A case in Fayetteville, Arkansas could prove very interesting as a family has sued a high school bully and may soon sue the school district over a prolonged and dangerous pattern of bullying directed against 15-year-old Billy Wolfe. It appears that the school district left this family few choices other than litigation after their son was repeatedly attacked as a type of collective sport for bullies in this high school — and school officials seemed remarkably passive and unsympathetic in the face of the resulting injuries (even after viewing the video below). Notably, the Wolfes are not alone in seeking legal action when school official fail to act.
At some point, high school bullies decided that Billy was the designated victim for the high school and made him a type of sport prey for punches and ridicule. A video shot by some boys on a cellphone shows how arbitrary the attacks could be. On the video, one of the boys announces that he is going to beat up Billy Wolfe and in front of his younger sister he walks up and suddenly punches him. For the video, click here
This appears to be the life Billy has had to live while trying to learn. The beatings were triggered years ago after Billy mentioned to his Mom that a kid had called teasing him about buying a certain sex toy. When his Mom called the boy’s parents, the boy showed Billy a list of 20 names the next day of boys who signed up to beat him.
One attack occurred in a bathroom. In another, it happened in shop class when a boy walked up and sucker punched Billy so hard he needed medical attention to stitch up his cheek. What is bizarre is that, despite the video above, the school suspended Billy.
The bullying then extended to the Internet. In a situation disturbingly like the Megan Meier case, here, Billy was made the subject of a vile Facebook page called “Every One That Hates Billy Wolfe.” The bullies put a picture of Billy’s face over an image of Peter Pan and wrote: “There is no reason anyone should like billy he’s a little bitch. And a homosexual that NO ONE LIKES.”
Not surprising, Billy is hardly flourishing at school.
This is not the first lawsuit involving Fayetteville and bullying. The district was previously sued after a student was savagely beaten for being gay. Parents in other school district have also turned to the court to force educators to take action and not simply treat bullying as a nature part of growing up. Click here and here and here and here.
Juries and courts are not buying the argument of educators that there is nothing that they can do. One obvious measure is to expel bullies. In one case, a Kansas boy harassed and bullied for being gay (he wasn’t) resulted in a $250,000 award. Dylan Theno, 18, filed the lawsuit in May 2004 against the Tonganoxie School District after years of bullying led him to drop out of school.
Such lawsuit may force educators to act with the threat of financial penalties. I have been a critic of one response, however: taking the victims out of the school and leaving the bullies, click here. As soon in the Meier case, bullying can resulted in terrible injuries or even deaths. It often results, as with Billy, in the destruction of a high school education — the most important stage of education for individuals.
The idea of suing the bully is a bit novel, but perhaps it will have a deterrent on those parents and other parents who fail to control their children. I do not believe that kids just spontaneously become bullies. The parents share responsibility in such actions. For those who decry “bringing in the lawyers,” they should consider the fact that these kids received little support from the educators. Moreover, these are physical assaults by bullies and, in some cases, acts of negligence by educators. I am constantly horrified by these stories of schools with histories of open bullying and harassment. As educators, our most sacred duty is to preserve a safe and nurturing environment for our students — particularly when they are teenagers struggling with all of the physical and emotional changes in their lives. Indeed, some educators have given their lives to protect their students form violence, click here.
If litigation is needed to prevent another Meier case, than so be it. Perhaps a couple of judgments will result in serious anti-bullying training and programs for schools. What particularly worries me is that the boys described in Wolfe’s lawsuit will become citizens and parents without any corrective action. They have to taught by omission that their conduct is popular and natural. This only serves to replicate homophobic, intolerant, and violent values in society. High school is a powerful learning ground and this is one lesson that we need to stop.
For the full story, click here
niblet:
There, there now, come on back and play. I don’t beat up on you, just some of your lame-brain ideas. That shouldn’t sting, and if it does, consider the concept of “no pain, no gain.”
There are even bullies here; mespo is one.
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/08/03/04.php#19766
This site is for those who are bullies, those who have been bullied or both. It is also for parents and educators, those who think bullying isn’t a problem and those who do.
Dear Concerned Student and Bullyhater:
Billy may be all the things said about him and maybe worse, but he also has the right to be secure in his person from physical assault. Words, trsh-filled or not, spoken by a child do not justify physical reprisal. Regardless of who is the instigator, the school owes both sides the duty to insure a nurturing, safe, leaning environment. That’s all I read JT to say.
One last note, I am sure, as “concerned” says, that Billy is not a perfect child, and I am also sure that the “nation” doesn’t regard him as one. Instead, we view him like we do “concerned student,” as a child deserving of both discipline and protection.
