S.C. 5th Grader Dies After a Fight at School

Bjulissa19 · Apr 9, 2019

On 4/8/2019 at 3:59 PM, MegWorth said:
I agree with you about schools needing the tools to enforce anti-bullying measures. My school became No Place for Hate last year. It is very important to make sure our students are safe and respected. Also, we can immediate action when a issue arises.
Sorry to burst your bubble but during your day there were bullies, students killing students and society wasn't better behaved. With technology and the stories the news covers we are more aware of the issues happening in schools.

Well said, bullies have been around for years. it happened to me too - I was a new foreign student, in forth grade; I a girl attacked me on the bus on my way home. The driver didn't do a thing to protect me or separate us. My mother had to get involve but it is really scary stuff.

and the schools are not doing enough. the staff aren't trained and do not want to get involve.

as a parent I do my very best to help my children avoid becoming a target.

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2019

This story is so heartbreaking. I also cannot imagine being that school nurse that made that 911 call.

My school has had fighting issues at a coffee place close by to the school. It is close enough that the school will be called and our Dean (and other adults) have physically separated students. Police have gotten involved. The business has cameras; we have also added hallways cameras at my school. Luckily, we take it seriously. But trying to get to stop forever has been more challenging.

There is so much violence on TV, video games, internet...everywhere.

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Apr 10, 2019

Rich parents, poor kids. I had a child I raised for 7 years, mom never bonded, never had time for him. The rage that child had eventually put him in the system, we couldn't replace what he wanted. Children today are being raised too fast by parents who are self absorbed and unavailable. The rage at such a young age is troubling. Through the eighties, most children had a stay at home mom that gave the family an anchor, now kids are mostly drifting. Sad.

allnurses Guide · Apr 10, 2019

On 4/8/2019 at 10:45 AM, AutumnDraidean said:
What in the same of Sam Hill is going on with these schools? How do they learn NOTHING about preventing bullying? Do nothing but put up goofy slogans?
Perhaps I'd better shut up or I'll go on forever...
I was the picked on child, Stories like this make me rage...

As the parent of a bullied child I can tell you that school buy and large do nothings about bullying.

My son was verbally and physically attacked on a daily basis. He reported his attacker to the Principal and the school nurse and nothing was done. Then he came to me and I went back to the principal, nurse, the Western Association of Private Schools and the local police department. Nothing was done.

I could not try to work it out with the parents as the school cited privacy laws in facilitating a meeting.

So I informed the Principal the I was giving my son permission to defend himself. I enrolled him in martial arts (MMA) training and about 6 months later when the bully attacked my son with a brick my son defended himself. He placed his attacker in a arm bar and waited for a playground monitor to come.

I am not recommending violence however I will say my son earned a new respect that day. I eventually moved him to another school where he did well. He has continued with his MMA training which has helped him high school sports and made him into a confident young man.

As I have read the details of the story it seems as if the parents of the victim had reported her being bullied multiple times to administrators, teachers and yes the school nurse all of whom did nothing. On the day she was injured she was physically attacked by more than 1 student in the classroom.

I am sure all the details will come out eventually.

Hppy

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2019

15 minutes ago, hppygr8ful said:
As the parent of a bullied child I can tell you that school buy and large do nothings about bullying.
My son was verbally and physically attacked on a daily basis. He reported his attacker to the Principal and the school nurse and nothing was done. Then he came to me and I went back to the principal, nurse, the Western Association of Private Schools and the local police department. Nothing was done.
I could not try to work it out with the parents as the school cited privacy laws in facilitating a meeting.
So I informed the Principal the I was giving my son permission to defend himself. I enrolled him in martial arts (MMA) training and about 6 months later when the bully attacked my son with a brick my son defended himself. He placed his attacker in a arm bar and waited for a playground monitor to come.
I am not recommending violence however I will say my son earned a new respect that day. I eventually moved him to another school where he did well. He has continued with his MMA training which has helped him high school sports and made him into a confident young man.
As I have read the details of the story it seems as if the parents of the victim had reported her being bullied multiple times to administrators, teachers and yes the school nurse all of whom did nothing. On the day she was injured she was physically attacked by more than 1 student in the classroom.
I am sure all the details will come out eventually.
Hppy

To be fair, as a school nurse, there isn't much I feel like I can physically do on my own. I don't often witness it first hand and I have to reach up to those above to report it and help follow through on it, which I do. Luckily for me, my school takes it seriously and follows up on immediately. Zero tolerance for it.

If I do witness it first hand while teaching health classes, I do try to shut it down and involve admin, etc. Because kids can just be MEAN, even when there isn't a physical part of it.

We all can use more education on bullying prevention, but also on how to react/what steps to take when it occurs, especially in this digital age. I would not want to be in MS/HS now. Online bullying is just terrifying to me.

