Autistic boy 'punched in the head and strangled with tie for having special needs'...

[Questella]

it seems many schools are using bullies to chase away students that the school hierarchy doesn't want.

Right. The couple times I had a kid I meshed with was always a move in from another school and generally their parents pulled them back out of the school after a couple weeks to a couple months leaving me alone again. I'll never know if I would of been able to keep a friend on my own. Life as an adult makes me assume no though.

 

[Grandmother B]

I don't know how it is in the UK but in America schools cannot forbid anyone to walk to school. Someone needs to look at these "rules" and see if they are lawful or not. I don't see how a school has any control over how you get there, after all, you are not under their jurisdiction if you are not on school property. I feel so bad that your parents did not believe you. Bless you and I hope you can get past this and forgive them; it only hurts us when we don't forgive, sometimes even when we feel they don't deserve it. Best of luck to you!

I'm in America so yeah they can and did. Lol

Sorry. I still think they are doing something illegal.

 

[Judge]

Sorry. I still think they are doing something illegal.

"Duty of care" concerns on the part of educational institutions for children involve a myriad of regulations and civil policies that span federal, state and local government and laws. Last year in a Texas school district they even passed laws that forbid parents who walk their own children to and from school to enter or exit school grounds. With a threat of prosecuting parents for trespassing.

Then you've also got the passing of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" that basically hands a lot of the legal aspects from federal to state and local government to decide, along with greater accountability in terms of civil law. Further complicating what constitutes a necessary duty of care of educators depending on the jurisdiction in question. This has forced school districts to become ever more vigilant in protecting their students particularly in terms of civil rights. Yet at the same time it may actually deprive special needs students.

Consequently on and off premises liability concerns for educational institutions for minors are legal "minefield" where there is little to no consistency of policy when it comes to the potential scope of legal liability. The legal gap in how a school elects to protect their students between what might be construed as excessive and what is proactive is shrinking.

It's anything but cut and dry, IMO. In such a legal environment just about anything is possible...even if in complete contradiction with other jurisdictions. A very different scenario from the past when common duty of care laws were fairly consistent from one jurisdiction to the next.

School's new policy bans parents from walking children to school
https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn

 

[Grandmother B]

"Duty of care" concerns on the part of educational institutions for children involve a myriad of regulations and civil policies that span federal, state and local government and laws. Last year in a Texas school district they even passed laws that forbid parents who walk their own children to and from school to enter or exit school grounds. With a threat of prosecuting parents for trespassing.

Then you've also got the passing of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" that basically hands a lot of the legal aspects from federal to state and local government to decide, along with greater accountability in terms of civil law. Further complicating what constitutes a necessary duty of care of educators depending on the jurisdiction in question. This has forced school districts to become ever more vigilant in protecting their students particularly in terms of civil rights. Yet at the same time it may actually deprive special needs students.

Consequently on and off premises liability concerns for educational institutions for minors are legal "minefield" where there is little to no consistency of policy when it comes to the potential scope of legal liability. The legal gap in how a school elects to protect their students between what might be construed as excessive and what is proactive is shrinking.

It's anything but cut and dry, IMO. In such a legal environment just about anything is possible...even if in complete contradiction with other jurisdictions. A very different scenario from the past when common duty of care laws were fairly consistent from one jurisdiction to the next.

School's new policy bans parents from walking children to school
https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn

Wow! I didn't realize that. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mary Terry]

This makes me almost physically ill to read. I'm in my mid-60s and rode the school bus an hour each way to and from school in the rural environment where I grew up. School buses were dangerous places for little children and special needs children then and now. Bus drivers share some of the blame for not stopping abuse, but they do need to stay focused on safe driving and may be unaware of subtle bullying. However, the attack on the child in this case seems so horrendous that even the driver should have been aware and dealt with it on the spot. My sister and her husband refused to allow my niece to ride the bus because of fear she would be raped, literally, after some much older thugs tried to inappropriately touch her on the bus when she was only 6 years old.

Fortunately, I was strong and athletic for my age, and once protected myself from an older boy who was bullying me by picking him up by his neck and throwing him to the center aisle floor of the bus. I was terrified I would get into huge trouble for what I did, but then I saw the driver's eyes in the rearview mirror and he was laughing. The bully boy never bothered anyone again, and I hope is traumatized to this day by the embarrassment of being beat up by a little girl. Many special needs children are not equipped to confront violence with equal or greater force, and I don't condone or promote a violent response to violence, unless it is necessary to stop the violence.

There should be cameras on every bus to record what goes on. We put them in police cars, our urban areas of full of traffic-monitoring cameras, and security systems use cameras, so why not on every bus? Unlike the bullies - and usually their parents - the camera does not lie. I hope the boy's family finds a good attorney and successfully sues the perpetrators. The child can use that money for the therapy he will need to get past the horror of what happened to him.

 

[Questella]

This makes me almost physically ill to read. I'm in my mid-60s and rode the school bus an hour each way to and from school in the rural environment where I grew up. School buses were dangerous places for little children and special needs children then and now. Bus drivers share some of the blame for not stopping abuse, but they do need to stay focused on safe driving and may be unaware of subtle bullying. However, the attack on the child in this case seems so horrendous that even the driver should have been aware and dealt with it on the spot. My sister and her husband refused to allow my niece to ride the bus because of fear she would be raped, literally, after some much older thugs tried to inappropriately touch her on the bus when she was only 6 years old.

Fortunately, I was strong and athletic for my age, and once protected myself from an older boy who was bullying me by picking him up by his neck and throwing him to the center aisle floor of the bus. I was terrified I would get into huge trouble for what I did, but then I saw the driver's eyes in the rearview mirror and he was laughing. The bully boy never bothered anyone again, and I hope is traumatized to this day by the embarrassment of being beat up by a little girl. Many special needs children are not equipped to confront violence with equal or greater force, and I don't condone or promote a violent response to violence, unless it is necessary to stop the violence.

