babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
School Puts Kids on a Student-Created Bully List
When Phoebe Prince committed suicide, attention turned to the teenagers who relentlessly bullied her and to school officials, who some say saw what was happening and did nothing to stop it.
In response, schools across the country are taking a harder look at their bullying policies and making changes to prevent the same kind of tragedy from happening in their district. In one Spencer, Massachusetts school, parents are complaining school officials went too far when they created a bully list.
At the Wire Village School in Spencer, MA, teachers asked the kids to write down the names of students who had bullied them, pulling together a master “bully list.”
The top offenders, including 11-year-old Tom Gebo, were given a new set of rules to follow. “I had to stay in for two weeks — morning recess, lunch recess. I had to report to a teacher after I did anything. If I went to the bathroom, I’d have to report to my homeroom teacher,” Tom told local station WHDH.
That’s when the tables turned, and bully became the bullied. Tom says kids teased him for being on the list and told him that they wouldn’t be his friend anymore. “I know how it feels now… I think bullying is a bad thing and being bullied is an even badder thing,” Tom said.
A little schoolyard justice went a long way in teaching Tom some empathy. But did school officials go to far? Gebo’s mom, Danielle, is furious, and is demanding that the principal of the school be fired. Instead, Superintendent Dr. Ralph Hicks says that teachers have been asked to “cease and desist” with the bully list, and that training and discipline guidelines are being developed.
Watch Tom and his mom in the video at CNN.com, then tell us what you think.
Photo: chefanden, Flickr
More by this author:
Go Back To Strollerderby
4 Comments
rachel commented on Apr 19 10 at 2:40 pmI think it’s fantastic! His mom is an idiot if she’s angry w/the school. She should be angry w/her son for being a bully! She is part of the reason kids today are so bad – parents are nothing but enablers. I’m glad he got a taste of his own medicine, but I seriously doubt he will change in the slightest.
Ri-chan commented on Apr 19 10 at 7:24 pmrachel, I’d be mad too. He’s 11. Imagine if this happened to your kid (and don’t think “my kid would never bully anyone”, you don’t know that for sure) I like the idea of a bully list (though I see some major problems, like all the ‘popular’ kids writing down the name of the ‘dorky’ kid) but I think that the school should have talked to the parents or set the kids up with a counciler, not punished them so drastically for being generally unpleasent.
jenny tries too hard commented on Apr 19 10 at 7:57 pmAre you kidding me? They took away this kid’s recess, because other kids, after being prompted to name someone, picked him, anonymously?
Did he have any chance to tell his side of the bullying incidents? Oh, it doesn’t look like any specific incidents were even alleged.
Ridiculous.
Krissy commented on May 01 10 at 2:28 pmI think, with some revisions, it is a great idea. The kids submit their opinions anonymously – yes, I can see where it could turn into a popular vs. geeky “war” but I think overall it gives kids a SAFE way to tell an adult in charge what is going on and who is doing it. Of course the mother of this kids is gonna be po’ed. She is a bully herself. And before anyone jumps in – if this happened to my child I would be all behind punishment (and, yes I would be). I don’t tolerate exclusion or bullying in any capacity. Mean girls/boys grow up to be mean women/men. Hopefully this kid learned something – doubt it, but then maybe they should choose an approriate disciplinary method for future incidents in which he is “named” as the culprit.
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
4