Bullying in Limestone County (Athens) (Huntsville, Madison: home, neighborhood, high school)

[rhinoLV]

I am writing this as a warning for anyone planning to or thinking about relocating to the Huntsville area. If you have children, please DO NOT move to Limestone County. I wish I would have done my homework and had known before hand. Too late now but I will try my best to ensure that no other family has to go through what mine has. They have a serious bullying issue in the county and especially East Limestone. If you stand up to the bullies, your children will be egregiously punished and the bullies will receive NOTHING. How do I know, because it happened to my children. After my investigations and talking with other citizens in the county, it is known thing but they refuse to address it. There was even a student there that took their own life after being bullied (spoke to the father) but it was just swept under the rug. My children were threatened on social media but the administrators refused to do anything and said their hands were tied but it is clearly spelled out in their student handbook. If it is written in there, should it not be enforced??? If you would personally like to see evidence, I have no problem showing anybody what the good ole boy program is up to in Limestone County. But, after living here for a year; the best area is definitely east of Limestone County (Madison)

[FriscoEGS]

Did you bring this to the school board? If they didn't do a thing, go to local media outlets, WAFF, WAAY, WHNT, and/or WZDX (take your pick) and give the issue more attention. they will be more likely take it seriously.

[lpc123]

If "their hands are tied" what was the reason given for that statement?

[Threestep2]

You vent but you do not say anything.

[dijkstra]

Sounds like typical junior high and high school to me. To stop bullying, you stand up to them and may have to split a lip or black an eye. You may even receive a split lip or a black eye but they will find someone easier to pick on rather than having to fight with one repeatedly. That isn't fun for them so they will move on.

Now with the school. If they were to call me in as a parent and inform me my child was being suspended for standing up to a bully and it resulted in a fight, my response would be I am fine with him standing up for himself and I am proud he did but you punishing him for doing so is not acceptable and I am going to take it up with the school board and the state if necessary. I would also tell them that my child has permission going forward to stand up for themselves so if it doesn't get handled be prepared for more black eyes and split lips.

Just an FYI, if you go to the bully's parents about it, one of two things will most likely happen. Either the bullying will get worse after the kid finds out or you will discover where they get it from and have to kick his dad's ass as well.

[Rick In Madison]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

Sounds like typical junior high and high school to me. To stop bullying, you stand up to them and may have to split a lip or black an eye. You may even receive a split lip or a black eye but they will find someone easier to pick on rather than having to fight with one repeatedly. That isn't fun for them so they will move on.

Now with the school. If they were to call me in as a parent and inform me my child was being suspended for standing up to a bully and it resulted in a fight, my response would be I am fine with him standing up for himself and I am proud he did but you punishing him for doing so is not acceptable and I am going to take it up with the school board and the state if necessary. I would also tell them that my child has permission going forward to stand up for themselves so if it doesn't get handled be prepared for more black eyes and split lips.

Just an FYI, if you go to the bully's parents about it, one of two things will most likely happen. Either the bullying will get worse after the kid finds out or you will discover where they get it from and have to kick his dad's ass as well.

Yep, take on the biggest one. Good chance you loose but you made a stand and the smaller/lessor followers will typically avoid future conflicts. Now the typical retort is the bully/bullies will shoot your child. Sadly, there is that chance. After all, any coward can pull a trigger. Speaking from experience as the new kid in the neighborhood during 6th grade; I took plenty of beatings at the bus stop and on the bus. I got my licks in too and after about two months it died down. One of them had the misfortunate of finding me four years afterward; it ended badly for him.

Going to the Board may be a dead end. They may provide top cover for their administrators. Not sure if something like this could/would be heard at the state level.

[harry chickpea]

I generally do not post in response to first time posters (aka OPW). However the response posts give me pause.

There is a much better than even chance that a bully comes from a family/environment where bullying happened to them. The gift that keeps on giving... It doesn't make it right or acceptable, but puts it in perspective and why school administrators need to work with law enforcement to try to make some change. This is not a responsibility that needs to be put on a kid. There are ways to make the elected and entrenched do their jobs. I would have simply gone to the sheriff if no action was forthcoming. Think - County liability when known issues are not addressed.

I was bullied - once. I came home after losing a schoolyard fight, told my parents (one of whom was a teacher at the school). I got a brief letter from my brother at West Point, diagraming certain moves used to disable and disarm. I was challenged once after that. I said "I do not want to fight you." I repeated it, but the crowd of followers were wanting blood. The contestant came up, I put him on the ground immediately, and repeated "I do not want to fight you." The energy left the group and I was never bothered after that.

I relate that because kids CAN be taught to defend, but more importantly, that group just melted away and got back to schoolwork because the bluff had been called, the joy of victory and trouncing had been ruined, and respect for the unknown been restored- (which is a great reason to learn). A kid, an adult, cannot go through life as a bully and expect to be successful. Rugs can get pulled out from under those who would be king by the most unlikely of sources. Great aspirations can be brought low by a tiny asp, treated improperly.

[1DogGuy]

This sounds like exactly what one or two parents were saying where I moved from, hours away. My old town also had a student or two commit suicide due to online bullying. Welcome to the social media age. Many of us 30+ year olds grew up without social media, but kids today have had it for their entire lives. Devices and online presence are a part of their identity.

Each situation is different, individual students react in different ways, parents are different, different teachers and administrators. You can't apply a blanket statement and say Limestone County allows bullying when we don't know the details or how anyone (including you) reacted to different parts of the timeline or did or didn't do something. The OP's post is pointless.

If any part of the OP's post involves online activity, he or she needs to realize that schools can't/don't police anything that happens off their own property.