I am confident you can direct all us “non-educators” to where in the Constitution we can find “Kids have a RIGHT to not be bullied”.
No argument that no kid should be bullied, but sometimes a kid has to stand up themselves to the bully to stop it.
I am also 100% for treating bullying the same as any other assault, charge the perpetrator, separate them from the kids. A big part of bullying is that public schools are so focused on the gubmit money for daily head-count that they let anything go on in school. Kick out the bully? Hell no, the school wants the head-count money.
Regrettably, public school has become, at best, worthless to many kids and “educators” are seen with same skepticism as are used car dealers. Who’s fault is that?
It isn't. Not all rights are written down explicitly in a document like the Constitution. They weren't writing a set of school rules. They were working out how to govern a country.
No argument that no kid should be bullied, but sometimes a kid has to stand up themselves to the bully to stop it.
Yes, they do. And when I'm teaching about bullying, I also teach kids quite explicitly that if it does happen to them, they have the right to defend themselves. The type of approach being outlined in this story isn't the only approach to bullying and shouldn't be the only approach to bullying. But the fact that it's only part of a solution doesn't make it a bad idea.
I agree with most of your other comments as well. But there's nothing incompatible with those and this either.