My UFO (unbelievably fabulous observations)

[hoosiermama]

Nope, not a bully-free school; actually, this was something I tried to implement while I was there but was blocked in doing so. See, to establish an anti-bullying program is to admit there IS bullying present, which is apparently not the kind of message we want to send, dontcha see? Yes, this is the kind of logic employed at this fine Christian school.

It has gotten very clique-ish, even among adults in the parish--you're either in or you're out. Express an unpopular opinion or challenge the status quo, and you're labelled a trouble-maker and excluded. It's become part of the culture there--and I've watched people scramble to kiss up and keep their places. This is why I no longer feel comfortable there--well, that and all that happened to me. It's why I struggled with the decision of where to send D to school this year, her 8th grade year (parochial schools here don't have middle schools--they go from 8th grade into high school). Trying to decide if it was worse to have this introverted, recently traumatized young lady try to make it in a brand-new environment or to hang in for one last year where she was familiar with everyone (and there are many, many good people there, and this has been her whole world as long as she remembers). It is about as far from the view I want her to have of Church as possible, but it certainly didn't start out that way.

I have a sense I am still so paralyzed by feeling rejected and betrayed by the community I once considered home, that I am allowing both D and I to be bullied. Time to wake up from the shock and awe and take some action.