Saturday, April 13, 2013
School officials admitted bullying was part of an incident in a Wisconsin district that went viral on social media in late March, though police said nothing was wrong initially. Why the discrepancies?
It took school officials in a Wisconsin district two weeks to conclude that an incident involving four boys was actually bullying, despite initial determinations by police that the kids were merely involved in horseplay. The father of the bullied boy posted a photograph on Facebook protesting the incident, and the Kaukauna Area School District's handling of it, and the picture went viral, with more than 450,000 shares. The March 26 post shows matthew Bent with his son holding a sign advocating for anti-bullying support. The post, in part, reads: "Yesterday, my son was bodyslammed 3 times by a bully, the same bully that has been making my son's school year a nightmare. ... (I contacted an officer and) he told me that because my son …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
High school senior charged with making the threat to stop homecoming pleaded guilty today.
High school senior Nicholas Olson admitted in court today that he wrote the threatening message in a bathroom that prompted school officials to move the homecoming dance to the middle school. The 17-year-old was charged with a misdemeanor, disorderly conduct, stemming from an incident last September in which he wrote a threat on a bathroom wall at Greendale High School. He pleaded guilty Thursday in Milwaukee Circuit Court. The threat, "3 DAYS TILL BOOM JK OR AM I?", was found on the wall of a bathroom stall Sept. 20. As a precaution the homecoming dance on Sept. 22 was moved to an alternate location in the middle school. In addition, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s bomb-sniffing dogs conducted searches of the school campus. During the …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The Greendale Against Bullying nonprofit is giving students, parents and victims of bullying an alternative way to report and combat bullying through third party mediation.
Linda Lee, co-president of Greendale Against Bullying (GAB), said she knows of about 15 kids who have left the Greendale School District because of bullying. Of those 15, Lee said two are from the elementary level. According to the GAB website, bullying may peak at the middle school level but really starts in elementary school. The idea of a fully functional anti-bullying non-profit first came to Lee about two years ago. But she didn't really push for it until a few months ago when -police discovered a fake bomb threat in a Greendale High School bathroom, and the community learned the suspect—a 17-year-old male student —told police he wanted to disrupt homecoming activities due to prolonged bullying. “A couple of more incidents came up …
Monday, December 3, 2012
Recent survey results indicate students do not feel comfortable reporting negative behavior to adults. The new system will allow students to anonymously report harassment and illegal activity.
Bullying, harassment, or illegal activity in the Greendale School District can now be reported through a new online reporting system. This comes from work being done by the new Greendale Task Force, whose mission is to propose solutions to problematic behavior, as well as propose implementation strategies to address the behavior. The task force was formed after a 17-year-old male high school student wrote a fake bomb threat in a bathroom because he told police he wanted to disrupt the homecoming activities. Police reports indicated the teen experienced prolonged bullying by his peers, including nominating him for homecoming court as a prank. The task force has held three meetings and continues to help identify gaps in existing services and…
Friday, November 9, 2012
The Climate and Culture Task Force in the Greendale School District had its first meeting this week to being examining issues and challenges related to harassment as a proactive step to ensure that students feel safe in the schools.
The Greendale Schools Climate and Culture Task Force had its first meeting Wednesday to begin examining issues and challenges related to harassment in the community and schools. Susan Castro and Alison Julien, parents of students in the Greendale Schools, serve as co-chairs of the Task Force. Nancy Athanasiou, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Education and Associate Professor at Alverno College, is facilitating the work team. “The Task Force includes a diverse mix of approximately 25 parents, students, teachers, community members and staff,” said Superintendent John Tharp in a release. “I am grateful for the strong commitment Task Force members have made to this important work.” Our first meeting was a good step …
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
The Climate and Culture Task Force in the Greendale School District will examine issues and challenges related to harassment as a proactive step to ensure that students feel safe in the schools.
The Greendale School District’s newly formed Climate and Culture Task Force begins its work of examining issues and challenges related to harassment in November. The task force will include parents, students, teachers and staff. “The creation of the Task Force is our proactive step to ensure that every student feels safe in our schools, and that each has the opportunity to reach his or her full academic, social and emotional potential.” Greendale High School made the news in September when a 17-year-old male student wrote a fake bomb threat in a bathroom because he told police he wanted to disrupt the homecoming activities. Police reports indicated that the teen experienced prolonged bullying by his peers, including nominating him for …
Saturday, October 6, 2012
The recent fake bomb threat made by a bullied student has led to a discussion of whether a bullying is a problem in Greendale. District officials acknowledge more needs to be done to improve communication on the issue.
If you are lucky enough to fit in, then you don’t have to worry about being bullied, said a former Greendale High School student. High school can be rough. Not everyone is lucky. A written bomb threat was found in a boys bathroom three days prior to the Greendale homecoming dance. It read "3 DAYS TILL BOOM JK OR AM I?". Five days later police arrested Nicholas S. Olson, 17, saying he was responsible. Police originally recommended a felony charge against Olson, but prosecutors decided on a misdemeanor for Olson because of reports of prolonged bullying by his peers, including nominating him for homecoming court as a prank. The Greendale School District said they had nothing to do with the lesser charge, though the criminal complaint says the…
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Some clouds are over the Garden Community after a student admitted to making a bomb threat because police say he was being bullied. Patch Columnist Mike Vickery shares his experience of being bullied back in the 1970s.
As far as PR goes, this has not been Greendale’s best week. Bomb scares and bullying are generally not the reasons you want to show up on the front page of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Yet, here we are. Remember those simpler times when really tall sunflowers got us in the news? This turn of events is not a bad thing. Turning the lights on a problem is always positive action. The illumination reveals blemishes best exposed – and then duly dealt with. For this moment, the heck with our ‘Garden of Eden Community’ reputation. We have troubles, right here in Greendale. “Trouble” – that starts with ‘T’ which rhymes with ‘B’ and that stands for bullying. In hind sight, the bomb scare, while wrong, is a symptom of the larger problem. We…
Thursday, December 8, 2011
From those who feel people have way too much time on their hands, to others who find the 1964 Rankin Bass special a promotion of bullying, attention to the plight of the red-nosed reindeer draws a clear line.
I missed the TV showing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer last week, so I made sure we played the DVD of the same, which doesn't cut out any musical scenes. It's become my favorite special, because it doesn't sugar coat reality: people - kids - can be mean. Even Santa cops an attitude, but repents in the end. For a while, the claymation special wasn't shown for various reasons, but has come back, and it has its following from the young to those like me who remember when the only time you could watch it was when the networks dictated it. Now, renewed debate over the story, which in parts has Rudolph surrounded by other deer, jeering him over his nose and alienating him from games, has 'experts' warning that viewing it can promote bullying…
me
11:00 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
You could always trip her when she is carrying the laundry basket down the basement stairs. :-p more ›