I don't know if schools intervene in cases of bullying. There appears to be a high standard as to what constitutes bullying. Jose Reyes, was a 14 year old student at Sparks Middle School in Sparks, Nevada when he went to school on October 21, 2013 with a semi-automatic handgun. He shot two students and killed a math teacher who tried to wrestle the gun away from him. He left two quasi-suicide notes detailing the bullying he had endured. He was repeatedly called gay, stupid, a r****d, had money stolen and accused of peeing his pants at school. He appeared to suffer from depression and perhaps a form of autism.
According to Murderpedia:
"Police learned one of the students shot during the rampage had teased Reyes about not having muscles during a physical education class, had called him names and may have played a part in pouring water on him when he was accused of wetting his pants.
The mistreatment didn't rise to the level to merit bullying charges, Allen said."
Maybe it's just me but if teachers are aware that a student has been targeted for abuse like pouring water on him and being teased unmercifully about urinating in his pants at school then I don't know what constitutes bullying. I am aware that sometimes intervening in situations where children are targeted by others can exacerbate the situation. But teachers aren't only teaching they are there to monitor the behavior of children that reveal aspects of how situations can erupt. Jose Reyes committed suicide at the age of 12 because school became a war zone for him. In a war you try to kill your enemies. It's very sad that he felt his fellow students were his enemies and the teachers were their enablers.
Jose Reyes was a 12-year-old student who opened fire with a handgun, injuring two students and killing a teacher before committed suicide in Sparks, Nevada on October 21, 2013.
murderpedia.org
This is ghastly!
It is also completely, and I mean absolutely completely, the antithesis of what would have happened in my school, and diametrically opposed to the reaction I or any teacher I've ever known would have had to this treacherous bullying situation.
ANY teacher I have EVER known has interceded in far less injurious situations than water being poured on a child. Even when we learn about verbal bullying, it is all hands on deck to address the situation.
Counselors are brought in, parents and guardians are brought in, mediation is attempted, we have had the local police precinct in annually to make presentations and answer questions regarding bullying and its consequences, we have assemblies with psychologists and other people in the field to address these situations school-wide, we have anti-bullying campaigns, and most significantly we strive for a culture where students feel free to "tell."
Yes, when students tell us ways in which they feel bullied, they do often fear that things will get worse for them. We have steps to follow in order to assuage that fear. We intervene even in incidents that take place when the students are on the way home from school, as they are still considered under our care until they reach home. (Most NYC students walk to school or take a city bus once they are middle school aged).
I have personally spent countless hours over a quarter of a century ameliorating these incidents, as have my colleagues, and that was even before the existence of social media. Of course that made things worse, because now kids could torment another even when they were safely home.
Of course we couldn't extinguish every situation, but no one, no one, would ignore it, overlook it, or treat it with nonchalance.
My own daughter was bullied when she was 10 and in 6th grade by some girls who locked her in a bathroom. I was at the school the next day, and the assistant principal suspended those girls and installed school aides to keep watch outside every bathroom.
If a child would go so far as to pour water on a child, I'm sure the police would have been called in, with the bully's parent or guardian, and they would have been either arrested for assault or some other LE intervention, depending on a host of factors.
I daresay all the teachers on WS feel the same and would react the same.
JMO and experience.
