Bullying Article Archives
FOCUS: SCHOOL SAFETY:
Capping the Heavy Price for Bullying
By Mary Jo McGrath, Attorney at Law
Founder/President, McGrath Systems, Inc.
Itâs every school administratorâs nightmare. The phone rings and on the other end is an angry parent threatening to sue because his child was injured in a bullying incident that took place at school. Unfortunately todayâs news reports are full of such incidents, and national statistics show most teachers and administrators have to deal with student-to-student bullying, taunting, ridicule or even sexual harassment and violence in the school setting. more...
The High Cost of Bullying and Liability in Schools
By Mary Jo McGrath, Attorney at Law, September 2004 Newsletter
The Anchorage School District and its insurance company paid $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a middle-school student who attempted suicide and suffered extensive, irreversible brain damage after repeated bullying at school. The district settled the case because its insurer, First Specialty Insurance, required the district to do so....Awareness of the harm caused by bullying and the liability imposed on school districts is becoming an increasingly worrisome issue across the United States.... more...
Altering The Culture of Cruelty: Impacting Student Bullying, Ridicule and Harassment
By Mary Jo McGrath, Attorney at Law
Founder/President, McGrath Systems, Inc.
Larry walks into your office. He looks at his feet and mumbles something. Larry has been bullied and ridiculed since the fifth grade. Now, he is a sophomore. The name calling, isolation and physical attacks have gotten worse over the past few months. This time, Larry fought back. You need to respond quickly. You ask questions like: "What happened?" "Why did you go after Tom?" " What's going on?" "Why didn't you come to me sooner?" He looks at you and says, "You just donât understand." more... The Early Faces of Violence: From Schoolyard Bullying and Ridicule to Sexual Harassment
An interview with program author and producer Mary Jo McGrath, Attorney at Law
You're always looking ahead to the most pressing issues on the horizon and creating new projects. Why this topic: The Early Faces of Violence? This video series deals with ridicule, bullying, and sexual harassment, in pre-kindergarten through the upper elementary grades. Given the escalation in severity of student violence, I think that empowering our youngest students to think carefully about their behavior is essential. Respect and responsibility are an access point for altering the current paradigm. more... |
External Publications (Mary Jo McGrath, Expert Consultant)
NEWS & TRENDS: The Bully Pulpit: Post-Columbine, Harassment Victims Take
School To Court
By Andrew Brownstein
It was the spring of 1995, and Crystal Shelby was afraid. The A-student at LeRoy High School in rural upstate New York told the assistant principal that she had an argument with three girls, who threatened to attack her the next day. The girls were discipline cases, suspended time and again. But the official took no action and told Crystal to return to homeroom. The girls were true to their word. The next day, as a crowd of students gathered in the hall, they beat Crystal’s head with a padlock and slammed her head first into a wall. Crystal now has cognitive difficulties stemming from hydrocephalus-commonly known as water on the brain-for which she has endured six surgeries. Given the school’s warning of the attack. The jury’s substantial verdict for supervisory negligence in July should not have come as a surprise. But it did... more... "hey, dork!"
By Gayle Forman
Whoever said names canât hurt you obviously didnât know how it feels to be on the wrong side of a mean clique. For those of you who are hassled, harangued, harassed, or just plain left out at school, here are some ways to deal and heal. more... |
