The Editor,
Richmond should be paving the way for a zero tolerance bully program and begin by making the parent(s) accountable for their children's actions.
At the beginning of the school year, every student and his/her parent(s) should attend an assembly in the gymnasium regarding the zero tolerance rule of the school.
Upon an infraction and based on the severity, kick them out of the school and let the parents deal with finding another school to register them in. This would include bystanders who watch, video and encourage any act of bully behaviour.
After switching schools a couple or a few times, and if that student continues their behaviour, home schooling would seem to be the final and only option for someone of their type and attitude.
We don't need our kids having to endure fear and these senseless difficulties of attending school only to be belittled by a distraught coward.
With a parent teetering on the edge of having to home-school their child, you will see the parent take action on their bully child where we will see a definite improvement on their attitudes.
As for social media, we need to target the provider of that media to become a Bull-E-patrol where any cyber bullying can be reported, monitored and will be dealt with by cancelling their account and barring their IP address from any future accounts.
Again, it is holding the parent(s) accountable where the parent's accounts will be frozen from access due to the same IP address. Sure, there may be ways around it by having their IP address changed or covered up, but the hassle to do so would make them more cautious and deal with their bully child.
Andrew Caras Richmond