There should be cameras on every bus to record what goes on. We put them in police cars, our urban areas of full of traffic-monitoring cameras, and security systems use cameras, so why not on every bus? Unlike the bullies - and usually their parents - the camera does not lie. I hope the boy's family finds a good attorney and successfully sues the perpetrators. The child can use that money for the therapy he will need to get past the horror of what happened to him.

My school they did have cameras on every bus, probably what kept it from getting more out of hand than it did, I'd like to assume most schools have cameras on their buses by now, hard to say. i was in school in Indiana. They don't want kids walking because abductions do happen, and there are kids that started walking to school and nobody ever saw them again. One of my old friends from PA went to school with a girl that disappeared off the face of the planet one day and was never found, not even a body, so we can only assume she was abducted and sold into trafficking... :< The world is f**ked up.

As far as the cameras go though I'd wonder how long they keep the recorded video, if something isn't said fast enough then would a tape rewind itself and then record over the video? I know all they had back when was vhs tapes, idk if they would of upgraded to some kind of digital by now, I'd hope so.

So really, somebody just needs to get on inventing that teleporter device. **nod** Beam me to school, Scotty!

 

[Judge]

As far as the cameras go though I'd wonder how long they keep the recorded video, if something isn't said fast enough then would a tape rewind itself and then record over the video? I know all they had back when was vhs tapes, idk if they would of upgraded to some kind of digital by now, I'd hope so.

Just randomly sampling various school districts online, it appears most I looked at mandated such digital recordings to be archived for at least 30 days as a matter of public record. Longer perhaps in the event of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Sample article: Video Surveillance as Records

 

[Samantha mcbay]

that makes me so angry. I have three children. firstly I would hate to see or hear that any of them ever bully another child and secondly I'd hate to see them being bullied no matter what the reason. that's someone's baby. I have a lot of difficulty standing up for myself but not in defending my children. Anyone messes with my children or another child and I guarantee you there's an inner angry beast (mother bear) waiting for such a time as that.

 

[Clintos]

This is the reason why I was always a bad boy growing up. I felt that if I was bad and tough, people would not mess with me. I always knew I was different, but I adapted physically but not socially etc.

 

[AGXStarseed]

This is the reason why I was always a bad boy growing up. I felt that if I was bad and tough, people would not mess with me. I always knew I was different, but I adapted physically but not socially etc.

Like the old saying - "When people think you're soft, they walk all over you".

 

[Questella]

Like the old saying - "When people think you're soft, they walk all over you".

Until you turn around and blow up the school. >.<

 

[icesyckel]

Like the old saying - "When people think you're soft, they walk all over you".

I agree that this statement is true. People bully those they believe they can get away with bullying. The weak, different, and/or isolated make easy targets.

This went way beyond "bullying," though. Even if the "bullies" attacked non-autistic victims immediately before or after (as the article suggests), you can bet that Ajay was chosen because of this. The next victim might have just been physically weak. The common thread is that bullies look for those: (1) who cannot/will not defend themselves; and (2) who also do not have others who will stand up for them. In Ajay's case, he met the profile because he was autistic. It could just as easily have been something else, like mental retardation.

The only way this changes is if: (1) we defend ourselves; or (2) someone else defends us. My response to this sort of things as a kid had to be #1 because you can be damned sure none of my NT classmates were riding to my rescue.

It's a hard lesson to learn, but even as adults we all need to take measures to ensure our safety. You may think you're old enough that this will not happen to you. But consider this: if you're like me and avoid crowds, then you're often not surrounded by potential witnesses. That in and of itself can place us in the cross-hairs for muggers, etc.

Ajay's not to blame, but perhaps increased awareness of his surroundings might have helped him? The best self-defenses are awareness and planning to prevent attacks, but I hope everyone here has a Plan B as well. If you live in a no gun area or are morally opposed, then get a taser and some pepper spray. Take a self-defense class. Whatever. Just don't be caught unprepared, and don't depend on others coming to your aid (even if they are supposed to - like with Ajay).

 

[abby normal]

it is tough to be unwanted and unvalued by anybody in your environment.

 

[Chance]

Wow I was hoping we have evolved a little more since I was a kid, looks like maybe not.
I do know how he feels and it states, "He has completely withdrawn..."
Its what we do when we feel we have no other options. I went silent for a long time. I got to the point I just endured whatever was coming. I basically just gave up and become nothing so nothing was expected of me.
And for people to wonder why we have no emotions... Its safer that way.

If it wasn't happening at school, it was sometimes happening at home. It creates this thing where we fear living. It sucks, it hurts, and I don't have the answer as to how people can be so freaking mean, just because a poor kid most likely felt very uncomfortable. Where has human decency gone? Someone needs to go hunt it down and ask it to please come back.

My heart hurts for this poor kid, not so much for the outside marks... They heal, its the inside thats not so easily repaired.

 

[Streetwise]

its not the school its the local council who decide if they will pay for transport there is no transport offered to children in my county apart from a vile public bus children who are labeled low functioning are transported in taxis which would be civilised

I don't know how it is in the UK but in America schools cannot forbid anyone to walk to school. Someone needs to look at these "rules" and see if they are lawful or not. I don't see how a school has any control over how you get there, after all, you are not under their jurisdiction if you are not on school property. I feel so bad that your parents did not believe you. Bless you and I hope you can get past this and forgive them; it only hurts us when we don't forgive, sometimes even when we feel they don't deserve it. Best of luck to you!

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Wow. Unbelievable.