Eckington

Photo by PoPville flickr user Sanjay Suchak

“Dear PoPville,

My granddaughter (11 years of age) is enrolled in the new McKinley Middle School this school year, who previously attended Garrison Elementary School. We had great expectations as it related to the school and their goals. However, after my child was enrolled and started at the school, we immediately began to see major changes in her behavior. Followed with daily phone calls about her behavior being out of control. Being a realistic grandmother, I took the complaints at face value since she was leaving an elementary where her mother works as a Special Education Aid, her other two siblings also attender that school. Therefore, I felt anxiety may be a major issue for her. However, I later found out that she was being bullied by a group of girls that she was afraid of. As previously mentioned, with each phone call we addressed their concerns of her being disrespectful, walking out of her classroom, not completing classroom assignments, talking back. None of which we have seen at home or at her previous school. This lead the family to start a pop-in policy at the school. This popping in resulting in me personally observing this group of girls that my granddaughter had attached herself too. Please keep in mind, with ever teacher meeting, every phone call, all the teachers would say, they see more in my granddaughter and they know she is not like this group of girls. She stand out amongst them, etc.

After frequent visits, and entire days of going from classroom to classroom, I came to realize that this group of girls were totally out of control. I then understood why my granddaughters was acting out. Immediately, we took her to counseling at Kaiser only to find out that she was in fact afraid of them and felt since they never got in trouble that it was easier to hang with them to avoid being harassed. This is what I noticed in the classrooms (more…)