School Bullying Council

Calgary Counselling Centre, an organization dedicated to ending violence in the community, has issued a plea: help stop bullying before kids resort to violence. The Centre was responding to a video that has become an internet sensation. It shows an alleged bullying victim in Australia, Casey Heynes, fighting back against his tormentor. Heynes body-slams the younger, and smaller boy, into the ground.

The video, originally posted on YouTube, now has a Facebook fan page with hundreds of comments congratulating Heynes for fighting back against his aggressor.

But Kim Busch of the Calgary Couselling Centre says the younger boy could have killed if he had landed on his head. “Celebrating this video is misguided – this violent act should never have happened,” says Busch. “Early interventions could have prevented this unfortunate incident from taking place.”

Busch says statistics show bullying occurs in school playgrounds every seven minutes and once every 25 minutes in class.

“We must bring more awareness to this issue in order to prevent it. Bullying can be stopped if our community steps up and says ‘no more’.”

YouTube has since taken down the video but it is now available on other websites.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/Bullying+victim+hero+says+Calgary+group/4451943/story.html

(CBS News) 

In Australia, a bullying victim has become an Internet hero after he turned the tables on his tormentor. And it was all caught on tape Monday.

Casey Heynes is seen backed up against a wall, being punched several times by a younger, smaller boy.

Suddenly, Casey body-slams the alleged bully, sending him scampering off.

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Footage of the fight at Chifley College, Dunheved Campus at North St. Mary’s has since gone viral, with hundreds of comments garnered on Facebook — many in support of Casey.

According to the Sydney Telegraph, both students were suspended for four days after the incident.

Casey’s father told the Australian publication on Tuesday his son had been the victim of bullying for several years and feared for his safety if he spoke about the fight.

“There’ll be reprisals from other kids in the school and he still has to go to school somewhere,” he said.

“He’s not a violent kid; it’s the first time he’s lashed out and I don’t want him to be victimized over that.

“He’s always been taught never to hit. Apparently, other people’s parents don’t teach their kids that.”

One student interviewed by the Sydney Telegraph said, “People pick on (Casey) every single day, they hit him around and stuff, and he just got sick of it and let out the anger.”

As for the student Casey body-slammed, according to New South Wales Department of Education and Training spokeswoman, he suffered a grazed knee in the incident.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/16/earlyshow/living/parenting/main20043808.shtml

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