subject: Bullycide Put Focus On School Principles And Teachers [print this page] The term bullycide has recently been coined after many cases of kids committing suicide because of consistent bullying. There have definitely been past cases of bullycide over the years, but the rates continue to climb as bullying expands beyond the classroom to the Internet and cell phones.
May 2009, 11-year old Jeheem Herrera hanged himself in his home. November 2009, 17-year-old Tyler Long hanged himself in his Murray County home.
While many people are exploring options for changing the behavior of bullies in schools, many parents are launching a backlash against school principles and teachers who may be turning a blind eye to bully behavior occurring within their hallways and classrooms. Parents from all over the country are going public with school officials that they feel have done their children injustice after being bullied.
Many of these parent outcries are coming from Georgia, where one well publicized case of bullycide took place this year. Parents are coming out with stories of children being slapped and even jumped (being maliciously assaulted by a large number of individuals, usually physical but may be verbal urban dictionary) on school grounds with principles either doing nothing about it or punishing the victim. These reports have parents up in arms as they fear the same thing could happen to their own children.
Georgia does have a law intended to help school principles regulate and control school bullying, but parents insist that the law is not being followed by many principles or teachers. The same reports are coming from across the country as parents insist teachers and principles do their part to acknowledge, punish and eliminate bully behavior at school.