Bullied and beaten...in middle school!

sk8rmom
Sat, 20 Nov 2010 04:11:25 +0000

A 12-year-old male was charged with third-degree assault for recklessly causing physical injury to another person. Three other male students, all age 13, were charged with first-degree harassment, based on “intentional and repeated harassment over a period of time that included name calling and hitting with a stick.”

The charges will be handled by the Madison County Probation department, police said Friday.



Beating on someone with a branch is harrassment?!! I must not have any understanding of the court system here…I thought the Probation Dept handled probation AFTER sentencing by a judge! Does anyone else think they’re missing a step here? Ugh…as predicted, it doesn’t sound like this will be sending much of a message to other potential bullies out there. I know the kids are young, but there is a school nearby where they attempt to educate behavior-challenged kids who commit far less serious offenses. These four should at least be moved into that program, which would allow young Saro to return to his school without having to deal with them on a daily basis. I wonder if the family can, or would, petition for a restraining order for him.

The school district has sent a letter to parents stating that all students involved, directly and indirectly, have received appropriate punishments (no details given). The superintendent said yesterday that he believes that some parents were aware that the bullying was occurring but didn’t report it to the school…which could just be a convenient way to give the district a pass but is possibly a back-handed attempt to blame the victim if this is in reference to Mrs. Danadian’s earlier statement about suspecting bullying when her son came home with broken glasses.