Could you give me some advice on this situation?

Ok, let me explain the situation. I'm trying to help this teen I know deal with a pretty tough situation. He lives with his mom because his dad abandoned them when he was little. He goes to a public high school in a middle to upper class area. There he often gets bullied by the popular kids from well to do families, because he's poor and can't afford a car or the brand name clothes that they wear. His mom is getting exasperated by the fact that NONE the school officials are doing anything about it. He has few friends and is pessimistic much of the time. The parents of the kids who pick on him seem to almost condone their behaivor, I think they look down on students from poor families and are teaching their kids to think the same way. His attendence and grades have understandably been suffering and I hope he doesn't drop out. I try to tell him to hang in there and it helps him some, but the problem is still getting worse and I hope I can help him and his mom resolve this situation.Could you give me some advice on this situation?
Schedule a meeting with the principal and attend it along with his mother. Make sure the situation is covered in detail, and take specific notes of what the principal agrees to do. Tell him or her that you are giving the school a fixed amount of time (say 2 weeks) to deal with the situation, and then you are going to the superintendent.





If that does not work, go to the media. Many stories recently about just this sort of problem, and it ALWAYS gets the problem dealt with.Could you give me some advice on this situation?
gentleman,





Having dealt with much of the same crap while I was coming up, I can certainly understand how the kid can be down. Kids are the cruelest to their peers...I suppose it's always been that way, and it always will be.





Now, please understand that I'm not condoning the bullies' behavior, but neither should what they do be an excuse to let grades slip. It's time to put things into perspective...nothing those empty rich kids say or do should have any impact on this kid, as long as the attention doesn't get physical. At that point, the choices are to fight back or to go to the police.





The razzing is having a negative impact only because this kid is giving value to what these kids are saying. To h e ll with them. No one cares about (or remembers) what happened during school after it's all over with anyways. Do to well is the very best revenge.
i dont know how to help with out knowing the kid. what he really needs is a good friend his age to hang out with reguardless of what he wears/ has. tell him to get invloved in something other than school. he sounds like a good kid, it should be too hard to make a friend
This is very common, and it often happens in schools these days, including the school's response to the matter. If no one will help you, you may consider bringing the issue to the school board. If it continues to get worse, you may consider trying to get him into another school or even homeschooling.


Good luck!
The best that I can suggest is A. making yourselves a real pest to the school officals (and the appropriate parents while you are at it), bugging them every single day with a long list of complaints of every single thing that these other kids have done with all relevent details. But that might not give you the results that you want, since most of the time, school officals are limited to acting only on the things that they actually see and, like you said, the parents are dismissive of the matter or B. moving to another school district. I'm assuming that private school is out of the question and that his mother won't want to move just to switch schools, but many public schools (in PA anyway, I don't know where you are or if that same rules apply) will let you switch to another school as long as they are not expected to provide the transportation. Perhaps there is another school in the area that doesn't have quite so many rich snobby brats. You are certainly doing that right thing though, telling him to just hang in there, that it is a temporary situation, and that the opinions of those little jerks don't matter anyway. But it is quite understandable that he is still feeling a bit depressed about the situation, given that he is a teenager and cannot see the big picture as well as you can. Good Luck!
The best thing is a change of school and some good old fashioned councilling. Unfortunetly kids can be cruel and they often learn this habit from their parents. A change of school, with new kids and a better self attitude is really what he needs.


:)
talk 2 the mayor or government and just tell him 2 step up 2 the kids not 2 be (bad) but he should just step up 2 them and tell them how he feels what is going on tell him 2 talk 2 teachers principle and consluer tell the teachers whats going on like miss/mr im having a problem in school and i am low on grades and attendance and dont wanna fail is there a way that i can improve with it and is there a way i can handle it with out dropping out or (fight them)


tell him 2 talk 2 a close teacher what he and his mother has been going on i grew up not knowing my parents and got threw it
Kids can be really mean, have you tried to get his mom to buy him clothes at a thrift store or goodwill in the real upclass areas. Usually you can find nice name brand clothing really cheap. Maybe that will help him to not get picked on as much. If that doesn't work, is there a way he can get transferred to a different school in a different area? That might work. It is hard enough being a teen, even worse when you get picked on for things out of your control. Good luck and tell him that he can make it through high school, that college is better. Maybe he could get a part time job to save for a cheap car too.
MAYBE HE NEEDS TO MOVE FROM THAT ENVIRONMENT WHERE HE IS BEING BELITTLE AND IGNORED AS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS WORTH. HE WOULD NEVER FEEL AS THOUGH HE BELONGS IF THEY CONTINUE TO TREAT HIM LIKE THAT NO MATTER IF HE STAYS.





UPCLASS IS ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING THAT THOSE PERSONS WE BELIEVE THAT WE ARE BETTER AND BETTER OFF THAN OTHERS, THINK ABOUT THAT!
I think that taking it to the school board or to higher officials is only going to make things worse on the teen. Obviously no one is willing to do anything to help him. The best thing in a situation like this is to let this be a life lesson for the kid. If nothing else he is learning that life is not fair and many people in the world are judgmental and mean. That doesn't make things easier for him now, but, later he will be able to look back and see that this is what made his character stronger. Get this kid in church if he is not already, get him involved in some kind of extra activities outside of school activities, something to give him the extra boost in self esteem that he needs. Show him that the people in his life who love him are still there for him regardless. Get him into counseling. But above all, keep reminding him that high school will soon be over and once he is out in the world making something of himself, no one will remember or care what high school was like. Good luck!
I don't know what grade he is in but you could tell him that high school goes by fast and just to stick in there. I'm in high school right now and I know what that can be like. I have been to college before though and once your out in the real world people don't really do stupid teenager stuff, like making fun of someone for that kind of stuff. He could transfer to another school, I know that at my school they have like a secondary high school, but you still get a high school degree. He could beat them up too, but that might actually make it worse. I would just say to stick in there and when he gets out it will be much better. Hope that this helps.
they have left you no choice contact the police they will take it very serious
I would go to the board of education and if that doesn't do it then i would go to the police. 'Cause if this goes on no telling what might happen. I would be afraid that he might harm himself. Keep encouraging him and if things gets worst he might have to move to another school.
You are a good person for helping this young man. I helped the underdogs when I was in high school because I had some pull and push and people respected me, not adorned me with bull. Maybe if you could employ a student that others like to do some of these tactics.


These were always done very publicly, with the crowds attention. I'll use the name Christine, A real person that I use to do this for.


I would ask a question: ';Christine, I didn't understand what the teacher was talking about.';


She would give me an answer.


My reply would be: Always end with 'Thanks' ';I would have never thought of that.'; ';I'm so stupid for not seeing that. Thanks for pointing that out.'; And then she would show me how she did it and I would genuinely be interested in how she explained it, but I made sure I would smile for everyone to see.


Another one is to show interest in what they're interested in. Always public.


';Christine, you like that new group *blablabla* too?'; ';Do you have the lyric to the *bla* song?'; ';Here's a great picture I found of them in a magazine. You can have it.';


It builds confidence and helps them to help themselves.
Maybe he can look into getting enrolled in a Charter School. He will still be able to graduate with a H.S. diploma but will on ly have to take the classes that he absolutely needs and won't have to spend as much time there per day. or Get on a work program at the same school or switch school or drop out and get GED but that is last thing I would recommend.