Vicious, incessant bullying in school — primary school, 5th grade in this horrible case — is certainly a massively underestimated problem in this country, even with the substantial attention the issue has received in recent years. I wanted to rebroadcast this CNN story even with whatever meager signal this blog generates, because I think the more people that hear about this, the better — the more likely some significant changes can be instituted.  

On April 16, eleven year-old Jaheem Herrera hanged himself in his closet and was found dead by his mother and young sisters. Jaheem made A’s and B’s in school. He was by any standard a cute kid (CNN photo, left). He had a best friend who sympathized with him over the bullying. He told his mother about it, and she had complained to Dunaire Elementary School administrators many times.

But Jaheem was repetitively called ugly, gay, snitch, and ”virgin” (latched on to by the bullies due to the happenstance that his family was from the Virgin Islands). The verbal abuse was predictably escalated to physical abuse — Jaheem’s 10 year-old sister said that he was choked in the bathroom. The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s extensive reporting on the incident notes:

In the wake of Jaheem’s suicide, other students’ parents have come forward to describe other alleged acts of violence at Dunaire. Some parents said their children were the victims of beatings with buckles and chokings. 

Yet the school was reportedly a model with regard to anti-bullying policy (from the CNN piece):

Allegations of such severe bullying surprises experts familiar with the school district. It’s anti-bullying program was considered exemplary and includes programs to raise awareness and a specially trained liaison. Students are even asked to sign a no-bullying pledge.

Obviously, these policy trappings are not enough. Or badly executed. Or ignored down in the trenches. Conscientious vigilance and monitoring are what is required of the adult administrators and teachers on the scene. It shouldn’t be that difficult to spot and root out this viciousness if adult personnel are not turning a blind eye, taking a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude.

Jaheem Herrera’s case mirrors that of a Massachusetts boy, Carl Walker-Hoover, also eleven, who hanged himself to death after incessant taunting and bullying at school just a week prior to Herrera’s suicide. Walker-Hoover was also repeatedly called “gay,” among other pejoratives.

One expert said that, “Anti-gay language is really the ultimate weapon for a bully who wants to degrade his or her peers.” Needless to say, neither of these pre-pubescent children was actually a homosexual.

My thought on this is that it’s pervasive in our society. According to a study quoted by CNN, 65 percent of teens report they are bullied each year, and most believe adults can’t help them. Now I understand that only extremely rarely does this lead to suicide. But no child should have to endure a hellish environment of incessant verbal abuse (and the ever present threat of physical abuse) at school. An elevated level of motivated vigilance by school personnel – and significant discipline, including removal, of discovered bullies — can go a long way to solve this problem, in addition to standard anti-bullying campaigns.

If you have school-age children, please be sensitive to this issue and be prepared to act. If this sort of abuse can occur right under the nose of the administration at a “model” school, imagine what it’s like in schools that are “just average.”

B