What should parents do when their children are being bullied?

July 8, 2010

Recently we aired a story about a McQueen High School freshman who was bullied

at school last year and as a result, tried to take her own life.

Since then News 4's Shelby Sheehan has seen a big response from other victims

and parents from all over Washoe County and beyond.

In many of those emails there was a common theme: The victims never told their

parents, or a school official what was going on. They were either too

embarrassed, afraid of retaliation or just didn't want to upset parents.

But experts on bullying say it's critical for children to tell someone.

Shelby asked the school district last week what steps a parent should take if

their child is being bullied.

--First, report it immediately to school officials. It can be a teacher,

counselor or principal.

--Document what is happening very specifically, who said or did what and when to

your child.

--If it's cyberbullying don't delete the texts or emails.

Here's what parents can expect the school to do once they've been informed of

the problem:

District protocol is for the school to investigate each case by interviewing

students involved, gathering information and contacting parents.

Then at that point there can be intervention with consequences, things like

suspensions, law enforcement involvement and counseling.

Shelby asked the school district what should you do if you've contacted your

school and you're not getting the response from school officials or the

resolution you want? Loudon with Washoe County School District says

parents should call their area superintendent's office.

They want to be able to support administrations, parents and students deal with

the issue of bullying.

There are 63,000 students in the Washoe County School District, so when it comes

to bullying and getting resolution to a problem parents are going to need to

work together with the district and essentially be a child's best advocate.

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