Posted on 04/18/2012 12:38:05 PM PDT by Wolfie
NJ bully's paralyzing punch nets $4.2M settlement
RAMSEY, N.J. – A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle a lawsuit by a middle school student who was paralyzed when a known bully punched him in the abdomen.
The settlement between the Ramsey school district and the family of Sawyer Rosenstein, who had complained to the district about being bullied, was worked out over the past two months but not made public until last week.
The family's lawsuit alleged school officials knew or should have known the boy's attacker had violent tendencies and failed to comply with a state anti-bullying law, said the Rosensteins' attorney, Jeffrey Youngman. The boy had punched another student in the face on a school bus a year earlier, but the school kept no record of it or other attacks and the attacker was not subjected to escalating discipline, the suit said.
Just three months before being punched, Rosenstein, then 12, emailed school officials to report he was being bullied and to ask for help.
"I would like to let you know that the bullying has increased," he wrote to his guidance counselor at the Eric Smith Middle School. "I would like to figure out some coping mechanisms to deal with these situations, and I would just like to put this on file so if something happens again, we can show that there was past bullying situations."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
betcha'
And the school will find some excuse to suspend the injured kid.
Why should taxpayers have to pay? This is ridiculous. Why is the school responsible for a bully? Sue the parents. Why doesn’t the judge stitulate taxpayers are not responsible? Think I’ll ever get a good answer?
The teacher retirement fund would be a good place to get the nobey, but .. noo o o o o o !
Thribbit! Working late - graveyard shift.
I smell something fishy...
Who writes letters like that in advance of a major lawsuit? "I would like to figure out some coping mechanisms"??? How about "I would like you to arrest this bastard and throw him out of school or I am going to call the police"????
Was this filed 'after the fact"
Do we now need $$$millions more 'funding' for anti-bullying programs and a gestapo agent of the government stationed in every classroom? (for your safety, you understand...)
I am getting the sense that this whole "bullying" craze is being invented to lead up to something... and that something being more government restrictions on our freedom.
I mean there is even a movie already made about 'bullying' and they show kids attacking a kid on the bus. Who would attack a kid once they know a camera is running? It even looks fake and over-acted...
And at the end of them movie the bully and the kid hug...
This all feels too weird
Is there a paper trail of meetings that occurred after they got this letter?
I dunno, sounds like the kid picked up on the catch words they use when teaching children what to do about bullies. I suppose a sock full of C batteries would have yielded a better result than waiting for the school to provide the oft-promised “coping mechanisms”, but maybe the kid prefers being paralyzed.
I guess we can assume that the kid who crippled him is now working as a paid professional bully, aka bouncer, at a strip club nearby.
Meanwhile the taxpayers foot the bill,The bully walks, and the principal of this school is promoted to Suprintendent of schools.
because the school and taxpayers have much deeper pockets.
they’d probably be lucky if they ended up with 1/100th of that (after lawyers) by going after the parents.
The school is responsible for the safety of the kids while they're at school. It's a no-brainer.
Why doesn’t the judge stitulate taxpayers are not responsible?
Because they are.
Think I’ll ever get a good answer?
Yes, but not one you'll like, apparently.
They settled with the bully’s parents for an undisclosed amount.
You remove plausible deniability from the administrators.
They HATE that,
Plausible deniabiity is something of immense important to many in our society, and they go to great lengths to preserve it.
Definitely. And why the heck should a victim of bullying have to come up with "coping mechanisms" anyway? The non-violent answer is to charge the bully with assault or harassment and get a restraining order against the bully. That should get the parents attention.
My son hasn't been bullied, but I've already explained to him that nobody has the right to hurt him and that the proper response is to bloody the bully's nose and to heck with the school rules.
As I understand, this was written before the final attack.
If you write it as "I would like to figure out some coping mechanisms" then you are a typical bullied student who is too smart for his own good.
If you write it as "I would like you to arrest this bastard and throw him out of school or I am going to call the police" then you already know what to do about the bully. The school can't stop you (or your parents) from calling the police, and the school can't stop the police from arresting the attacker.
Obviously the victim belonged to the former category, too intelligent and too idealistic, still thinking that government employees at school care about him.
Stop asking reasonable questions ;-)
Because the NJ legislature has made the schools gun-free and weapons-free zones, thereby implying that the state will provide security for the lil government-school urchins.
Bet bullying episodes will decrease if the bullies know that their quarry might be packing.
(he says with tongue in cheek)
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