School Bullying Council

A chubby Australian boy has rocketed to YouTube stardom after a classmate recorded a cell phone video of him body-slamming a smaller boy who’d been taunting him in the schoolyard.

The clip shows the apparent bully, seventh-grader Ritchard Gale, teasing and punching his victim, Casey Heynes, as a gang of other kids laugh at the abuse. Heynes, who is in the 10th grade, takes the bullying for a while, but then snaps and picks Gale up and throws him down on the concrete floor. Gale eventually gets up and limps away.

Both boys were suspended from their school, Chifley College in New South Wales, outside Sydney. Gale’s mother has demanded an apology for the body-slamming of her son, and the bad publicity her family has received because of the YouTube video. But public support seems to be overwhelmingly on the side of Heynes, whose father said he’d been bullied for years without fighting back.

“People pick on him every single day. They hit him around and stuff, and he just got sick of it and let out the anger,” an unnamed classmate of the two boys told Australia’s Telegraph newspaper.

More than 100,000 people have joined a Facebook group defending Heynes, with some dubbing him “Casey the Punisher” and Gale, “Ritchard the Rat.” The global computer hacker group Anonymous also rushed to Heynes’ defense, launching what it dubbed “Operation Fat Hero” in which it hacked into the website of the boys’ school, Chifley College, and posted a manifesto accusing teachers of “failing to provide a violence-free environment for their students.”

Heynes’ YouTube video and Facebook group have drawn more attention in recent days to the problem of childhood bullying worldwide. Last week, President Barack Obama opened a White House conference on boosting anti-bullying programs in U.S. schools.

“With big ears and the name that I have, I wasn’t immune,” Obama told about 150 students, parents and teachers gathered at the White House last Thursday. “I didn’t emerge unscathed.”

Obama also announced the creation of a new government website to address bullying concerns: StopBullying.gov

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/18/youtube-hero-australian-boy-casey-heynes-body-slams-his-bully/

Palm Coast, FL – The ACLU of Florida today announced an agreement in negotiations with the Flagler County School District in the case of Luke Herbert, a Flagler Palm Coast High School student who was harassed for being gay by both students and one of his teachers.

Herbert, a 15-year-old freshman, had been bullied and threatened by fellow students at school and on Facebook and was physically attacked at school by another student who regularly taunted him with anti-gay slurs. Although Herbert reported several instances of bullying and harassment to school officials, the bullying and harassment got worse.

“I reported the bullying to the administration but it never seemed to change anything. I felt alone and it made me stop wanting to go to school,” said Herbert. “My breaking point came when one of my teachers started telling anti-gay jokes and mocking me in front of the entire class.”

As a result of being tormented by his peers and teacher, Herbert stopped attending classes and faced the possibility of failing the ninth grade. At that time, the ACLU of Florida intervened on Herbert’s behalf.

“What happened to Luke is inexcusable, but unfortunately is an all-too-common occurrence for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students,” said ACLU of Florida LGBT Advocacy Project Attorney Shelbi Day. “Schools have an obligation to ensure that teachers and students understand that bullying and harassment of any student is prohibited and to act swiftly and appropriately to address it when it occurs.”

After meeting with ACLU’s Day and co-counsel Phillip Chanfrau, Jr., school officials acknowledged that Herbert’s harassment had not been handled as swiftly as it should have been and several missteps had occurred. The district officially reprimanded the teacher who harassed Herbert in class and agreed to a series of actions to make amends for the impact the bullying had on Herbert and prevent any further bullying and harassment of Flagler County School District students. Among the actions in the agreement are:

• The teacher who harassed Herbert in class has agreed to make a public apology
• The district is working with Herbert to get him back on track academically
• The district has offered Herbert several options for completing his education in an environment in which he can feel safe
• The district agreed to recommend that the School Board add protections for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” to the Student Code of Conduct and the school district’s bullying and harassment policy
• The district is working with the Flagler Palm Coast Gay-Straight Alliance to create a series of public service announcements about bullying and harassment

“The Flagler County School District is taking action to make sure that what happened to Luke does not happen again,” stated Flagler County School District Attorney Kristy Gavin. “The School District takes bullying and harassment of all of its students very seriously and Luke’s case made us realize that we need to do more to prevent bullying and harassment and to ensure that district faculty, staff, and students are on notice of what is prohibited and know that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated.”

“We are pleased that the Flagler County School District is taking this issue seriously. While it should not take the ACLU intervening to get a school district’s attention, we hope that other districts will look at Flagler’s response as a good example of what schools should be doing to prevent and address bullying and harassment.” continued Day. “Bullying is a serious problem with tremendous ramifications for students. We should all be working to ensure that no student has to endure what Luke has suffered.”

