To the editor: The current tragedy at Benjamin Franklin Excessive Faculty has left college students and households fully devastated (“Investigation underway after student dies in fall from balcony at Highland Park high school,” Sept. 30). This heartbreaking loss just isn’t an remoted incident; somewhat, it displays a steady failure in our system to guard kids contained in the very buildings the place they need to really feel most secure.
The late pupil’s household has said he had been bullied earlier than his loss of life. Persistent bullying and harassment have shaken our complete neighborhood, leaving us with pressing questions. The place is our authorities, and why is it failing to help our faculties and shield our youth? For too lengthy, extreme harassment has been ignored or minimized by college administrations utilizing excuses like underfunding or low pay or deflecting whole accountability onto mother and father.
We should act now. Our youngsters can’t proceed to be left remoted and unprotected. We should cease viewing bullying as a standard ceremony of passage or a survival battle to see who’s the strongest. Stopping bullying prevents crises and saves younger lives. It’s by no means “only a youngsters’ battle.”
I urge the native college board and the district superintendent to right away audit our faculties’ anti-bullying insurance policies. We should rework our faculties into true secure havens and supply satisfactory, accessible psychological well being counselors for each pupil. Our neighborhood should maintain management accountable in order that no different household has to undergo such crushing sorrow.
Marlene Guerrero, Los Angeles
