<p>Anderson Cooper had the super, Gus Sayer, on last night. Did anyone else see it? Among other things when asked about the fact that he had previously claimed that most of the bullying was outside of school on cyberspace–a statement Sayer made to the Boston Globe AND in a letter to parents sent home after Prince’s death–Sayer actually said “I don’t recall saying that.” The whole interview was just plain mind boggling. </p>
<p>But on a positive note, part of the Mass anti-bullying bill was the establishment of a “hot line” for reporting school bullying. Yesterday, it was flooded with calls. Most related to Charlestown HS. Apparently, a group of boys had made facebook pages which contained very graphic and vulgar comments about some of the girls in their classes. Some of the girls tried to retaliate by making equally vulgar pages about the boys who did this. Numerous callers reported what was going on to the hotline. By the end of the day, the pages were down. </p>
<p>So, I am more sanguine than others that some good may come out of this case. It seems to me that having an anonymous hotline to report bullying may really help. I’m sure there will be some false reports. That’s what happens on child abuse hotlines too. But reality is that a lot of kids are removed from horrifying conditions because someone who was afraid to confront the parents directly or felt uneasy but had no real proof picked up a phone and called. Maybe this will happen with bullying too.</p>