Hold Schools Accountable for Bullies

In a recent article on NBCOut, (I Am Sick of Being Silent, Gay Teen Catches Bullies on Video, NBCOUT.com October 13) a gay teenager, Landon Jones,18, exposed the bullying he suffered from fellow students and others because of his sexual orientation. He even must attend school remotely because of the years of harassment.

Fed up with years of school based emotional abuse, he posted a video on TikTok from his home security system showing a teen from another high school in his hometown of Lake Forest, California going to his door and ringing the bell. He was the passenger in a Lincoln Navigator. The driver waiting on the street was a classmate to Landon. When someone answers the door, the bully asks for Landon and yells out as he ran away he is a [homophobic slur].

According to NBCOUT, the school system released a statement that these students do not represent the values of the school. That may be true, however, if they are students in the system and they graduate then their statement belies a problem. The diploma certifies that they are ready for the working and/or academic world but that is false.

Schools are insulated

Schools are an insulated environment. Teachers belong to a group of occupations not impacted by market forces. That does not denigrate the esteemed professional, that is the reality of the dynamics of school systems.

Teachers are not part of the business community and often do not recognize the occupational dangers of not stopping this bullying. First, you have a student subject to horrible emotional trauma which will affect him for the rest of his life. Now you have two teens who are possibly part of a group of emotional abusers and you have a school system that fails at its mission at least for certain students and for the business community.

The mission of the school system is to help prepare students to function in society through gainful employment and in those cases applicable to prepare them for a college education. The students who terrorized this one gay teen are not prepared for either.

Bullies are liabilities in business

They are a potential liability to any company. Is a business prepared to hire those who cannot work with people who are different? Landon will soon be a man in the working world. The harassing teens will eventually also become adults in the business field and they will have to work with people unlike them — co-workers of different races, different national origins and different sexual orientations. If they are so brazen as to go up to this teen’s house and scream he is a f*****t, what else are they capable of when they get older. Is a company ready for a lawsuit for not stopping them from harassing other employees of the same orientation? How about when an assault happens on the company property for the same reasons?

Turning a blind eye to this case enables tragedy. Bullying teens may be unemployable in today’s environment. If they receive their diplomas then when they leave school, the administration needs to go with them. There needs to be a new leadership because bullies are neither ready for the working world nor the academic world.

Holding people accountable

The parents of the teen driving the Lincoln Navigator need to be held responsible for allowing their vehicle to be used in the commission of a hate crime. Finally, the limitation of liability against suing schools must stop. Civil authorities claim if it is lifted cities will go bankrupt. Well, there is an admission of guilt.

However, failing to lift the limits makes schools an unappealing case for lawyers who get forty percent of a settlement. A limited settlement pays limited amounts.

It is about time we change bully factories called schools. Where is the rest of the city on this? Is the chamber of commerce making sure they do not get liabilities-filled employees from the school system or do they just do nothing? Do any businesses have any input at all to the school board.

Is the faith community speaking out or is it doing nothing? Is the city council, what about the school board or do they remain silent? What about teachers, why does the bullied teen have to study remotely?

It is time for a change in school systems that in regard to bullies. The place where can change can begin is Lake Forest, California.