Parents and schools should step up on this. My first hand experience isn't as horrific, but my 11 year is the victim of on-going bullying. We have gone to the school and gotten the police involved. The outcome remains to be seen, but not only did the boys only get 5 days ISS, but my son got 3 days ISS "for his role in the problem". He is an outspoken child, and he did argue back at them. So i suppose according to the school, he should have just taken it and kept his mouth shut while they body slammed him onto the concrete floor in the restroom. What is a parent supposed to do?

A very easy way to stop so much of this is to restrict the cell phone to be phone calls only. A teen does not need to have text capability to be able to communicate with friends and parents. Take away the text/photo feature and the abnoxious texting and sexting will stop. This is easy to do and saves the parents money. My teenager does not have texting or photo on his phone. My service is through a large wireless company. All the parent has to do, is request this restricted feature. No big deal. Oh, it does mean talking to your kid and standing firm on the reason why it's not needed. I'm sure there would be a lot of happy teachers out there as well that would enjoy not having to compete with constant texting in classrooms through out the day. Imagine!!! The kids might actually learn something!!!!

I do not understand why so many experts fail to mention an obvious cause of these behaviors.  Children learn how to resolve conflict by observation.  I think that most parents, schools and other entities that work with children, do everything that they can to address violence of all kinds.  Unfortunately, between our military, police and cultural heroes, the way to deal with the "bad guys" is to be bigger, better armed and violent when necessary.  We teach this every day. One of these days we will realize that our children are CHILDREN.  Their brains are not fully developed.  The behavior of a cultural hero and a bully are very much the same to a child whose cognitive functioning is not adult.  How are they supposed to distinguish between another kid who is perceived as an enemy and a terrorist?  After all, we have thousands of years of history (taught in schools) that honor violence as an acceptable solution. Stop blaming the kids and acting as if they are the problem.  Do we care enough about our children and the future to change the ways that we deal with conflict?  That is the real question.

I grew up in the 1960's....so my experience doesn't relate to the cell phone issue that led to the Florida incident. It doesn't diminish the pain and suffering that I coped with in my youth. I was born with a cleft lip and palate. My life was full of bullying from the time I started kindergarten....all the way thru high school. It did improve in college....but issues of loneliness and depression took the place of the bullying. Growing up in the 60s, there seemed to be a little more parental involvement in the lives of their children. However....that all depended on whether the parents were bullies or not. If the parents were involved in the lives of their children....it is likely that the bully got a whipping from them once the principal informed them that little Johnny was being ugly to little Timmy. If the parents were bullies themselves....it's likely that the victim got no resolution to the problem whatsoever. In junior high school....I was pushed to the limits of my patience. Not being a violent person....I never would say anything or do anything in my own defense. After a long bout of persistent bullying by one boy....I popped him in the mouth and loosened one of his teeth. He would not stop....so I popped him again! After that incident....the daily abuse virtually stopped. I do not like that I had to become violent myself....but sometimes that is the only thing that will stop the madness!

I'm confused. This boy had been through the suicide of his brother. And this girl was teasing him about it. Whether it had been through a text message or a note passed in class, this was inappropriate behavior on her part.

No, she didn't deserve to get beat up. But can you imagine even joking about someone's suicide? Wouldn't you have been offended?

Today's schools are a joke. There is no leadership, no guidance, or team work! Parents need to teach their kids how to respect in order to be respected in life. It's starts at home; parents are the first teachers their children's life. They only learn from what is taught in the home!!!

When my son was 5 yrs old I found out from the school that my son was picking on a child on the bus. We had never had a problem like this with him before, when he got home we had a lengthy discussion about bullying, he was grounded, we then went to the childs home and he said he was sorry to both the child and the parents. I gave them my phone number and asked them to give me a call personally if they had any further problems. Glad to say my boy learned his lesson and he and the child are now best friends. My son learned early. He has also been bullied at school in the last few years. I don't know many children that don't go through it . I was very upset when I found out he was being picked on, but I tell you what, I was down right angry when I he was the one being a bully. Parents can't ignore or make excuses for their kids when they are the ones bullying. The schools can punish them, but the punishment handed down at home is usually that wake up call. Once they know mom and dad won't tolerate that kind of behavior, it will stop.

When my son was 5, I was told by the school that he was picking on a child on the bus. We had never had any problems with our son before. When he got home, he was grounded, we had a lengthy talk about bullying, and how that makes other feel. When we were finished I brought my son over to the childs house, my son said he was sorry to both the child and his parents. I then gave them my phone number and asked them to give me a call if their child had anymore problems with my son. Glad to say my son learned his lesson and he and that child are now good friends. In the years since then my son has been on the other side of the situation, but I never heard from the other parents an. Sure our schools can suspend or punish bullies, but if these kids know mom and dad are not going to put up with that kind of behavior, it will stop. It's not the schools job to teach our children how to treat others, thats our job as parents. I don't mean to say that it should be ignored by the schools, but it certainly needs to start at home. I 'll tell you, I was upset when it was my son being picked on, but I was down right ANGRY when my son was being the bully.

We live in a society that rewards and turn a blind eye to those who hurt and manipulate others to get to the top and sensationalize crime and glorify sex war and violence through television. When parents should be teaching children to accept their circumstances, they are just giving them whatever they want, because it would be easier to make them happy and shut up than to try to discipline, or teach them moral lessons and help develop the way they communicate their emotions. There is a very very large generation of young people, raised by this kind of irresponsible parenting, who are very superficial and fill their lives with useless junk and interact with others through intimidation, passive aggression and violence. We should do more to try and stop it from growing further, but we have to start in the home and we have to confront bad behavior and speak out against injustices wherever it is.

Dani.........you did the right thing! The important lesson YOU are teaching your son is accountibility for what he did. He will grow up with that value (and any other values)that you have instilled in him - Good Job!! I do believe this country as a whole has a 2 fold problem with the kids. #1, Parents are not doing their "job" (ie: to mold their children into responsible, decent people) like Dani is doing. If a parent doesn't teach them - who will??! And #2, The teachers feel helpless to administer disipline because the "law" has taken away that ability. If you even try to interfere - ((ie:take action to get them to stop their behavior or, GASP, "hurt their feelings" the teacher gets in trouble with the so called politics of the day)) with a child's "bad" behavior your hands are definately tied! 10 years later these children are standing before a judge sometime, somewhere because they NEVER had to learn limits. And for me, that's the sad part........never was taught so never learned how.... and so they pay the price in the end. Wake up America!! Stop limiting the ability for the teachers to make that difference because of the worry of being punished for trying. I know, I'm there!!

NO! Schools should teach... period. Schools should "teach subjects" to the point where HS grads can understand how to grasp the concepts things like READING, WRITING and ARITHMATIC down.

"Bullying" formerly known as "learning how to deal with getting pushed, shoved and called names" will ALWAYS be around.

Those who choose to commit suicide have one person to blame... themself!

"Teachers and school systems" seem to have more and more trouble TEACHING.

Why would "anyone with even half a brain believe that school systems could have any more success regarding name calling and bullying than they have with teaching???"

I could understand introducing a totally OPTIONAL class on "learning how to deal with your social environment" for those students who never gain those values from their "inbred, ignorant parents!"

All that needs to be done is:::::: Give back the authority to the Teachers and Parents !!! Stop allowing the children to sue the schools or thier parents for correcting them. Maybe then you would see a difference in the way things are handled.