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I'm not gonna take it!

By
Education & Training with RE/MAX Corridor TREC# 472264

i'm not gonna take it

I'm not gonna take it!

Yes, this post officially qualifies as a RANT!  It is not real estate related beyond the point that I am a REALTOR, I did use real estate research techniques to locate contact information about someone and I am taking time away from my real estate business to take action against another.

I'm not gonna take it!

Yesterday I got home from my office to be met in the driveway by my mom who had picked up my son Jordan from school yesterday.  She looked upset and said that Jordan had a bad day and needed me.  She went on to say that he had been assaulted by another student and he was scraped up and his cell phone was destroyed.  I went into his room where he was resting in bed and asked him to tell me about it.  The reader's digest version is that he was walking from one class to another and some kid who is known to be a behavioral problem asked Jordan if there was advisory class (there usually is on Tuesdays, but because of benchmark testing this week, it was cancelled).  Jordan said that the morning announcements said that there was not advisory this week and this bully apparently did not care for my son's answer to his inquiry, asked him if he had anything else "smart" to say to him and began assaulting him with his backpack starting with a blow to the back of the head.

I'm not gonna take it!

My son is not a small kid and is athletic so he dodged the next two blows but the two that followed put him on the ground on a concrete drain which resulted in cuts, bruises and scratches along with his Palm Treo being completely destroyed.  At this point the bully laughed at him and walked off.  Another student said something to the bully about what he did to my son and helped Jordan up.  He went on to band class and his band teacher took him to the nurses office where he was patched up and then on to the assistant principal to report the attack.  He was told that his attacker would get a stern talking to.

I'm not gonna take it!

Jordan said that his attacker, who is in his fourth period math class, was not present in class later that day.  I am assuming it had something to do with the incident with my son.  Several things disturb me greatly about this situation...

  1. My child was assaulted while in the care of the school that my tax dollars provide!  He is a good kid whose teachers all say that he is hard working, polite, a joy to have in class, creative and well behaved.  I just had a phone call from his AP Science teacher the day before telling me how talented and great he is and how pleased she is with the progress on his science fair project.
  2. I was not contacted!!!  It seems to me that when physical harm and personal property destruction occur to my child that I should have at the least received a phone call about the incident.
  3. A stern talking to??????  There is a ZERO Tolerance policy for bullying in our school district, they talk about it all the time.  Evidently my definition of ZERO Tolerance and the school's do not align!  I am going to be on the phone later this morning with the local law enforcement about my recourse against my son's attacker, because the way I read it, he violated the Texas Penal Code Section 22.00 a 1, the definition of assault.
  4. This hoodlum's parents need to learn that when their offspring commits a crime that he or they will be required to pay for damages.  My son's phone is worth a couple of hundred dollars and they will be receiving a bill for damages from me.
  5. I have yet to receive an email, phone call or any kind of notification from the school that my son was attacked and injured.

I am outraged that people allow their children to behave in this manner!  I am outraged that swift disciplinary action was not taken!  I am outraged that I was not immediately notified!  I hope that no one is outraged when I show up with deputies in tow to press charges against my son's attacker.  I am not super old in years, but when I was in school, if you misbehaved you got your butt beat and it kept us walking the line...BRING BACK CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN THE SCHOOLS!!!  If the parents won't discipline their kids, somebody should!  All this feel good, self esteem building, let the kids do whatever they want garbage stinks and is a travesty to American society!  I went through nine months of a difficult pregnancy, a high risk delivery, gave birth to a baby boy who was blue and not breathing, saw him brought back to life and have raised him to be a well behaved, Christian young man with a compassionate caring heart...I am not amused with some head case kid bringing physical harm to my child.  I did not endure everything I did to get my miracle baby here, only to have him beat up!  I'm not gonna take it!

Posted by

Jeani Codrey

Referral Broker

Real Estate Instructor

 

Comments (3)

Robert Havana
Park and Protect- Alberta Real Estate License Parking - Calgary, AB
Alberta Real Estate License Parking

That is a tough one.  Aside from the bully's problems and his parents, the school really dropped the ball on this one.  I would think that they would be so serious about bullying in this day and age that they would have staff on top of this asap.

Oct 20, 2009 11:30 PM
Angie Francis
StepStone Realty LLC - Austin, TX
StepStone is Real Estate without Limits!

Jeani, I'm so sorry to hear this.  My son is in 8th grade and is one of the smaller kids... I know how upset I would be if this happened to him.

Although I'm not sure I agree with the corporal punishment (that is anther debate) I do heartily agree that you should have been contacted right away and a more serious response should have been made by the school.

I have always supported the public school system but for the first time I am considering private high school for my son next year.  It's a huge expense and commitment but I'm wondering if I owe it to my son.

Like your son, mine is a very smart well behaved kid.  For that reason, he gets absolutely no attention by his teachers.  It seems to me they pay most their attention to the trouble or struggling kids and gratefully ignore the ones that are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Good luck!  I hope you find the resolution you need on this one.

Oct 21, 2009 03:23 AM
Jeani Codrey
RE/MAX Corridor - New Braunfels, TX
Director of Opportunity & Agent Development

I found myself pleasantly surprised by the events of the day.  I first visited with the principal of the school with my son this morning first thing.  He was out yesterday and missed the days incident.  Jordan recalled the story and the principal offered his apologies and noted that the other boy had been put in on campus suspension.  He apologized for me not being contacted.  About an hour later the Asst. Principal called and apologized for dropping the ball and not notifying me yesterday that my son was injured.  She explained that the punishment for the offending student had been increased to match the severity of the attack because she didn't see Jordan yesterday and didn't realize he was that hurt.  She noted that the boys had been brought together to talk and that my son was apologized to.  I spoke with Jordan and he was okay with everything.  About an hour after that the parents called and they apologized profusely for their son's behavior and offered to pay for the phone.  They were very sincere and very apologetic and the mom actually said, I am so thankful you didn't come over here last night and beat the crap out of me...direct quote!  She noted that if someone had beat up her kid like that she might have done that!  I told her that I forgive him and that it really meant a lot to me that she called and apologized and she said it didn't seem like enough, but she just didn't know what to say.  I told her she didn't need to say anything.  My son has been amazing through this whole ordeal and I have learned a lot about the kind of person I want to be by watching how he has handled all of this.  I am thankful that it is overwith.  Thanks so much for your comments!!!

Oct 21, 2009 08:34 AM