Mother of Greenville teen looks for answers

The Herald - 9/17/2017

Sept. 17--GREENVILLE -- When Wendy Whitmore's 15-year-old became the target of a bully, she expected his school to protect him.

Instead, she found herself defending her son, Chase Whitmore, in court.

An encounter with another student at Greenville High School resulted in an outcome she did not envision when she first heard the story of the confrontation at the school.

Rather than being recognized as the victim, Chase was criminally charged and accused of being the aggressor.

Not sure what to think or what to do, Wendy turned to social media.

"We have had an ongoing issue with this school and their lack of protecting my child from school bullying," Wendy wrote in a Facebook post. "This last incident, where a student punched my son in the the side of his head and face because she 'thought' him and another student were making fun of her, is the final straw."

Wendy said the Greenville Area School District disciplined Chase after he was attacked, saying he provoked the other student into punching him in the face.

Video surveillance of the incident showed Chase did not have contact with the girl prior to the event and remained in his seat during and after the girl punched him, Wendy said.

"When does any student have the right to put their hands on another student and have it justified by school officials?" she said in her Facebook post. "It's against the law for me to punch my child, or anyone for that matter, in the face because they make me mad, but the school justifies it."

In a recent study, about 49 percent of children in grades four to 12 reported being bullied by other students at school at least once during the past month. More than 30 percent reported bullying others during that same time period, according to www.stopbullying.gov. The agency says bullying is "a prevalent and serious problem in today's schools."

Chase, now 16, said he doesn't want to be removed from the school because other students have picked on him.

"I want to stay here with my friends," he said. "I don't like change. I've made friends here, and I don't want to really leave my friends. If I go to homeschooling, I am going to be even more alone."

Chase's sister, Alexis Whitmore, 17, said she has always played the role of protector to her younger brother, whom she describes as "shy."

While Alexis said she has not been subjected to bullying, she said her brother has been the frequent target of a handful of girls at the school.

"They pick on him," Alexis said. "They need to keep to themselves, leave him alone and grow up. I think they have their own issues themselves, and it makes them feel better by picking on him."

In a survey of children who say they have been bullied, 64 percent say they did not report the incident, according to the Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center. The agency also cited a study showing that 57 percent of the bullying situations stop when a peer intervenes on behalf of the student being bullied.

Alexis said her brother's tormentors leave him alone when she is around, but the siblings are separated by two grades, and she can't be there all the time.

"They know I will say something, but Chase is so quiet and he likes to keep to himself," she said. "He's too respectful to actually say something to them."

Alexis said it was wrong for the school to punish her brother following the incident because he was the victim.

"He got punched in the face, why would he get in trouble?," she asked. "These girls just want attention and that is what they are getting. The school is buying into it."

She said her brother also doesn't feel safe reporting incidents of bullying after being punished for someone else's actions.

"They say get a principal or teacher, but he did and he is in trouble," Alexis said. "He doesn't know how to react to certain situations. He is scared to tell the principal, when is that ever OK? He knows he is going to get in trouble because it is going to come back on him."

Wendy said she took her son to the police department to file a report about the incident after she got home from work the day her son was punched. Days after making the police report, she was shocked when she opened her mail and discovered her son was being criminally charged with disorderly conduct, engaging in fighting and harassment without ever being interviewed by law enforcement.

"The cop that made the report never spoke with me or with Chase," she said.

The student who punched her son was only facing one charge -- harassment, Wendy said.

Attempts to contact the other student, her parents and the Greenville Police Department about the incident and to get their take on the incident or the charges were unsuccessful. Because the incident involved juveniles, court records on the proceedings were unavailable.

Wendy said she originally took to the internet to find others who had similar experiences with bullying in Greenville because, "if we don't stand up for our kids, who will?"

"Our son is an easy target," Wendy explained in her Facebook posts. "He doesn't have a lot of friends, he has some learning issues, and is a little socially awkward. I don't want to change schools for my kids, but if I have to I will. I just want something done. I'm tired of him being punished when he is not in the wrong."

Children with disabilities are two to three times more likely to be bullied by non-disabled peers, according to the National Bullying Prevention Center.

