April 25, 2012
In my previous article about getting a bully expelled, I went into detail about what parents can do to put pressure on the local principal. The goal is to put more pressure on the principal than he is willing to bear. The pressure is imposed from below, meaning the parents, and from above, meaning the superintendent and possibly the school board.
It takes one parent to initiate the process. The parent goes to the school office and gets a copy of the regulations relating to bullying. He shows this to the student. Then he creates a form for the student to carry and to fill in immediately after a confrontation that has been initiated by a bully. Preferably, the student has a witness to the confrontation, and the witness signs the form.
I do not need to go through the entire procedure here.
I am writing about your standard white, middle-class middle school. I am not writing about an inner-city hell-hole. The best thing a student in an inner city school can do is take my first approach: quit going to school or cut out as soon as possible after the bell rings.
The signed complaint form is the key. I doubt that most students will ever figure out that a properly signed form, especially with a witness, becomes a powerful tool to use against the school's administration. The bully does not have any comparable tool of defense.
I intend to produce a series of YouTube videos on this strategy, so that students around the country will be made aware of the existence of this strategy. But, for the moment, all I have is this website.
Let us say that the parent does not want to get involved. The student then can take the initiative. First, he goes to the school office and asks to see the district regulations regarding bullying. He makes a photocopy of this section.
Second, he creates one of the forms. He can do this on his home computer. Students have no problem getting access to a computer and a printer. He prints out a dozen copies of the form, and he takes the forms to school. He puts the forms in his locker.
When the bully confronts him, he makes it clear to the bully that he resents the boy's continuing harassment of him. That will not bother the bully. But it has put the bully on record that the student wants the behavior to stop.
After the incident is over, the student goes to a classroom, pulls out a pen, and fills in the form. It would help if he has a witness who is willing to sign the form. But this is not crucial.
It would be wise for the student to gain the support of a fellow student who has been bullied. That student is tired of it, too. The two students agree to back each other up, not physically, but judicially. They agree to sign each other's forms.
If the student is wise, he will show his parent a blank copy of the form. He will explain what he is doing. The parent may object. At this point, the parent has exposed himself or herself as a sniveling coward who is more interested in saving money by not sending his kid to a private school, or saving time by not homeschooling the child, and in saving trouble by not confronting the principle. The parent is a wimp.
I do not think many parents will take this approach, but if a particular parent does, the student says nothing, and goes on with the plan.
Once the student has three or four documented cases, especially if they have been signed by a witness, the student goes to a copy machine. He copies all of the forms. He then goes to a computer, and types a letter to the principal. The letter contains photocopies of the documents. It also contains a photocopy of the district regulations regarding bullying. He informs the principal of the infractions, and he asks the principal to intercede, to make certain that the bully ceases to harass him.
He mails this letter from the Post Office, by certified mail, return receipt requested. If he cannot afford this, he buys an extra stamp. He fills out a little form that verifies that he mailed the letter. He fills in the name and address of the principal. The clerk then ink-stamps this stamped receipt with an official rubber stamp. The student takes this stamped receipt home. This is is proof that he mailed the letter. It is better than no proof at all.
Then he waits.
He continues to carry the forms. He continues to accumulate evidence if that is necessary. He will probably be called into the principal's office. He will then find out whether the principal is as much of a wimp as his parent is. If the principal is a wimp, he will not intervene to expel the bully.
If the bully persists, the student continues to gather documents. But he takes an additional step. He identifies other students whose lives are being made miserable by the bully, and he goes to them and hands them copies of the forms. He tells them that it would be wise to find someone to work with as a witness. He tells the other students about his plan with the principal.
Some student may begin to talk, and the bully may find out. The bully will be enraged. The student admits nothing; he goes about his business. He fills in another form. He does not confront the bully verbally. He says nothing.
When he has another set of forms, he repeats the process: more mailings. This time, however, he sends a complete set of all of the forms to the superintendent of schools. He includes a letter saying that the principal so far has refused to intercede to stop the bully. He asks the superintendent to investigate the situation, and to please do something to stop the bully. Then, in a cover letter to the principal, he includes a complete set of photocopied papers and forms that he has sent to the superintendent. He tells him that he has sent these forms to the superintendent.
The principal is now in big trouble. The word has gotten out to his superior that he is unable to take care of a growing crisis. The growing crisis is not that the bully is harassing other students. The growing crisis is that some kid has got forms and knows where to send them.
The student encourages other students to follow his plan. He tells them that he has mailed letters to the principal and the superintendent. He encourages them to do the same with their forms.
Now the superintendent is going to understand that there are a lot of students involved, and this means the principal is not taking care of the problem. From the superintendent's point of view, the problem is that his files are beginning to fill up with what could be highly embarrassing forms. What if the local media should find out?
The media will find out. Here is why.
The student then goes to someone with a home computer. He shoots a simple video telling a story, but without mentioning the bully's name. The story includes the name of the principal, the name of the school, and the city and state in which the school operates. It also gives the name of the superintendent of schools, and tells about the fact that he has contacted the superintendent, and the superintendent has yet to do anything.
Then he posts the video on YouTube.
Next, he photocopies copies all of the materials that he has, writes a letter to every local television station, and also to the local newspaper. He tells the story, and includes a link to the YouTube video. He uses a link shortener to make it easy for the recipient to go online and watch the video.
Then he waits.
I do not think he will have to wait very long. There is nothing like a YouTube video to create interest in local affairs. Once the YouTube video is online, it will be sent at some point to the principal, the superintendent, and the school board. Count on it.
This strategy enables the student to put pressure from below, namely other students, and put pressure from above, meaning the school board. In addition, local media will probably call the principal and superintendent to inquire about the situation. Panic now spreads through the whole school system.
If this strategy does not work, the student escalates it by encouraging all of his fellow victims to do the same thing. There will be more than one YouTube video. There will be lots of packets of documents going to the local media. At some point, this is going to become a story. As soon as it becomes a story, the bully is going to be expelled.
There may be an inquiry. It would really be terrific if the principal gets demoted to teaching grade school software across town, along with a 30% pay cut. That will send a message to every other principal in the district.
The story of how the student did it will get out. Hopefully, it will get into the national media. At that point, other victims across the country will imitate the procedure. There will be lots and lots of forms being filled out about bullies. There will be lots of principals around the country who see what is coming, and will take action before the thing escalates.
If things really go well, the student will get on the Today Show. His wimpy parent will be all smiles. The student will not say that his parent is a wimp, or the principal was a wimp. He will just say that he hopes that other parents around the country will go to his WordPress.com blog and download the form.
There is nothing that the principal can do to stop this, assuming the student has courage. The principal can go to the parents, but the parents have no control of the situation. If the student keeps gathering the evidence and keeps sending it up the chain of academic command, and keeps sending the documents to the media, and keeps recruiting other students who will do the same, there is nothing that the educational bureaucracy can do to stop it.
When the third victim's YouTube video gets posted, the principal's career moves toward a permanent detour. He can yell. He can scream. He can threaten. He can bully. He's headed for a new assignment in that part of town. It will not be an administrative assignment.
Be polite. Do not threaten. Just post updates on YouTube.
The bureaucracy can expel all students who were victims, but the school board will intervene. And if the school board will not intervene, there will be candidates for the school board who will run on the platform that bullies must be stopped. They will get elected.
The student is in control. This is the Alinsky system. The victim is in control of the situation. All it takes is courage, a printer, some stamps, and YouTube.
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