got a 12 year old daughter. In about 5 years please come look us up!

I never dealt with bullying in high school. I was always really popular. Cheerleader, lots of friends, boyfriends, etc. But I hated what I did see out of my friends. I was told who not to date, what not to wear, who not to talk to. Until I couldn't handle it and quit cheerleading my senior year and told my "friends" to fuck off! I have said it before, the geeks rule! I have the most awesome man in the world, and he had a rough time in school, like this boy, because he wasn't "perfect" Those men generally make the best friends and lovers. Gentle, kind, considerate. Because they have been there.

I did have one girl when I was 28 hack my email and send it to everyone in our company, president and ceo on down. Because she just didn't like a friend of mine. These were some pretty frank emails about my sex life. I ended up getting laid off. They wouldn't admit that was why, but it was. So I kknow how this feels. But oddly enough, my man was dating that girl at the time, and even though he did not personally now me (we hadn't met yet, it was a big company) he found what she did so reprehensible he told me it was her and dumped her on the spot. So, thank you Michelle, for trying to bully me and instead giving me the best thing I have in my life. My man.

Oh trashcat, I love my trashcat. I would never....
Glad it worked out.
 
I knew you would reply!!! And I know you aren't her. There are no skank vibes coming off of you, and she can't hide that shit.
 
Interesting, the kid. Huh. He's a bold one, saying he will yell "get your hands off of me", and shoving back. It does me good to hear that other kids are telling him to come to them. That does me really good. We need the fighters, the ones who don't mind the bloody lips and black eyes to stand up for those who can't, goddammit.

This is personal for me somewhat as well, as some of you have voiced it as well. As a guy here who is pretty open about loving fights, I will say I hurt while reading things like this sometimes....growing up, I was bullied a lot.

I never fought...never, growing up. The best I did was swing my lunchbox when I was a tot, earning the title "The Lunchbox Kid". But that was because I got my shins kicked every day by older kids, and I was just a fiery little shit, but once I hit around 8 or 9 years old, I was just a chubby smart kid. Never got the girls, was too shy to shit on, just went home and stayed close to my family, because that's where I felt safest. But in middle and even high school, I would get bullied all the time. There was a kid, named Donnie in Florida, that would relentlessly attack me and beat me, and to this day, I'm a changed guy and all, I would like nothing more than to look him in the eye, and say "do you remember me?" and beat him to death on a hot sidewalk with my bare hands--but it's tough for anyone who has never fallen victim to this to realize how bad it can psychologically scar people. I will say, I contribute that somewhat to my spiraling wildly off the beaten path during my adolescent years. Had I not been terrorized as a child by a certain few, I don't know that I would've gone batshit over the edge when I was in my late teens, when I learned how to start standing up for myself. And to my great regret, I was a bully myself for some years....

But to this day, I can't stand lynchmob mentality, and of course, realize it's a cover up for weakness and a general chickenshitedness....

Kids these days....they're so vicious...whereas I would get kicked in the shins at 7, and later get beaten to hell off my bicycle, nowadays, kids are getting slashed with razors, and set on fire.....I mean....what the fuck.

My munchkin....she's a firecracker....I will do everything I can in the world to keep her innocence, her femininity, while bestowing on her the fact that she is not to allow herself to be bullied, EVER. I just will not allow HER to allow that for herself. She is the predator. She will be smarter, she will be the gentle, kind kid who will help others, if I can help it, and if someone thinks they feel froggy enough to take her lunch money, then I feel for them...cause my babygirl can SCRAP like a little wolverine already, and Ive yet to give her any real lessons....
 

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