Bullying: Who is most responsible for making schools emotionally safe?

It seems like I am fighting a losing battle to be any (positive) influence on children who have such negative influences at home. It's almost as if my influence counts for 10%, while family - or lack thereof - counts for 90%. I'm swimming up stream. I'm going against all they know. My voice is drowned out by the noise of their lives. If a student is living in a shelter, he isn't interested in what I'm saying. I feel discouraged.

I believe if we all come together it will make a big difference in the way people view themselves as worthy to be safe and protected.

I voted for "All of the above," because I think all those parties share responsibility, However, those groups are part of a bigger picture. The parents category is perhaps closest to the category I think is missing, because I think the "deepest" solution is to be found in raising human beings who find bullying morally (and in every other way) repugnant. However, parents aren't--PEOPLE aren't--the only influencers. There are subtle, powerful, pervasive forces at work, and what we may not always remember is that parents and other adults are themselves subject to those forces. I think we need to ask ourselves whether some of the most powerfully promulgated cultural values--greed, competition, materialism, to name a few--are actually antithetical to bullying.

Kenni Smith
Developmental Studies Center
http://devstu.org

A fake article, but the title is true. Part of the problem is the pressure for parents to work longer hours with long commutes to make ends meet.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/increasing-number-of-parents-opting-to-...

Can someone please explain to me how administration has become afraid of parents? what is happening to the society we live in? Parents want all of the power and then don't do anything with it in regards to raising their children!

Edutopia Features Producer and Research Editor, Kathy Baron did an impromptu interview with Rachel Simmons, researcher, educator, and best-selling author off “Odd Girl Out” a book about the sociology of girls bullying girls.

This brings to mind a quote I heard a few years ago, "Administrators are afraid of the parents, the teachers are afraid of the administrators, and the students aren't afraid of anybody." Sadly, this has a ring of truth to it. If we are serious about teaching student to be responsible citizens, we must learn to think of ourselves as a family -- a healthy one -- and communicate with each other, teach unity and civility as well as academics, and respond quickly to threats. There are no easy solutions, but the alternative is dark, dangerous, and destructive.

I am a school board commissioner. And the fault is ours. We have to KNOW what is going on, and we have to MAKE SURE our school level administrators are accountable for what goes on.

The buck stops here.