There seems to be an organized campaign by the community to counter the negative publicity by portraying Billy as the antagonist. The rumors are that he killed a cat, made fun of a kid’s deceased mother, and called somebody the N-word. All are examples of boorish and annoying behavior behavior, to be sure, but the reality is that this is apparently a child with learning disabilities and may have serious trouble with socialization. His alleged antagonistic ways are probably cries for help/attention or they are perhaps clumsy attempts at navigating what are probably very complex social puzzles for him.
The parents of the good “normal” kids do not want to take any sort of accountability. Afterall, if a kid gets good grades and goes to church, he cannot be in the wrong. The “community” is in full-fledged mob mode and is playing the “blame the victim” card in an insidious way. The real issue is that Billy may not be in control of his behavior in the same way as typical kids. The normal lessons of childhood don’t apply and the result has been a nasty cycle of retaliation.
It sounds like a cop-out but it is probably true.
There should have been a professional intervention a long time ago. A mainstream school situation was probably never the appropriate choice for Billy if all these rumors are true and he couldn’t control his antisocial behavior. For all of this, I have to blame the parents– Billy’s for not addressing their son’s self destructive behavior and the other kids’ parents for not taking a more mature approach in dealing with this situation. The school and the other parents basically decided that Billy “brings it on himself” so it’s ok for their kids to scapegoat him. It’s a dated and unsophisticated ethos. There was a serious problem, a ticking time-bomb, brewing in the community and all the parties should have been working together for good of the kids.
Concerned Student:
To what do you attribute the lopsided view of this story, as you suggest? That is to say, why isn’t there any substantial evidence to your assertion? There are many news reports including the NYT’s that have followed this story that suggest what you reported here – has been manufactured by the Billy Wolfe Bullies.
Is it possible you could point to information that supports your claim?
This has been another fascinating discussion. Both Nervous’ and Micheal’s accounts do help put into perspective what happens to real people as opposed to my lofty observations previously. The resentments they describe will have more legs than many peace treaties we’ll see in our collective lifetimes.
The most common denominator from the worthwhile replies here have ranged between parents participating in the children’s lives; and, the necessity for teachers / school officials to be more effective and/ or accountable – pointing to only one thing. Adults or, if you will, the leadership.
Michael’s poignant description of complicit teachers strikes chords of memory for me. In the story I could tell though, the offending teacher was the antagonist and the class (it was Phys. Ed.) essentially neutered the instructor. His victim was the chubby kid that got all red in the face when called on in class. He was peaceful chap and very shy. His father had died a year or two earlier.
When the new gym teacher started picking on him … the class closed ranks. We signed a petition calling for disciplinary action of the teacher and his termination by the school board. We delivered the petition 50 strong. The principal reacted respectfully and warned us, that we shouldn’t sully our message with anything that would be considered disrespectful. We left the lobby of the General Office silently and took heed.
By next class (2 days later) it was resolved with the teacher apologizing to the student privately and again in the gym with the class present. It was followed by an apology to the class and his promise to correct his style but not his commitment for us to all pass the ‘President’s Physical Fitness’ Test. He did and we did – All. And we all moved on.
I spent my childhood in a wonderful place. For poor people, we sure had everything. It almost seems like fiction. Our NYC suburban town underwent a growth spurt post WWII. Nearly every family originated from one of the 5 boroughs of NYC. Many were veterans. Our school district was always at the very top of scholastic standing in the State. There were no bad neighborhoods. I wish I could hand those memories out as gifts. We were always grateful.
Bullies didn’t have a fertile atmosphere and there were very few incidents in my memory. My point being that Michael’s assertion that school officials and their complete engagement is what is necessary to prevent innocents from being victimized. Its essentially tax-payers seeing to their business and their children’s welfare.
So again we return to the responsibility lies with us. The citizens, the electorate – the adults, the parents, the teachers … the leaders. Perhaps visits to those class re-unions would yield an awareness that others need.
First of all i am a student at Fayetteville High School…I am sick and tired of everyone feeling so sorry for Billy Wolfe. Only the students at Fayetteville High School know the full story. I find it very worrisome that the national news can publish a story that is so onesided and wrong. There is hard proof against everything that Billy and his mother have said in the past weeks. No attacks on Billy have happend just because “the bullies were bored”!!! Billy is known for his trash talking! When you walk up to a black man and call him the “N” word, kill a disabled childs cat, and talk trash about a dead mother what do you think is going 2 happen 2 you? In a perfect world the people Billy is hurting would just turn their cheek and walk away but last time I checked, we don’t live in a perfect world. I really don’t have anything against Billy but i have been going 2 school with him since 5th grade and hes not the perfect child that the nation thinks he is…
I just found this: looks like there are plenty of anti-bullying laws in effect in America.
http://www.bullypolice.org/
an interesting site for EU data on school violence (including bullying)
http://www.gold.ac.uk/connect/countryreports.html
Michael & Nervous:
It is amazing how vivid your recollections are after all these years. It proves, I think, the emotional scarring this type of unrestrained behavior leaves. In my view, you current feelings about your “alma mater” are perfectly justified.
