Surf Cat

“All my life, I dealt with it, just because I was a heavier guy,” Alvarado told sports writer Dan Truttschel for a profile story last month. “It was difficult, but I learned how to deal with it … It was nonstop, people ridiculing me for the same things. I got fed up with it. It was like, ‘What are you going to do, call me fat? Tell me something I don’t know.”

Few people can do what Alvarado did, become a top level fighter. Most are stuck in situations they can’t get out of in school, and they follow them home.

Bullying over looks, weight, clothes, whatever. It’s happening more and more these days, fueled often by the immediacy of texting and Snapchatting and social media.

A recent case made the news in the Kenosha Unified School District, when a parent called for the district to enforce stricter punishment in handling bullying after her daughter was battered by another student in a science class in October.

“The whole class was in there,” Andrea Powers told reporter Terry Flores for a story. “Students and their teacher witnessed it. The teacher is my hero because she ran across that classroom and removed her off of my child.”

The girl who assaulted Powers’ daughter was suspended from Indian Trail High School and Academy for five days. On the day of her return, Powers kept her daughter out of school but she later learned that the girl went looking for her during lunch.

“I contacted the dean and asked, ‘Why is she out? Why isn’t she supervised? Something would have happened again… “

The dean, she said, attributed it to a breakdown of communications. Her daughter has since transferred out of the district, and Powers wonders why the student was not expelled. The ruling by the district’s behavioral committee was that it was the student’s first offense.

Powers, a former KUSD teacher, questioned what happened to “zero tolerance to bullying” and the student being expelled, which is an option in the district’s anti-bullying/harassment/hate policy.

“I’ve seen a big shift in the past 10 years with how bullying and harassment is being handled, and it’s not good,” she said. “Teachers are crying for help … Families, they want to see stricter policies.”

KUSD board member Tom Duncan heard from families about bullying in his campaign for the board. At a school board meeting after the Powers’ case became public, he wondered whether the district’s anti-bullying policy goes far enough.

“Since this has become public, since bullying is truly zero tolerance, everyone is asking me, why no expulsion?” Duncan said. “And the student assaulted then left the district. I believe further policy review is warranted of this, as well.”

Over the past several months, the board has been revising the policy. It needs to continue that work in a public way, and review how the district’s behavior committee works and makes its decisions in bullying cases.

Zero tolerance isn’t a fit in every case, but strong action will make statements that will gain attention throughout the district and the community.

The Powers case is one that became public. Many others are mired in the schools with no outlet. That has to change, and KUSD has a chance to build confidence in moving forward.

Duncan is right to push for a harder look at the anti-bullying policy, and we encourage the board to tackle it swiftly.