GAINESVILLE – Gainesville City School Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Williams spent most of the meeting taking notes as he heard from parents, grandparents, community leaders, even students themselves, on the growing problem of bullying in the schools.
Williams was part of a panel Monday evening that included: Kelly Williams, organizer of “Parents Rebuilding the Village”, a grass roots movement to address bullying in the school system; Rev. Stephen Samuel, Pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Gainesville; Apostle Roderick Hughey, President of the Interdenominational Black Ministers’ Association; Imam Bilal Ali, Imam at the Gainesville Islamic Cultural Center; Elena Bennett, staff attorney for Georgia Legal Services; and DeShayla Bush of the Newtown Florist Club.
The panel discussion was the direct result of a meeting held eleven days earlier to show support for Cirea Dizrea Oliver, mother of a middle school student and bullying victim, who was arrested for making threats against the school because she said her concerns were not being addressed.
Before the meeting began, Dr. Williams passed out copies of the district’s bullying policy to those in the audience (approximately 50 people) at the Fair Street Neighborhood Center. Bullying was something school leaders knew about, and tried to address, but the scale of the problem apparently was outpacing the district’s ability to control it.
“Bullying is nothing that is new,” Williams said. “We continue to make adjustments as needed to hopefully be aware of more situations and how we can better respond to situations.”
But once the floor was opened to public comment, speakers such as Kimberly Ruffin, Melody Hopkins, Michelle Williams and Felicia Butler, all with children or grandchildren in Gainesville City Schools, expressed such strong concerns and frustrations with the status quo that emotions began to run high.
Hopkins said compassion and help for parents, bullied students and the students doing the bullying was a universal need. “What are we going to do for the children that bully children? They need help as well.”
Dr. Williams agreed. “Sometimes there’s the misconception that we only deal with the victim and don’t do anything for the bully…we want to be respectful to both sides. If your child is the bully we want to make sure they get all the help they can get.”
However, Williams said, school leaders can only respond if they are told of bullying situations. “We only know about it if it’s brought to our attention. Kids are our number one source of information…if they don’t feel safe they need to tell us.”
Williams also addressed a source of bullying many don’t consider: bullying from a teacher. “If there is bullying going on at a teacher level, or at least perceived or actual, we have to know about it. If you’re going to work in Gainesville City Schools you better want to serve every kid; if you don’t you shouldn’t be here.”
Dr. Samuel said that the degree of confidence needed to approach a teacher and seek help when necessary, and the drive to do what is right is something parents need to instill in their children at an early age. “Character is not built at school; my child’s teacher is not the first person responsible for building character in my child. It starts with me at home as a parent.”
“Behavior modification only comes from heart transformation,” Samuel said, urging parents to fulfill their parental responsibilities and become proactive in their child’s life as early as possible.
Williams said he took a lot away from the 90-minute meeting. “When you have a meeting like this…there’s a lot of emotion, there’s a lot of feelings, there’s also a lot of experiences you bring to it.”
“I was very pleased with tonight,” Williams said. “We’ll be following up with Parents Rebuilding the Village.”
Apostle Hughey said he felt progress could be made despite the manner in which the issue of bullying captured headlines. Speaking of Oliver’s Facebook rant against the middle school, Hughey said, “Sadly it took her getting ugly in order to get our attention.”
“Well done, Cirea. I hate your tactics but you got our attention,” Hughey said.
Another meeting, as well as a training and education work shop, is scheduled January 30th at the Newtown Florist Club offices, 1064 Desota Street, Gainesville, beginning at 6 p.m.
