Bullying victum gets settlement

[Racket_Man]

sor tof an outgrowth of this thread from back in Jan: Bullying: death of the bully

This story has a some of the same elelments but a slightly different ending: 4.2 million Dollar settlement from school

the victum documented the bullying to school officials via e-mail. Bully landed a punch that eventually paralyzed the victum.

On May 16, 2006, a bully punched Rosenstein so hard that he fell to his knees. Two days later, he screamed out at home.

“We picked him up and called an ambulance,” his father told the newspaper. "He hasn't walked since."

Rosenstein was paralyzed from the waist down due to a clot that had formed after the blow in a major artery above his abdomen. When the clot moved down to his spine, it burst, leaving him paralyzed. Complications resulting from his paralysis, such as scoliosis, led to 19 surgeries and a complete spinal fusion. He almost died several times, Youngman said.

The victums family sued BOTH the bully and family and the school district. The bullys family settled 2 years ago for an undiscolsed amount.

The school district admits NO FAULT despite all of the e-mails and documentation of the victum.

[draco664]

“I don’t want it to be ‘woe is me’ and sympathy. I want it to be more of a story of success, that even with all this, I was still able to prevail,”

Good for him. But I'll point out that he didn't get a settlement for being bullied, he got the settlement for being assaulted. A subtle difference, I'll grant you, but an important one in that this isn't a victory against bullies, more a victory for a victim of violence.

[HYHYBT]

I don't have a problem with the school not admitting fault, either.

No matter how many emails he sent, they consist of *accusations,* not *evidence.*

[Andara Bledin]

But they show a pattern of behavior that the school, being responsible for all of the children in their care, should have paid attention to.

A former co-worker has a son who has Aspergers. He's highly functional, but still definitely autistic. He was being bullied and attacked after school pretty much constantly, but since no adults actually saw it, they refused to act, and this was a case of outright physical serial assault; he was being beaten. His mother, however, had had enough with being a doormat when she left her husband (a controlling abusive douchebag), so she sued the school. And for the remainder of her son's education in the district, he now gets taxi service to and from the campus. All of that just because the administration wanted to stick their heads in the sand instead of actually do the most complicated part of their jobs.

^-.-^

[bex1218]

I don't have a problem with the school not admitting fault, either.

No matter how many emails he sent, they consist of *accusations,* not *evidence.*

Accusations that could have been investigated before any of this happened. If the school didn nothing about it, then that have some fault to it.

[Greenday]

Accusations that could have been investigated before any of this happened. If the school didn nothing about it, then that have some fault to it.

Honestly, what kind of investigation do you expect them to do? If the teachers saw it going on, it wouldn't just be accusations. And they can't ask the bullies because it's not like they'd admit to it.

I'm just not sure what people would actually expect to come of such an investigation.

[smileyeagle1021]

Honestly, what kind of investigation do you expect them to do? If the teachers saw it going on, it wouldn't just be accusations. And they can't ask the bullies because it's not like they'd admit to it.

I'm just not sure what people would actually expect to come of such an investigation.

well, exactly what you said, if the teachers saw it, it wouldn't be just an accusation... well, if the teacher is notified of where to be looking... how hard is it for them to dedicate a set of eyes to where the problems are being reported to see if it is actually happening? My elementary school when it received a complaint would have one of the guidance counselors subtly watch the students and would often times be able to confirm the complaints and deal with it. It's not that difficult to investigate a complaint.

[Seifer]

Honestly, what kind of investigation do you expect them to do? If the teachers saw it going on, it wouldn't just be accusations. And they can't ask the bullies because it's not like they'd admit to it.

I'm just not sure what people would actually expect to come of such an investigation.

You can also talk to the other students and see what they say. While the bully's friends might deny any wrongdoing, neutral students will be more forthcoming with the truth as long as they remain anonymous (don't want any revenge attacks by the bully). When I taught, students were usually very open to discussing something they perceived as wrong. If they saw a fight they'd tell an authority figure what happened, same as if they simply heard something.

[Duelist925]

Honestly, what kind of investigation do you expect them to do? If the teachers saw it going on, it wouldn't just be accusations. And they can't ask the bullies because it's not like they'd admit to it.

I'm just not sure what people would actually expect to come of such an investigation.

Tell teachers and school workers to keep an eye out for people hassling this kid ( so that, as you say, it becomes more than accusations)

Ask, as others pointed out, other, more neutral students whats going on. Hey, if five, six, ten kids say "Yeah, that guy Jim thumps him a lot" when they aren't the main kids friends....maybe its a sign that "jim" is beating him.

Heck. Do Something approaching "their jobs" when it comes to protecting students.

[Evandril]

If accusations aren't enough to look into anything, the police must have an easy job...All they can do is respond after the fact, if someone reports a crime being commited...well, they aren't witnessing it, so it's not evidence, after all...

Perhaps if a student reports they are being beaten every day at 'x' time, and 'y' place, a teacher could, perhaps, be near the area at that time and place? RIGHT there, if they want to stop it, or nearby if they want to confirm it's going on....But, as others have said, that'd be doing their jobs, and protecting the kids entrusted to them. *sighs* And besides, the sand is so comfortable this time of year, and great for your hair!

[Greenday]

Ah, this happened in my home state. Odds are, the judge would have sided with the school too. Despite probably having the strictest anti-bullying laws in the country these days, anything that's happened prior to those laws being made has been very fuzzy in court. Judges have been seemingly taking the stance "Well, this happened before all the new rules and training administered so it's not the school's fault" in bullying cases.

Quite honestly, we don't know what the school did or didn't do. Maybe they DID do an investigation, asking neutral students, but none of them would admit to it. Maybe they did keep an eye on the kid and the incident happened at one time when they weren't able to. We don't know. The school isn't going to talk about it one way or the other since it's bad publicity no matter what they did.

[bara]

My niece has been being bullied at school. In one class in particular. The teacher is aware of it but does nothing. Out of the 7 classes my niece has at the same time as the bully that is the only class that it occurs. My brother is going to the school today to talk to a principle. I have a feeling the bullying will soon stop.