1. What is the angle of this story?
2. How effective was the reporter in conveying all of the information in a fair and balanced manner?
3. What are your overall thoughts on the actual story itself (meaning, how do you feel about this bullying situation, and do you think the issue of bullying will ever be something that can be stopped, even by legislation)?
A high school
sophomore has reached out to California Sen. Barbara Boxer asking her to create
anti-bullying legislation after he was taunted at school.
James
Anthony Scott, who goes by Shear Avory, said he’d been harassed more than a
dozen times at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Van Nuys. Each incident, he
said, came without recourse for the perpetrators.
The
last straw came on Dec. 4, when he found a note on his locker that included a
derogatory term for a gay man and read, “Get out or die.”
“I
was scared,” he said.
That
was the second note left for the 15-year-old. He called his mother immediately
and said he alerted campus police.
“It
is evident and crucial that innocent and vulnerable students who are taunted,
belittled, and bullied need to be protected under the law,” he wrote in his
letter to Boxer.
Although
her son wasn’t physically attacked , Amber Baker was concerned for Avory’s
safety.
“Words
hurt to me a lot longer than being punched,” she said.
To
date, none of the several teenagers involved in the incident have been
punished, according to Scott. The school declined requests by NBC4 for an
on-camera interview, but in a statement said the district is "committed to
fostering a respectful culture" and have "given this matter the
utmost attention."
"The
district's policy is clear: we investigate any allegation of bullying and
implement appropriate consequences and interventions accordingly. District
policies require that schools follow positive progressive discipline
practices," LAUSD said in a statement.
"L.A. Unified
is a national advocate for safe and affirming schools for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning students. We will continue to work
closely with the school, the student, and the family," the statement continued.
According
to LAUSD policy, a principal may recommend expulsion if a student is found
harassing, threatening or bullying a peer but only when other forms of
correcting the issue fail and/or a danger to physical safety exists.
Avory's
mother said her son's principal suggested the bullies attend a sensitivity
course, and the recourse for not going would be suspension. Only one teenager
attended, she added.
To
date, none of the teenagers involved have been suspended, Baker said.
Baker
said school administrators told her son that the students who allegedly bullied
him “have a right to have fun and laugh and be loud in their high school
years.”
The
taunting came as a surprise to Avory, who said he was guaranteed a safe and
healthy environment from the school’s principal, Debbie Smith.
After
attending a Gala for Gays and Lesbians in 2012, the principal, who heard Avory
speak at the event, personally invited him to attend the school for the 2013-14
school year, the student said.
He
had been homeschooled the three years prior to attending Daniel Pearl because
of his fear of being bullied that stemmed from a prior incident at a school
within the Los Angeles Unified School District.
