Victim hurt twice when school enables a bully

My son was the most recent victim of a Gwinnett County school bully. In my son’s case, the seeds of the bully’s behavior were watered and allowed to flourish by a school administration whose response was inaction, denial and cover-up.

My son’s response, like that of so many other kids around the country, is that his school doesn’t care. In recent years, a few kids have responded to bullying more dramatically, and with devastating effects.

You may deny that bullying is a problem in our schools. You may believe that school administrations are eager to stamp out bullying and dispense justice for the kids.

Tell that to Dillon Cossey, the 14-year-old from Pennsylvania who, with the help of his mother, stockpiled a cache of weapons with the intent of carrying out revenge at a local high school. He had been bullied because of his weight and had come to idolize the Columbine murderers.

Does that justify mass killing? Of course not. But it does highlight the rage and anger that can fester among some kids (and parents) when bullying goes unchecked.

The bully is a leader and he doesn’t act alone. Other kids unwittingly become enamored of the bully —- mostly out of fear and intimidation —- fueling the verbal assaults that often lead to physical confrontations with the bully’s targets.

In my son’s case, the bully’s verbal assault was met with verbal resistance. The bully and my son had never met before, and the school bus they were riding was filled with the bully’s supporters. This was “his bus.”

During the exchange, the bully, obviously unwilling to let an outsider intrude on his turf, grabbed my son’s arm only to be swatted away. Immediately after, the bully punched my son in the face.

My wife and I were shocked at how the school administration turned a blind eye to this behavior.

The bus driver never reported the incident in spite of being yelled at by one of the students to stop and do something. My wife reported the incident to the school principal. In that meeting, my wife asked the principal if the bully would be removed from the bus and the principal told her she didn’t want to “inconvenience the parents.”

The principal then turned the case over to the assistant principal, whose first decision was to interview everyone involved … except the victim.

Previously, the bully had threatened to get his dad’s bazooka and shoot a kid on the bus. That was glossed over. Next, the bully made a lewd and graphic comment to a female classmate. The assistant principal failed to mention the remark to the principal, who nearly had a coronary when told the exact pornographic phrase used by the bully.

Prominently posted in the school’s hallways is a stern warning that bullying could result in a disciplinary board hearing or expulsion from school. The implication of the sign is that there will be consequences to bullying.

But the administration is acting like an exasperated parent who threatens punishment but doesn’t follow through. Such unkept threats only embolden a bully.

> Bobby Holley, a businessman, lives in Duluth.