This is the third part in a series on bullying in schools.
By Angelique LaCour / Special to The Malibu Times
On Nov. 20, 2009 a 12-year-old boy at A. E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas was beaten up by three male peers because he had red hair. The attack occurred after a Facebook group announced “Kick a Ginger Day.” The group was apparently inspired by an episode of the “South Park” cartoon series. Two of the attackers were booked on suspicion of battery on school property, and the third was accused of threatening to inflict injury by means of electronic communication, also known as “cyber-bullying.”
The incident was investigated by Deputy Scott Rule, team leader of the Juvenile Intervention Team (“The J-Team”) for the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Office. The J-Team was developed in 2006, and soon implemented a cyber-bullying educational program that is presented to 8th graders in the Malibu/Lost Hills schools. Rule and a team of three other deputies spend an entire day meeting with each class to educate them about the dangers and risks involved when using social media, internet predators and cyber-bullying.
Rule said that the 2009 incident at Calabasas happened before school, and by the end of the day a total of nine red-headed kids had been harassed or shoved. The District Attorney’s office put the three boys through the diversionary Join Program for a year.
“I can honestly say that these boys all learned from this incident, and have never been in trouble in the three years since it happened,” Rule said. “They are all in high school now doing well, and we have a good relationship.” But Rule emphasized that his office takes bullying seriously and that kids need to understand that they are breaking the law when they participate in what may appear to them to be a harmless prank.
The J-Team’s presentation aimed at counteracting cyber-bullying focuses on new forms of bullying that have emerged in the Internet area. One such common problem is “sexting,” which means transmitting nude or provocative pictures over the Internet or by smart phone. For that part of the presentation, girls and boys are split up.
“When a girl sends a boy a nude picture they look at it as a trophy,” Rule said. “But when other girls get a hold of it they can become mean and vindictive and taunt the girl calling her names like “whore” and “slut.”
The students are shown a video about Jennifer Logan, a Cincinnati teen, who sent a nude picture of herself to her boyfriend. When they broke up he sent it to other high school girls and Logan was cruelly and relentlessly tormented and harassed. She eventually committed suicide.
Deputy Maria Villalobos, another member of the J-Team, talks to the girls about respecting themselves and their bodies.
“They need to understand that once a picture is put out there in cyberspace, it’s there forever,” Villalobos said. “And it can come back to haunt them later when applying for college and jobs.”
Villalobos also emphasizes that “sexting” nude pictures is considered by law as possession of child pornography. Minors are not exempt from the law.
The J-Team members say their internet safety and cyber-bullying educational program has proven quite successful in the Malibu/Lost Hills area schools. Rule has been asked to train deputies in other Los Angeles County offices in how to implement it in the schools in their districts. With the exception of the incident at A.E. Wright Middle School in 2009, Rule claims there have been no reports of other bullying incidents in schools.
Rule says that if a student is a victim or a witness of a cyber-bullying crime when the nature of the message is harmful, vulgar or threatening it is important that they not respond to it. They should tell someone they trust, advise law enforcement, and save messages/images as evidence.
In concluding the program with the students Rule tells them, “the good thing about us being here today is that you now know about Cyber-Bullying. The bad thing about us being here today is that now that you know about cyber-bullying, you’re accountable. Don’t be part of the problem.”