# # #

About the ACLU of Florida

The ACLU of Florida is freedom’s watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  For additional information, visit our web site at: www.aclufl.org.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2011/03/aclu-reaches-agreement-with-flagler-county-schools-to-address-harassment-of-lgbt-students.html

Caleb Laieski, a 16-year-old activist from Surprise and founder of Gays and Lesbians United Against Discrimination, was invited to Washington, D.C., last week for the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention.

We spoke with Laieski about his trip, anti-bullying policy and his goals.

Phoenix-area teen takes aim at gay bullying

What was your schedule like and who else went?

“Our schedule was packed. If we weren’t at the White House, we were . . . at Congress. It was awesome, though. . . . Most people there were from social networks, like business leaders, and university research people. Also, a few bullied students and a few parents who lost their children due to suicide.”

What was a highlight from the conference?

After President Obama’s speech, “we broke up into groups to talk about different topics. I was assigned to cyberbullying. . . . I feel the number one priority is we need to provide law enforcement with the resources where they can tackle (online threats) promptly and make sure those students are safe.”

What is the Student Non-Discrimination Act?

“It’s fairly similar to last year’s (version of the bill). It adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of things that cannot be discriminated upon. If schools refuse to enforce it, then they can lose federal funding.”

What is the next step for you?

“I think we’re going to be able to pass this federal bill as long as myself and other students come forward to share their stories. Because then (lawmakers) can actually relate to the bill instead of it coming from a lobbyist. . . . My goal is to go back once we get the funds and talk to every member of Congress that allows it.”

http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/2011/03/16/20110316surprise-teen-activist-anti-bullying-conference.html

Via Sportsgrid, how long does it take these days for a video to go viral, inspire Facebook tribute sites, and draw major media attention?

Twenty-four hours, my friends.

The school involved, Chifley College’s Dunheved Campus at St Marys North, has suspended both students and called police after footage of the fight, which took place on school grounds about 10.30am yesterday, was aired on a television station…

It is understood the Year 10 student is a victim of repeated bullying at Chifley College’s Dunheved Campus, a middle school in a disadvantaged part of western Sydney.

But police and bullying experts are concerned by the video’s publication on Facebook and the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the older boy’s retaliation against his attacker.

“We don’t believe that violence is ever the answer,” Mr Dalgleish says.

I believe the part about “repeated bullying.” Not only is there any obvious size difference between them, there’s an age difference too: The bully is just 12 and the bullied kid is … 16. (Really?) I’ve never seen a seventh-grader pick a fight with a high school junior, let alone one much bigger him, which means our bully here is either under severe delusions about his own alpha male-dom or the bullied kid is known far and wide as easy pickings. Or rather, was.

And no, the bully wasn’t injured. His suspension, according to TMZ, is for 21 days. The bullied kid’s suspension? Just four.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/15/video-the-bully-body-slam/

By Brad Cohen, SportsGrid

Australian student Casey Heynes became the latest YouTube sensation—and unofficial anti-bullying PSA posterboy—when he was captured on video bodyslamming a bully that had hit him in the face.

The (much smaller) bully taunted and hit Casey after school while other kids laughed and videotaped the whole incident. Eventually, the much-bigger Casey could take no more, as he picked up the scrawny antagonizer and smashed him hard onto the concrete.

http://nation.foxnews.com/bullying/2011/03/15/teased-kid-snaps-body-slams-bully

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 7
–>

The parents of a sophomore who transferred to Ballard High School because of alleged bullying at another school have filed a lawsuit claiming Jefferson County Public Schools is preventing the student from playing sports this year, despite a ruling from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association granting her eligibility.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court, claims Maddie Martin transferred from du Pont Manual High School in fall 2010 because she was being bullied and harassed and enrolled at Ballard, where she filed an appeal with the athletic association to play basketball and softball, as she had previously.

After a hearing, the athletic association granted the 16-year-old an exemption to play at Ballard without having to sit out a year, as is typical, because a hearing officer found Maddie was “bullied and the coaches at du Pont Manual failed to intercede to protect her from this treatment,” according to a passage from the lawsuit quoting the athletic association ruling. “She was clearly entitled to their protection as she was being harassed. There is not any evidence to support the idea that Maddie’s transfer was motivated in whole or in part by the desire to participate in athletics.”

But attorney Teddy Gordon, who represents the Martins, said at a press conference Thursday that the school district “refused to follow the order” of the athletic association and the family is now asking a circuit judge to intervene and allow Maddie to immediately participate in varsity athletics.

No court hearing date has been set.

The lawsuit names the school district, Jerry Wyman, director of athletics for the school district, and Joseph Burks, administrative supervisor of athletics for the school district, who, the suit claims, ruled Maddie is only eligible to play sports at Seneca High School, her “resides” school, or the one to which she would be assigned based on her address, which has been labeled a failing school.

Gordon said the school district has its own rule — outside of the athletic association — where students transferring are not eligible to play for a year.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110310/NEWS01/303100036/Lawyer-plans-lawsuit-behalf-student-who-wants-play-sports-Ballard-High-School?odyssey=nav%7Chead