The Truth Behind Bullying

One in seven U.S. students from grades K-12 is either a bully or is being bullied. Among students, homicide perpetrators were more than twice as likely as homicide victims to be bullied by their peers, according to MakeBeatsNotBeatDowns.com. Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior that is intentional, hurtful and/or threatening and persistent, as defined by StompoutBullying.org.

The Matador Messenger (Bernardo Yorba Middle School’s online newspaper) believes that the subject of school bullying on and off campus is an age-old but timely issue. Media coverage has included bullied students posting pleas for help on the internet. When our new Superintendent of PYLUSD visited our campus recently we wanted to know opinion of the scope of the problem in our district and his plans to protect all students from this epidemic.

We asked Dr. Domeone his opinion on what he thinks his job is to keep students from suicide and family heartbreak. Dr. Domeone answered,“My job as a Superintendant is to make sure that all staff know the signs of bullying and the teachers get the proper training and know what to do in that kind of situation. I also like to, of course, let the parents know what is going on and I would like to get them to learn the signs of their child if they are experiencing bullying.”

Communication between parents and children about this subject is a key component in preventing bullies from developing and students from being victimized according to Dr. Domene, “I believe that parents have a big hand in it because if a child is bullied, then it might be because their parents are out of town a lot on work trips and they feel alone and have no one to talk to. That could also go for the bully as well. If you have no one to talk to, then you feel alone,” says Dr. Domeone

Dr. Domeone suggested that if a student sees a kid being bullied then they would be at fault as well because that is like witnessing a murder and getting a great description of the person’s face, but not calling the police.

“Bullying is a crime and if someone commits suicide, then it is manslaughter. Don’t be a bully if you can’t live with the guilt life can bring,” said psychologist, Dr. Dora Gomez.