I don’t doubt that a big part of it is the macho attitude that though(sic:those) suffering are somehow “weak.”
I was a victim of bullying in both Junior and High School. Fortunately I was tall and heavy, so I could at least fight back. However, I was a lousy fighter and the tactic of bullies was to attack you from the front, while their compatriots would hit you from behind. I was called “faggot” constantly for my lack of desire to fight and my ineptness when forced to do so. While I am not gay, we all understand that in macho terms not being “tough” is akin to being effeminate.
The school administration and teachers were complicit in this bullying, by looking the other way, or by blaming me along with the aggressor, since they believed my lack of macho was a fault. My Gym teacher once forced me to wrestle another student who outweighed me by 50 pounds and encouraged laughter at me when I was slammed to the mat and pinned. The bullying ended in my Junior year when by acting out in class and taunting teachers/administrators I began doing what even the bullies feared to do. I graduated from HS with a terrible disciplinary record, in the bottom 1/4 of my class, but won a full scholarship to college.
I remember all this very well even though I’m now 63 and those days are long past. Like another writer above I have not gone back to any HS Reunions and never will.
School Administrations are generally complicit in allowing bullying behavior, either explicitly or through inattention.
I don’t doubt that a big part of it is the macho attitude that though suffering are somehow “weak.” Thank God that parents are starting to hold them accountable
As a victim of bullying during my Junior and Senior High school years, I certainly will be watching this case very closely. During my HS graduation, I was booed by several kids when I went on stage to receive my diploma. They just couldn’t resist to get in one more final taunt before we all went our seperate ways. At that point, I vowed to never attend any of my High School reunions. They say time heals all wounds, but emotional scars take longer to heal.
Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine we’re actually more evolved as a species. Then I open my eyes and proceed to do something terribly human as nudging and eye-rolling with a colleague to silently snicker at a third party (for a variety of reasons.) It is a sort of bullying. When I realize that I’ve done it … I feel extremely disappointed and remorsful. When I catch myself and correct course, I feel … confident.
It has been my observation that public schools, in fulfilling their role in loco parentis, must be proactive and not simply reactive. That completely changes the dynamics of the underlying article and articles cited therein. Our public schools, not only are devoid of civics, they are devoid of ethics. We’ve assisted them greatly in arriving at this destination.
Right about here the little voice in the back of my head says, ‘I don’t know – Third Base’, just as the anticipated line of Abbott and Costello’s ‘Who’s-on-First’ sketch, we head into the turbulent waters of ethics v. religion and we end up with schools that are laissez-faire custodians. A situation that the predatory legal practitioners, right wing extremists and left wing extremists must share responsibility for leaving unresolved.
But on a more grand scale – we’re a Nation, that most of the globe, and most of the population of our own country, believe unlawfully invaded another country. In doing so, we BULLIED that Sovereign Nation into a bloody civil war that has fragmented into divisions that, right now, appear to defy remedy. The leaders of OUR violence defend OUR actions with excuses that even the most avid supporters cringe when they hear. OUR leaders are rewarded with wealth, power and position; mostly because we are a market-society addicted to excess consumption.
We got to this point gradually, even with severe measures, this big boat will turn very slowly, but if we collectively, lead by example including correcting our own adult behavior, I believe we’ll feel confident; our teachers will rise to the occasion and our bully population will dramatically down-size itself.
We all know that bullying is a precipitating cause in some of the most horrific school shooting cases like Columbine. A a study by the Secret Service and the US Department of Education (DOE) in 2000 reached the same conclusion. The indifference by these educators is incomprehensible given that background. The most important societal value of a lawsuit is to raise awareness and get the attention of the defendant. This suit is long overdue.
I think that parents bear a large portion of responsibility when it comes to bullying. My daughter had repeated problems with a bully at school, but the child’s father took a “boys will be boys” type of attitude when my husband and I asked to discuss the issue (It had gone beyond teasing, which I would have tolerated, to physical contact, such as tripping and pushing my daughter to the ground, as well as writing on her books and her desk). True, schools should address these issues, but parents have to be involved as well.
Certainly you all agree that simply making the accusation someone is a bully doesn’t make it fact.
I would have thought the first logical inclination here is to come to the aid of those being accused of such an act.
After all, you can allege almost anything, right?
As a 250 pound bully myself, I resent any attempts to curb my behavior.
On a serious note, there are anti-school bullying statutes in at least one EU member state and we should copy them.
JT, I share your outrage over the refusal of so-called “educators” to simply expel the bullies instead of forcing their victims to endure constant harrassment and even physical abuse. Expelling the bullies would be a simple approach to the entire problem, and if the parents of the bully objected, the school officials should tell them they should have raised their children NOT to bully others, and the expulsion stands.