Bullying and your kids in the San Francisco Unified School District

Sadly, I have come to learn more than I want to about how bullying complaints are handled in the San Francisco Unified School District. Because kids begin committing suicide as young as ten years old due to bullying, you probably need to start paying attention to it sooner than you think.

The most important thing you need to do, even if you think you might be able to address the issue just between parents, is to report it to your school’s social worker.   Even if your child’s bully has moved on to another child, you owe the next child’s family whom the bully targets the chance to not be the first ones to bring this issue to the attention of the school and their social worker.

Nothing is more frustrating than bringing a complaint about a bully to the school and having the other parent refuse to deal with it and have the school say, “This is the first time we’ve heard a complaint”, even though you know this child has done it to a series of students before.  This effect gets worse as the you approach fifth grade.  Parents or bullies who don’t want to deal with the problem may just wait out the end of the school, confident that the change in schools to middle school will “reset” their records.

So please, if you’re child has been bullied inside or outside of school by a class/school mate, please report it to the social worker.  The social worker this year at Jefferson is Heather Golden, and you can reach her through the main office at (415) 759-2821.   She can take your report and put it in the system that is kept with a student through their entire school career, all the way through high school.

If you are unsatisfied with the response, you can appeal through the Office of Family Voice.