By Steve DeVane
Staff writer
Sarah Williams hopes no other students have to suffer the torment she said her daughter faced at Douglas Byrd Middle School.
Williams said she told school officials that her daughter was being bullied but nothing was done until three girls beat up her daughter.
The Cumberland County school board recently voted to add a paragraph into the student code of conduct that expressly prohibits bullying and harassment. It’s a step in the right direction, Williams said.
Students are expected to follow the code of conduct. The current code lists bullying as a violation as required by state law since 2009. This latest move encourages parents and students to report it.
“Cumberland County Schools is committed to ensuring that our students are free from bullying or harassing behavior while at school,” the new statement says.
Students and parents are encouraged to report bullying incidents to the school administration.
Williams said she is happy with the change. She said she told school officials in April that her daughter was being bullied by a group of girls at the school. The girls were following Williams’ daughter down the halls and intimidating her, Williams said.
“They were just coming up behind her,” she said. “Some were in the same classes, and they’d sit and talk about her and call her names.”
Williams said that about a month after she reported the bullying to school officials, three girls “jumped” her daughter. She said she is pressing charges against the girls.
Superintendent Frank Till Jr. said he could not comment on specific incidents but he hopes the changes to the code of conduct will lead to less bullying.
“We don’t believe it’s human nature to bully,” Till said. “We believe we can stop it.”
Till said he wants school officials to take each report of bullying seriously.
“We want to make sure we bring an end to it to the best of our ability,” he said.
Social media sites such as Facebook make the problem even more serious, because “cyber-bullying” can spread to include more people, Till said. Another change to the code of conduct says students cannot take photos or record videos and post them on the Internet if they are considered disruptive to the school environment.
“The disruptive behavior is not the picture taking,” Till said. “It’s how you use the pictures.”
The code of conduct says bullying is a form of harassment that involves “repeated intimidation of others by the real or threatened infliction of physical, verbal, written, electronically transmitted or emotional abuse or through destruction or theft of property of another.”
It says bullying may include, but is not limited to, “verbal taunts, name-calling and put-downs, rumor spreading, extortion of money or possessions, implied or stated threats, and exclusion from peer groups.”
Students who bully can be suspended on the first offense. The second offense can lead to a longer suspension for elementary students and reassignment to an alternative school for middle and high school students.
Any student who bullies a third time could be reassigned to an alternative school.
Mary A. Black, associate superintendent for student support services, said students who feel they are being bullied or see bullying should report it to a teacher. The teacher should report it to the school administrator, who is obligated to investigate, she said.
Black said she has seen an increase in bullying on discipline reports that come from schools, describing the problem as “somewhat rampant.”
“There are legitimate cases out there,” she said.
Black said she thinks that parents will feel better knowing their children have a way to report bullying.
“Some children are afraid to report it because they become the target,” she said.
School board member Carrie Sutton said she thinks the prohibition against bullying is a good addition to the code. Bullying has led to suicides across the country, she said.
“We’re seeing such an increase in kids killing themselves,” Sutton said.
Black said Cumberland County school officials want to be sure students feel safe.
“We want to be proactive,” she said.
Staff writer Steve DeVane can be reached at devanes@fayobserver.com or 486-3572.
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