Schools

The Menace Of Bullying: What District 211 Parents Are Saying

A Patch survey shows broad concern about the extent of bullying in schools and frustration that school policies don't fully address it.

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Rebecca Hughes, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

PALATINE, IL — An informal survey of Patch readers in Palatine and surrounding areas whose children attend schools in Township High School District 211 included personal details of bullying incidents among their children. According to the survey's results, more than half of all responding parents said their child has experienced bullying or cyber bullying, and that same amount claim their child has been bullied this school year. When asked how many students have bullied their child, 45 percent of parents under District 211 said two or more students have bullied their child, 18 percent said one student has bullied their child, and 37 percent selected "They haven't been bullied" as their answer.

In addition, when asked what kind of bullying their child has experienced, the answer "They've been teased or called names" was selected the most, followed by about one-third of parents selecting "They've been intentionally excluded from activities or groups." The third-most selected answer was "They've been been bullied by phone, text or online."

It appears a main topic among District 211 parents is what's being done to help prevent bullying from happening. For some parents, the answer is "not much" or "very little."

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One District 211 parent claims the bullying got so bad that their son was put into an inpatient treatment at the hospital after threatening to take his own life.

"Start believing students and their parents," the parent wrote in the regional Patch survey. "I was asked for copious amounts of proof, like my sons hospitalization wasn't proof enough."

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Others used the survey to call for parents to be educated and take responsibility when it comes to bullying.

"It’s their job to instill some good," one parent said. "For it to work, you need to look at the root of issue- not just slap a band aid on." The same parent added that the district could better understand the root cause of bullying by focusing on parents just as much as kids, because bullying is "a trickle effect."

"If they're bullies, good chance they're raising bullies," another wrote.

Another finding from the District 211 parent responses is the amount of concern regarding bullying that continues outside the classroom and hallways, mainly through cyberbullying.

"Online bullying doesn't end with high school," one parent claimed, and also said they're "dealing with someone who has been bullying me online for a year and a half now."

Another parent added that bullying continues "outside of school. Some parents are bullies too. Mean parents produce mean kids. Just experienced it this weekend. Was absolutely shocked." This same parent suggested that "Mandatory parent meetings" take place before a new school year to teach parents about bullying. Similarly, another parent suggested "seminars" for parents.

In addition, a common suggestion from parents when asked what the district could do to better address bullying was increase and stay on top of monitoring hallways and locker rooms, bring both involved parties together for discussions centered on the reported bullying incident(s).

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More: The Menace Of Bullying: What District 15 Parents Are Saying

The regional parent survey, timed to coincide with National Bullying Prevention Month in October, was posted on dozens of Patch sites in Illinois and in the Midwest. The survey is not scientific, but could be considered a broad indicator of parents' feelings about the seriousness of bullying in their schools and communities

Take the Patch bullying survey

As of Friday, Oct 18 more than 460 parents responded to this regional Patch survey. The key findings were:

  • Nearly 71 percent of parents said their children had been bullied at least once.
  • Nearly 65 percent had been bullied this school year.

These informal findings should be compared to statistics compiled in more scientific surveys, which note that:

The Menace Of Bullies: Patch Advocacy Reporting Project

As part of a national reporting project, Patch has been looking at society's roles and responsibilities in bullying and a child's unthinkable decision to end their own life in hopes we might offer solutions that save lives.

Do you have a story to tell? Are you concerned about how your local schools handle bullies and their victims?

Email us at bullies@patch.com and share your views in the comments.

Selected Stories From The Project

From No Bully, Patch News Partner

From The Experts

What We've Learned

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