No bullies!

Cy-Fair ISD will seek help on stopping bullying
by Ericka Mellon / Houston Chronicle
khou.com
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 11:21 AM

Administrators from Cypress-Fairbanks ISD said Thursday that they will form a committee to study school safety issues and seek advice from bullying experts following the recent suicide of an eighth-grader whose family contends he repeatedly was harassed on campus.
Superintendent David Anthony, in his first public comments since the suicide of Hamilton Middle School student Asher Brown, said the district needs to work with the community to try to prevent bullying.

"As far as bullying activities, if you want to get an idea of that, you can go to the theater or to the mall or to the churches … because it’s not limited to schools," Anthony said Thursday at the first school board meeting since Asher shot himself in the head at home last month.
To curb bullying, Anthony said, the 106,000-student district must "work with everyone because it’s going to have to happen at home, at school, after school, in church. That’s where we cure it."
‘This is a tragedy’

Board member Larry Youngblood countered that the district needs to focus on what it can do for students at school.
"We get to train them on these kind of things — what to do and what not to do," he said. "I don’t worry about the malls. There’s nothing I can do about that. That’s their parents. We have to control as best we can, support the teachers as best we can, when they’re in and under our control."
Anthony responded, "And we do. I think we’ve found that true. I mean, this is a tragedy we’ve had to go through."
Anthony said that Hamilton probably had as many or more student behavior and support programs than any of the district’s 80 campuses.
"I don’t think there is one fail-safe (program)," he said. "If there were, every campus in America would have it right now."
Cy-Fair Independent School District officials did not discuss who would serve on the school safety committee or what it would do, other than to say it would review best practices and talk to experts.

Associate Superintendent Teresa Hull gave a slide presentation that listed various anti-bullying and behavior programs already in place.
Last spring, for example, the district issued a series of 10 curriculum lessons addressing bullying and drug awareness that were to be taught monthly at all grade levels, Hull said.

She also said the district was implementing a tip line that students could call or text with concerns.
School denies contact

Asher’s mom and stepfather, Amy and David Truong, said they called Hamilton school officials and visited the campus several times over the last 18 months to complain that their son was being bullied. They said some students would perform mock gay sexual acts on him in physical education class.
David Troung said Asher told him he was gay on the morning of his death, and said the family didn’t condemn the disclosure.

According to a written statement from Cy-Fair ISD, the district’s initial investigation concluded that Asher’s parents made no contact with the school regarding bullying. The district said his mother contacted his school counselor about two weeks before his death asking Hamilton’s staff to monitor his behavior "due to a significant emotional struggle within the family."
The investigation was ongoing as of last week, but the district has not released an update.

This story was brought to you thanks to khou.com's partnership with the Houston Chronicle.

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