Only 10 U.S. studies have been conducted on the connection between bullying and developmental disabilities, according to the organization. "One study shows that 60 percent of students with disabilities report being bullied regularly compared with 25 percent of all students."

Wendy's online plea for help was shared more than 100 times and dozens of people responded to her Facebook posts.

"I was very surprised by the response and the amount of people with the same issue and the overwhelming support we were given," Wendy said.

For legal reasons, Greenville schools Superintendent Mark Ferrara said he was unable to discuss any specific allegations of bullying that involved Chase.

Ferrara said the school has a policy to define bullying because the term can mean different things to different people.

"There would be some common threads, but I think for consistency we need to have that definition so there is no gray area," Ferrara said. "The word is thrown around a lot based on parent or child who thinks they were mistreated. It's an easy catch phrase."

Mark Hogue, principal and director of secondary curriculum and instruction at Greenville Junior/Senior High School, shared the terminology in the policy.

"Bullying is a means of intentional electronic, written, verbal or physical act or series of acts directed at another student or students, which occur in a school setting, and/or outside a school setting, that is severe, persistent or pervasive and has the effect of doing any one of the following three things: substantial interference with a student's education; the creation of a threatening environment; and, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school."

Wendy said she thought the terminology clearly spelled out a "zero tolerance" for bullying. Administrators corrected her.

"After talking to the school, I was informed that Greenville does not have a zero-tolerance bullying policy, although it states in the handbook that they have a 'no tolerance' bullying policy," she said. "I don't see the difference."

Junior/senior high Principal Brian Tokar said there is a difference.

"I don't see zero tolerance in that policy," he said. "I'm saying it's not spelled out with that phraseology, 'zero tolerance.'"

He said people often assume the school has a zero-tolerance policy.

"People want to focus on zero tolerance to focus on a consequence," he said. "When a bullying issue comes to us, we are going to address it. Parents use zero tolerance to immediately jump to a consequence."

Wendy said victims of bullying should not face consequences.

"This is not the first instance with bullying I have gone to them about, but the result has always been the same, little to nothing done by the school," she said. "In most of these instances my son was punished or forced to change his normal routine to 'avoid conflict' -- as the school says -- with the ones bullying him. So let's punish the victim instead of addressing the bully? Really?"

Wendy said she is frustrated and feels helpless about the situation.

"Adolescence is a hard time for any child, but for a child that has social issues -- like my son -- and is picked on by bullies almost daily, it is unbearable," she said.

When asked about the number of bullying incidents that occur at the school, Ferrara said the number was limited.

"If we are strictly sticking to the definition of bullying Dr. Hogue read to you, I think we have very few," he said. "But there are some instances where someone says, 'You looked at me, so you bullied me. You looked at me you were frowning at me, you didn't smile at me, you were bullying me.'

"That happens in the hallway every day. Is that the definition of bullying? Absolutely not. But in some people's mind, that is bullying."

Tokar said social media "has complicated people's perspective and the definition of the term 'bullying.'"

"Certainly social media is designed to be a means of communication, but some of those means of communication are intentionally anonymous," he said. "Messages that are sent are able to be sent and go away, and that complicates a lot of these issues we deal with."

Wendy said her son went to court, and with the exception of the harassment charge, all the other charges against him were dropped. She said the girl who punched her son was also convicted of harassment.

Four weeks into the new school year, Wendy says Chase has not encountered any bullying incidents, but she is being cautious about the situation.

"I'm a little worried," she said. "I'm nervous to see how Chase's remaining years at the school will go because he has had ongoing bullying issues and nothing was done."

Chase's grandmother, Pat McGhee, said she has also approached the school regarding the issue of bullying and she is frustrated by her grandson's predicament.

"When he was younger, he never had any friends," Pat said. "He was always alone. Now that he has friends, what do you do? Do you take him out where he is going to be hurt and bullied or do you leave him where he is happy and has a few friends.

"It's a hard struggle when you are a parent. What do you do that is best for your child? Do you isolate them or allow them in a position where harm can come to them? That's tough."

Like T.L. Miller on Facebook, follow her @TL_Miiller or email her at tmiller@sharonherald.com.

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