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RoxburySchoolConcerns.org |
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this Website:
Bullying
in -
Roxbury NJ Schools Official Website www.NJBullying.org
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An informational
website designed to assist parents of students in We sincerely appreciate those Roxbury Staff who have helped our children, yet attitudes & conditions still exist that cause needless difficulties for our kids. Some staff seem to regard bullying as normative and don't want to be bothered by an alarmed parent. Some staff seem to regard the accommodations Sp Ed children need as an imposition. All that must change, and the LAW is on our side. This has become a particular issue at Eisenhower Middle School, where our child attends, with the recent upheaval in staff, and the assumption by some staff that kids who are 'different' are going to be subject to verbal harassment in those grades, so why bother trying to fight it. The ongoing Teachers salary dispute has also tended to occupy some teachers, so the fact of students being bullied has lost priority. The outgoing Principal at EMS was one of the few who responded with concern to our warnings about the situation, and now he's left in mid-year. Well, we will not stand by as kids are traumatized. Our family had been thinking about starting a website like this for months, but that which moved us to act was a recent documentary on PBS Frontline (Jan 22, 2008) which profiled a middle school student who had been taunted by classmates for months, who then ended up committing suicide. School officials said they had no idea the verbal harassment was going on. We've since learned that this horrible scenario has been repeated many times in recent years. It seems that if you're not a jock, or pretty, don't have an ipod in your ear or use profanity you are a target for verbal bullying. The use of filthy, derogatory expletives is common, not only out of the range of teacher's hearing, but as an undertone whispered in the presence of teachers. We have heard teachers privately tell us that they are shocked and exasperated by all this, but publicly all they'll say is that they can't change the prevailing culture. Well, we're not under any delusion that the staff can change it either, but within the walls of the school a safe atmosphere conducive to learning needs to exist, and for many it doesn't. Yes, we recognize that some Guidance Counselors do sincerely care, and they've made efforts to help this situation, but they are met with indifference by the majority. The State of New Jersey School Bully Guideline has the potential to be used in a Legal sense against Districts who routinely fail to actually protect students, and just running an anti-bullying assembly once a year doesn't meet the standard. Those assemblies impress only the kids who wouldn't think of bullying, but those who relish their bully role have made it an art form to do so out of the sight and hearing of staff, in the lunchroom, in the halls. They know there will be no real consequences, and typically there are none, even after you've ID'd the bully by name. While we're keeping our family name off this website, we've told our child's school staff of this site, and told them who we are. If you are a family who has been hurt by bullying in the Roxbury District, e-mail us. We will respect you. You can chose to tell us your name or not. Maybe we can really help our kids by working together. Oh and by the way, we have nothing to do with the
School Board or the just finished BOE Elections. We are concerned Parents who don't
want to see some Roxbury kids lost in the shuffle. We think that before we
debate Turf fields and the NJEA Union role in contract talks, we should make sure ALL
the kids are able to learn in a safe setting. That's NOT happening. > Did you know
that in the last 3 years, Download the NJ Special Education Rights Code, hosted on our site |
Contact us at info@RoxburySchoolConcerns.org
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OUR STORY Our child has been mercilessly taunted and called names since we began Eisenhower Middle School. Our child has done absolutely nothing to cause this. It seems that if you're not a jock, or pretty, don't have an ipod in your ear or use profanity you can be a target for verbal bullying. When we went to the staff during early 7th grade we were assured that things would get better, the kids were "just testing each other in a new school". In reality, the verbal bullying has gotten far worse, filthy expletives have repeatedly been used to harass our child, and all the while our increasing complaints were met by statements like "oh, it's just a rite of passage" or "they'll get tired of it eventually". Well, it's worse than ever. Racial taunts have been added by one of the bullies to the toxic mix. We strongly believe that aspects of our situation have recently been mishandled by some EMS Guidance staff. The "blame the victim, find fault with the victim" route seems to be the path of least resistance, far easier than taking effective action against bullies. We believe a perfunctory snap judgment against our child was made as a result of the facts being misunderstood or twisted, we even found the Superintendent flipping the facts 180 degrees when we urged him to intervene, then when we called his attention to it, he corrected himself, but it was a revealing peek into how our situation had been portrayed within staff meetings. We have it documented. Our child is being victimized a second time but in this instance by the adult staff charged with protecting students during the school day. The last 3 months have seen a pattern of missed opportunities on their part to correct the situation of bullying. That's all we want. We want the bullying to stop. Don't just do it for our kid, think about all the others who will be traumatized in the future if some staff continue to abdicate their responsibility. Perhaps the posting and publicizing of this website will help. Feb
9 Update: 10 days after reporting the racial taunts to EMS Guidance
Dept and District Superintendent, |
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> SCHOOL BULLYING < > SCHOOL BULLYING < > SCHOOL BULLYING < State
of New Jersey Guidelines on School Bullying (Became
NJ State Law on September 1, 2003) P.S. The Roxbury School District has a clear choice on how to respond to this website: - a. Deny there's a problem, instruct the staff on how to respond and have the Attorney advise. In other words, spin the story & protect yourself instead of protecting the children. b. Since it's a lot of
work to find and stop the bullies, Seek to discredit & find fault with
the victim, or c. Do the right thing by starting something really effective to stop the bullying. |
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This site serves the New Jersey communities of Succasunna, Kenvil, Ledgewood, Landing, Port Morris, Lower Berkshire Valley and Mount Arlington NJ |
Updated April 15, 2008 - 23:10
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