BSNbound21, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2019

On 4/8/2019 at 12:31 PM, BunnyBunnyBSNRN said:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/south-carolina-mom-complained-bullying-deadly-5th-grade/story?id=62242830
Ya'll, I can't even begin to imagine the pain the parents are dealing with. My heart hurts for the teacher, admin, and, of course, the school nurse. Four of five years of my school nursing career have been spent at the elementary school level and I've never seen a fight where a child was injured beyond a scratch or a bruise. I guess no one is immune.

When I was in high school, a friend of mine got into a fight with another freshman. The guy punched my friend in the back of his head. He was in a coma for two weeks and had to learn how to talk again. He has never been the same. Prior to the fight, he was a very charismatic and sarcastic (funny) young man who was a star soccer player. After the fight, it took him a while just to produce a sentence and he wasn't coordinated enough to play soccer anymore. He couldn't take regular classes with us. It was heartbreaking to watch this young man's life change so drastically. A bunch of kids witnessed the fight (it happened after school in a wooded area close to the school but not on school grounds). All it took was one punch to the posterior base of his skull. I immediately thought of this when I heard this story. I also studied martial arts when I was a young adult, and we learned that a double fisted blow to both temples at once can instantly kill a man.

If you punch a young person in the wrong place, it can kill them. I am very curious how this young lady died. It's very sad.

BSNbound21, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2019

On 4/10/2019 at 8:35 AM, MrNurse(x2) said:
Rich parents, poor kids. I had a child I raised for 7 years, mom never bonded, never had time for him. The rage that child had eventually put him in the system, we couldn't replace what he wanted. Children today are being raised too fast by parents who are self absorbed and unavailable. The rage at such a young age is troubling. Through the eighties, most children had a stay at home mom that gave the family an anchor, now kids are mostly drifting. Sad.

1) We don't know the social & familial status of the victim or bullies' parents, so I'm not sure where this is coming from.

2) I am a child of the 80s with two parents who worked full-time and my mother went back to school when I was young to further her education. Nobody stayed at home, or "anchored" as you put it. I turned out better than fine. There is no rage here.

3) This feels like a personal attack on women who work in lieu of staying at home. Working mothers do not produce children who are misfits. Working mothers produce children who understand the value of having a career and providing for your family. There are PLENTY of "kids lost in the system" to parent's who can't hold a job. Your correlation is off, I'm sorry.

TriciaJ, RN · Apr 12, 2019

6 hours ago, BSNbound21 said:
1) We don't know the social & familial status of the victim or bullies' parents, so I'm not sure where this is coming from.
2) I am a child of the 80s with two parents who worked full-time and my mother went back to school when I was young to further her education. Nobody stayed at home, or "anchored" as you put it. I turned out better than fine. There is no rage here.
3) This feels like a personal attack on women who work in lieu of staying at home. Working mothers do not produce children who are misfits. Working mothers produce children who understand the value of having a career and providing for your family. There are PLENTY of "kids lost in the system" to parent's who can't hold a job. Your correlation is off, I'm sorry.

I didn't take this as a slam on working mothers. I think it refers mainly to parents who just aren't very involved with their kids for one reason or another.

CanIcallmymom, BSN, RN · Apr 12, 2019

This is a failure of the school system.

BSNbound21, BSN, RN · Apr 12, 2019

2 hours ago, CanIcallmymom said:
This is a failure of the school system.

Absolutely. This happened at school, not at home, which means that the environment was not safe enough to prevent such an altercation. I think blaming uninvolved parents is a dangerous mistake to make and will do nothing to prevent this in the future.

Workitinurfava, BSN, RN · Apr 12, 2019

7 minutes ago, BSNbound21 said:
Absolutely. This happened at school, not at home, which means that the environment was not safe enough to prevent such an altercation. I think blaming uninvolved parents is a dangerous mistake to make and will do nothing to prevent this in the future.

I agree, the school system needs to protect the kids while they are in their care. This is some of the reason that parents home school their kids if they are able to, aside from wanting to make sure they get the best education without distractions.

kidzcare · Apr 12, 2019

15 hours ago, BSNbound21 said:
1) We don't know the social & familial status of the victim or bullies' parents, so I'm not sure where this is coming from.
2) I am a child of the 80s with two parents who worked full-time and my mother went back to school when I was young to further her education. Nobody stayed at home, or "anchored" as you put it. I turned out better than fine. There is no rage here.
3) This feels like a personal attack on women who work in lieu of staying at home. Working mothers do not produce children who are misfits. Working mothers produce children who understand the value of having a career and providing for your family. There are PLENTY of "kids lost in the system" to parent's who can't hold a job. Your correlation is off, I'm sorry.

Same here. I am also an 80s child of 2 working parents. My dad went back to school, graduated when I was 10/11.

There are many factors at play here that we don't know. Kids having issues with violence or mental health issues is not new.