Federal court awards bullied student $800,000 ... to be paid by the school district

[Bozita]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100306/NEWS06/3060306/1001/NEWS/Bullied-student-awarded-800000&template=fullarticle

POSTED: MARCH 6, 2010
Court awards bullied student $800,000
BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER


In what experts say could be a landmark decision, a Michigan school district has been ordered to pay $800,000 this week to a student who claimed the school did not do enough to protect him from years of bullying, some sexually tinged.

This week's jury verdict against Hudson Area Schools puts districts on notice that it's not enough to stop a student from bullying another. There needs to be a concerted effort to stop systemic bullying, too.

Essentially, the federal court ruling says schools can be held responsible for what students do, if there is a pattern of harassment or if they don't do enough to provide a safe environment.

"This is going to have implications across the nation," said Glenn Stutzky, a Michigan State University instructor and an expert on bullying.

The district's attorney, however, says the verdict puts schools in the tricky position of being held liable for student behavior.

more...

[safeinOhio]

1. They left out the part about

being sexually assaulted at the school.




http://www.lenconnect.com/


HUDSON, Mich. —
A federal court jury awarded $800,000 this week to a Hudson Area Schools student who was harassed and sexually assaulted. An attorney for the school district said an appeal is likely.

[dkf]

2. Can you sue the parents of the perpetrators?

[bluestateguy]

3. Hopefully this will encourage the schools to expel the bullies and throw them out into the street

Yes, I mean that too.

[Cid_B]

4. Sounds like someone needs a visit from this guy...

[Selatius]

5. Not surprising given that the student in question was repeatedly bullied...and sexually assaulted.

And the jury found the school was negligent in providing a safe learning environment.

[earth mom]

6. Good. Now maybe schools will actually kick bullies out of school. nt

[MadHound]

7. I wonder, were this bully's parents held responsible in any way?

Were they sued?

[JoeyT]

8. I'm not sure it would do much good.

It's pretty hard to stick parents for damages their kids cause. It's a lot more effective to go after the people that were supposed to be providing a safe environment and either couldn't do so or refused to do so. The result will be schools being far less willing to tolerate bullies.

This isn't anti-school sentiment, from what I can tell. If your kid gets bashed up at the skating rink, you're far more likely to win against the skating rink than the parents of the kid that did the damage. (At least from what I've seen. I'm not a lawyer, so take that with a really big grain of salt.)

[MadHound]

9. I think that the parent have some responsibility in this matter

And frankly if you're going to stick the school for damages, you should also stick the parents with damages.

In loco parentis only goes so far, at some point the parents actually have to do their job and take responsibility for their kid. I don't know, the article doesn't say, but knowing schools and how they act, the bully's parents were probably notified at least once, it is SOP.

I agree that the school needs to provide a safe environment, but in schools with lots of kids they simply can't be everywhere all the time, which is why the actions of the parent, the lessons they teach their kid are so very important.

[mrmpa]

10. Administrators are bullies too

This is great to see. We have incidents in our school where the principal is bullying teachers. Statements such as " I will lead by fear" walking up to teachers and putting his finger in their faces and yelling at them. He will not allow them to write up their extra time for extra pay. There are other things he does, such as telling teachers they can't use the bathroom except at lunch time and a whole bunch of other crap.All are grievable, however we have an anti-bullying policy and I think it would be better to attack him through this process, which can lead to his suspension/expulsion.

If I bring this court decision to the table it may be enough for them to see the light.

[Bozita]

11. kick for the Sunday afternoon crowd

[Odin2005]

12. About damn time!

[Akoto]

13. Good. He deserves every last cent.

I was severely bullied throughout middle and high school. Due to that and failing health, I left the latter after 10th grade and finished my diploma elsewhere.

Daily, systemic bullying is a terrible thing to deal with. It's not something you can just "toughen up" about when it becomes constant and even physical. I still deal with some problems related to the psychological harm to this day, at age 25. It's hard for me to look people in the eye, as though I were less than them.