This is what happens when you remove any disciplinary measures from the school system:
And as a result, these girls felt bold enough to beat her up.
Last month, Lindsay was sitting at the back of a packed bus when the group began pelting her with pens. One of the bullies then took her chewed gum and stuffed it down Lindsay's shirt. Another ripped open a condom and smeared the spermicide all over Lindsay's face and her new black jacket.
Humiliated, gagging and sobbing, their victim tried to break free. But the girls weren't done.
"They threw me face first against the glass," Lindsay recalls in a small voice. "I kept calling out to the bus driver -- 'Help me, sir, help me please' -- but he didn't even stop. Nobody helped me. I go to school with all these kids on the bus and nobody helped me whatsoever."
As she fought her way to the door, crying and trembling, one of the girls ended the assault by punching Lindsay in the face.
The brilliant part of the story is that the school superintendant truly, honestly, deeply believes that the school board did everything in their power to address this bullying:
Carol Speers, the superintendent of education, insists West Credit has an anti-bullying program and has been very responsive to Lindsay's complaints. They set up a mediation between Lindsay and the mean girls at the end of October, offered her coping strategies, referred her for counselling in November -- which finally came through just this week -- and organized a co-op for her this semester so she can limit her time at West Credit. "It's unfortunate that Lindsay perceives the school wasn't doing anything for her. They've been supporting her as best as they can."
In other words, people commit a crime, and the response of the school system is to blame the victim, marginalize the victim (even going so far as to keep the victim off school property) and do absolutely nothing to those committing the crimes. And because there are no consequences to the officials and administrators whatsoever for their failures, none of this will change any time soon. That family should sue everyone, from the board to the superintendant to the teachers to the parents.
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