My son’s been a target of some intense bullying and cyberbullying at his high school. The school’s police investigated but said they couldn’t do much because they couldn’t prove it happened on campus. We’ve dealt with kids showing up at our neighborhood, online petitions trying to get him kicked out of school, and even money being collected to ‘teach him a lesson.’ We ended up homeschooling him, but even that hasn’t stopped it. We spoke to a lawyer before but didn’t get the help we needed. We just want to know if there’s anything legally we can do to make this stop. Anyone have ideas or been in a similar situation?
That sounds really rough. Did the school explain why they couldn’t take it more seriously? You’d think they’d care since it’s affecting his education.
Wes said:
That sounds really rough. Did the school explain why they couldn’t take it more seriously? You’d think they’d care since it’s affecting his education.
They basically said since they couldn’t prove it happened at school, their hands were tied. They even said there was no ‘imbalance of power,’ which makes no sense to me.
@Miller
No power imbalance? Isn’t that one of the main factors of bullying? Sounds like they’re just trying to avoid getting involved.
You should definitely keep documenting everything. Save those screenshots, texts, and anything else you have. It could be helpful if you pursue this further with another lawyer.
Rowan said:
You should definitely keep documenting everything. Save those screenshots, texts, and anything else you have. It could be helpful if you pursue this further with another lawyer.
Yeah, we’ve kept all of it—screenshots, numbers, even the online petition. It just feels never-ending.
@Miller
Good you’re keeping track of everything. Hopefully, a new lawyer can help make sense of this and find a solution.
You might want to take this to the school board and explain how it’s affecting your son. Even if it’s not happening on school grounds, they still have a responsibility to make sure students are safe.
Zion said:
You might want to take this to the school board and explain how it’s affecting your son. Even if it’s not happening on school grounds, they still have a responsibility to make sure students are safe.
That’s actually a great idea. Maybe if the board hears about it, they’ll step in.
Did you tell the main kid involved to back off? Sometimes it helps to make it clear they need to stop.
Aki said:
Did you tell the main kid involved to back off? Sometimes it helps to make it clear they need to stop.
I haven’t done that yet since I don’t want to make things worse. But would that officially count as harassment if they keep going after being told to stop?
@Miller
Yeah, once you tell them to stop, it’s clear you’ve asked. If it keeps happening after that, it’s stronger evidence of harassment.
Maybe look into your state’s cyber harassment laws. Since it’s happening online too, there might be different legal options for you. Also, emailing the school board could help get more attention on it.
@Adler
I didn’t think about looking into cyber harassment laws. I’ll definitely check that out, thanks!