For a short spurt of time, I got to live in New York City. Acts of insanity were on display constantly as I maneuvered myself toward the subway on my way to work. I took my children to visit the Big Apple last year so they could walk, smell and taste the insanity of the greatest city in the world. They watched a person frolicking in the Washington Square Park fountain at night, survived an intense taxi ride from JFK airport with a cacophony of horns, caught a glimpse of a couple in the hotel across the way having naked time, and sat awestruck during a screaming match between two people on the sidewalk outside a Duane Reed. Magic. Insanity.

Even with a compilation of life experiences where the only fitting adjective is “insane,” I would contend the idea of amassing hundreds of children in a single location, with minimal sleep, contradicting ideologies and a 1-to-30 ratio of kid to adult, is the most insane experience. It’s essentially NYC crammed into 170,000 square feet. Just like in NYC, there may be frolicking, a cacophony of sounds, naked time and screaming matches in the hallways. Insanity.

This can leave school, just like the big city, a scary, intense and dangerous place, which is why policies are created in hopes of rectifying the insanity. As a parent navigating these policies, I’m left wanting — wanting recourse where students who bully, terrorize and even hit are held accountable.

From the Weber School District’s policy on bullying, “Weber School District prohibits students and employees from bullying other students and/or employees on school property, at school-related events, on school (buses) or bus stops, or while traveling to or from school, school events, or bus stops, and encourages all targets of bullying and all persons with knowledge of bullying to report the incident(s) immediately.” The question is, what happens after persons with knowledge report those “incidents”?

The word “bullying” has made its way into the everyday vernacular of everyone; it’s as American as apple pie. Its definition covers a swath of behavior and words, but according to StopBullying.gov, bullying behavior is described as unwanted aggressive behavior, observed or perceived power imbalance or high likelihood of repetition of bullying behavior. I would like to note that while a power imbalance suggests a teacher versus student, I have witnessed a student bullying a teacher by repeatedly disrupting the class.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve learned of two instances of violence where someone’s fist met someone’s face. I believe the minute a kid is willing to put hands on another, it’s punishment time. It’s debatable if this is happening in our schools. In both cases, the alleged aggressor was back in class the next day.

During my time in the halls of Sunset Junior High, I saw plenty of fights, violent altercations that ended with chunks of a girl’s hair on the blue carpet or a bloody forehead after one boy got his head slammed into the glass of the basement library. You couldn’t pay me to spend the day inside a junior high, so I can’t say if the environment is any better. The policy for dealing with fights is certainly new. WSD’s website writes that bullying and violent behavior is often met with “restorative justice.” They then explain that this “Enhances school safety, reduces school suspension and limits referrals to court.” Does a policy like this go far enough when a student is willing to become violent? If my child were on the other end of those bullying behaviors, restorative justice wouldn’t be enough. I can’t be the only parent out there who believes the current policies in dealing with bullying seem to protect the aggressor more than the students and staff.

Administrators walk a fine line every day balancing the needs of students who want to be at school versus those who have to be at school. The student who sits in the back of the classroom making a fort out of desks or throws erasers at peers has just as much of a right to be in class as the kid who’s sitting, attentively ready to learn while getting pelted. Now both students can be removed from the learning process and the teacher can play referee instead of educating.

The process to suspend or expel a student is an arduous task that takes a lawyer on behalf of the school district and most likely an attorney for the student. The student facing disciplinary action gets a hearing, wherein the school board decides if the child is expelled or is suspended for more than 10 days. Understandably, disciplining a student is a serious matter as it can go on a permanent record as well as remove the opportunity to learn. According to the policy, it’s repeated unsafe behaviors like drug sales, destruction of school property, violence or threats of violence that lead students on the path to suspension or more. In turn, it’s those seemingly small things like a punch to the face, racial slurs, shoving and intimidation that parents want addressed. Discipline for those who act up is at the discretion of the administrator. They can choose how long they want to endure a student who doesn’t really want to be at that school. Disruptive students now carry an $8,000 check over their heads thanks to H.B. 215, so school choice can go both ways. Is it time for administrators to tell students who detract from the educational opportunities of their peers through bullying to take that check and move along?

Discipline within our schools is set up similar to the judicial system where one is innocent until proven guilty. The benefit of the doubt goes to the bully, but often at the cost of others trying to learn. No one wants to give up on a child, but no one wants to feel unsafe at school either. While it’s great to go visit New York City, no one wants to live in a madhouse.

Meg Sanders worked in broadcast journalism for over a decade but has since turned her life around to stay closer to home in Ogden. Her three children keep her indentured as a taxi driver, stylist and sanitation worker. In her free time, she likes to read, write, lift weights and go to concerts with her husband of 17 years.

Newsletter