Students need better protection against bullying

I am a parent whose daughter has been educated in Schaumburg Elementary School District 54 and is now a freshman at Hoffman Estates High School in the Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211. While our daughter was attending Lincoln Prairie Elementary School she had been bullied by a classmate. She also was cyberbullied by others she thought were her friends. Of course, I stepped in when I saw this was happening.

She became depressed. Her grades declined. She became very moody and defensive. I went to the principal with my concerns at the time (sixth grade) and worked out a plan that my daughter and the other girl were not going to be in the same classes for the remaining years at the school.

Why did I even have to go to the principal in the first place? Why did I have to report to the principal that my daughter was intentionally being hurt by the "mean girl" in the first place?

Does your school have on their website a place for your child to report bullying, intimidation, harassment, threats and abuse which also includes school bus and cyberbullying incidents? District 211 does! I would love to see this implemented in Schaumburg School District 54 at all the schools.

If we allow children to get away with bullying, what lesson are they learning and what lesson are we giving to the ones being bullied? That is why children as young as 9 are committing suicide, because kids get away with bullying. Is it worth it to put another family through what we did? Or even worse?

Sandy Reeves

Stand for the Silent, Illinois Chapter

Hanover Park