Taking A Stand Against Bullying

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The second you become a parent, a protective instinct comes over you. You’re ready and willing to take any measure necessary to keep your child safe.
   
At some point during childhood, kids will inevitably have their feelings hurt. That’s only natural.
   
But imagine having your child teased, taunted, pushed, punched, bullied by another child.
   
It’s happening in our schools. It most likely happened today. It will happen tomorrow.
   
A group of parents, educators and community activists recently got together at the Eyewitness News 9 studios because we wanted to dissect the bullying epidemic that has crashed onto our schools like a tidal wave.

It’s a different kind of home invasion. Bullies are forcing their way into the homes, into the lives of  parents and their children, and they’re stealing the joy, excitement and hope out of childhood.

“Another student who is in the 3rd grade, my son is in the 2nd grade, sucker punched him in the stomach,” said Adam Henderson, whose son was bullied.

“Mama, she took my French fry off my plate and licked it and rubbed it on the rest of my food,” said Christy Malham, whose daughter was bullied.

“It was an issue at school. She’s not the most popular. She’s not a perfect little size two. Sweet girl. Good girl. Smart. But it was more of a situation of some of the guys. They thought it was cool to pick on people,” said April Houston, daughter was bullied.

“In school he has been slapped, punched, pushed, pulled, threatened and to me as a parent, I get blood red,” said Bryan Herring, whose son was bullied.

Blood red. It’s a common sentiment among the parents that visited the 9 On Your Side studios.

They’re angry, but they’re not sure who they’re more angry with. The bullies who are picking on their children relentlessly, or the teachers, principals and administrators, who they say, are turning a blind eye.

“As a natural human being, I want to kick down the front door of the school down, look at the principal and be like, you’re at fault, look at the teacher and say, you’re at fault, where’s the kid,” said Herring.

“It took me five days to get a meeting after calling the county office to get a meeting with the super, teacher and counselor,” said Beth Baker, whose daughter was bullied.


“The problem is the administrations. They flat out don’t want to deal with it. It took me six days of back and forth emails to finally get an email from the Superintendent herself. It shouldn’t have been that way. It should have gone immediately to her,” said Henderson.

Henderson’s son, who he says is small for his age, was attacked on a school bus.
His son started flailing his arms to fend off his bully. By the end of the day, both boys got the same punishment, because apparently that’s the policy within the Pitt County School System.

“She said in any situation like that, every child is an equal. I said no, they are not equal. There is an aggressor and then there is a victim. Not in our eyes there isn’t,” said Henderson.

The parents continued to push for a solution, push for change. He and another parent were shocked by what happened next.

“We get a meeting with the school finally after a month of complaining he was being bullied. They immediately say this isn’t about bullying in class. We think your son has autism,” said Henderson.

“We went through all of the testing of autism and Asperger’s to prove that she didn’t have any of that,” said Baker.

“So they told you the same thing,” asked 9 On Your Side.

“Oh yes,” Baker answered. “There had to be some type of problem.”

The bottom line is the parents that visited the Eyewitness News 9 studios are angry, fed-up and scared, because their children are angry, fed-up and scared.

“My child begs me, please go and take care of this. And how can you as a parent look at your child and say ok,” asked Henderson. “The next day I had to have him have his two teeth surgically removed and sit there holding his hand having him ask me why daddy, why. It should not go to that level.”

Bullying can best be described as an onion. There are many, many layers.

You peel away an entire layer, thinking you’ll get to the core, only to be faced with a whole new layer.

That’s what we have been facing since November when 9 On Your Side decided to take a closer look at the epidemic.

We seem to be pointing all of the fingers of blame at the school,  but are we wrong to do that?

“We are the choir. We need to get the memo out to the village that there’s a problem and it’s not this group that needs to hear it cause we already know what the problem is,” said Mary Glisson, concerned about bullying.

The choir sings the same tune.

“The problem is the administrations,” reiterated Henderson. “They flat out don’t want to deal with it.”

“I need to speak to someone in administration now. Sir, no one is available. Well then I will wait. I will speak to someone today. Or you’re going to have to ask the sheriff’s office to escort me off the property,” said Herring.

“We just can’t take one side of the story. We got to investigate and find evidence. And then determine if disciplinary action is involved,” said Dr. Beverly Emory, Pitt County Schools Superintendent.

She made that statement back in November, when we first started tackling the bullying epidemic.

9 On Your Side tried to talk to her again while working on this story. However, her office said she had nothing new to say on the matter.

It’s the investigations and school district policies that have many parents dumbfounded.

Henderson said his son, who is in the 2nd grade, was attacked on the school bus. What did district officials recommend to the 7-year-old?

“They flat out told me, he could have sat there and waited until the bus driver pulled the bus over, and gotten back there and help him. That’s wrong,” said Henderson.

According to him, the school’s investigation concluded that his son wasn’t bullied at all, even though he had pictures to prove it.

“I do think bullying happens. We don’t address it because we don’t fully know about it,” Emory said back in November.

Schools officials reportedly told Henderson that his son needed to be tested for Autism.

Schools and administrators seem to take the heat for being public enemy number one.

“Can’t blame us for everything. Some parents are going to have to take responsibility. It’s not always our fault. We are doing the best we can with the little we have,” said Levetta Pittman, teacher.

But it begs the question, are parents to blame?

“Parents need to open their eyes. It’s not just a one time thing. They bully their siblings, kids in the neighborhood, bully kids on the football field. Parents are turning a blind eye to it. There are common threads,” explained Dr. Sandy Triebenbacher, 9 On Your Side Child Development Expert.

“It doesn’t start at school, it doesn’t start on the bus. It starts in the homes, in the communities, on the playgrounds,” said Geoffrey Kenan, community activist.

“Parents need to understand, maybe I need to check myself before it gets to the point where my child is bullying,” said Anthony Agnew, community activist.

9 On Your Side’s Child Development Expert Dr. Sandy Triebenbacher said nobody can be blamed here. It’s a systems issue.

If we as a community do not address the bullying issue now, we’ll be faced with long-term repercussions.

“These people are going to be the adults in our society soon, making decisions, and those children who are bullying, they have got some issues. They need power, they need control, they need to manipulate,” said Triebenbacher.

“It’s not going to be going to the schools individually, it’s not going to be going to the parents house individually, it’s not going to be going to the sheriff’s office individually, it’s gonna be a community finally getting together and saying I’m not going to take you bullying my child, I’m not going to take you forcing anything upon my child,” said Agnew.