Dr. Brown and School Board Members,

By now you are aware of the articles written to document Bobby’s situation. If you haven’t read them all they can be accessed at www.journalpress.com/king-george. There have been several posted comments from the readers. The word "bullying" is coming up over and over.

In one disturbing post someone mentions a child in a HS locker room who was beaten so badly his nose was broken. The victim’s response, "Look, at this school you either learn to take the punches or you learn to run faster- no one will help you here."
Many other posts state, "The teachers are bullied as much as the parents..."

The Journal has received calls and emails from people saying Bobby could be bullied.
For your peace of mind, you can rest assured we have people at the school, students and teachers, who are watching out for Bobby. If we discover any evidence that Bobby has been bullied or is being put into situations where bullying may take place, law enforcement will be notified and the school will be held accountable. I'm sure you will do everything within your power to make sure this doesn't happen.

The superintendent stated there is a "zero-tolerance" policy in place for bullying.

As evidenced by Nealon’s recent behavior, this “zero-tolerance” policy does not seem to extend to the administration. Bullying is exactly what I feel Nealon tried to do at the last meeting.

The only response from the central office so far has been to try to get the mom to agree to an interrogation or as Gayle Hock described it “a meeting to validate her feelings.” I’m curious why it takes two high level administrators to “validate” someone’s feelings. They don’t have to surround and outnumber her, just let them read the powerful email she sent stating exactly how she was made to feel.

If validate actually means verify the facts, please have your people call me and they can listen to the tape. According to the superintendent, the tape Nealon made is garbled.

If your teachers or others are being bullied by the administration as many claim in the online comments, you should do something to make it stop. NOW.
Here is some basic information on bullying.

A lot of times bullies use or pervert their power. The bully’s tactics include degrading, humiliating, insulting, affronting and intimidating the target of their abuse.

Many times this behavior is done in front of witnesses and destroys an individual’s self esteem.

In a bullying workplace trust is nonexistent, especially when management allows or approves it.  When employees or supervisors are aware of bullying and do nothing to correct it they share in the negative consequences. Witnesses should be empowered to report such behavior and organizations must punish the “bully.” 

Based on the comments we have received, bullying could be happening at every level of your administration.

My next series of articles is going to address bullying in the school system. I would like to hear from the superintendent and the School Board members about their plans to reduce the amount of bullying currently being experienced in our division. 

To Journal readers:

If you feel you have been bullied or you know of anyone else who has experienced bullying by anyone in the school system, at any level, you may post your story online, anonymously. Your identity will be protected. Go to the online comments section of this letter, add your comment and post it using the e-mail address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to sign in. You may enter any name to appear with your posting.

Linda Davis

King George