Batavia High School

A reader I know and trust to be truthful on sharing something like this, put together the image above and sent it to me. He said it's a collection of Facebook status updates from people being bullied and their tormentors. All of the teenagers involved, he said, are students at Batavia High School. He said knowledge of an increase of cyberbullying against some students at BHS is common knowledge among the students.

One point I want to add: Cyberbullying is a crime.

It can be charged as harassment in the second degree, which is a Class B misdemeanor. Cyberbullies should be reported either by victims or their parents to police. Witnesses can also report crimes, but in most cases it will take a victim who cooperates with the investigation to proceed with criminal charges.

UPDATE 12:34 p.m.:  I received an e-mail from somebody familiar with the situation and said students from mulitple Genesee County high schools are involved and one of the targets is not a student of BHS.  Any confusion on the school involvement is the result of my own misunderstanding of the original e-mail I received.

He sent along the following op-ed with the image.

In the age of social media and increasing technology, every day people see things on the news about cyberbullying and harrassment and many don't realize the seriousness of what is being done. Sometimes they don't think it's happening to anyone they know. Sometimes they don't think its happening to anyone near them. Sometimes people don't realize how serious it can be until it's too late.

Recently, many students in Genesee County school districts have had their Facebook news feeds, filled with cyberbullying of a few students, and the issue is only getting bigger and more widespread. But only a few are standing up for the victims, while more and more join in to bully, and many of the victims, are sitting back without knowing what to do.

"Like this stuff was bad. Worries me... :/" stated one student's Facebook comment. It "turns your stomache. Doesnt matter what someones done noone deserves that to be said," said another when responding about the nature of the cyberbullying posts.

In the most recent and student popularized bullying case (photo collage), there is one student being bullied, and upwards of 30+ cyberbullies making comments directly or indirectly toward her, while hundreds of students have 'Liked' status updates supporting the bullying acts.

According to the nonprofit website www.stopcyberbullying.com:

'Cyberbullying' is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. Once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyberharassment or cyberstalking.

Cyberbullying can be done for many reasons. Many times, it's done by someone with insecurities, hoping to boost their social standing. Other times, the power-hungry do it looking to boost their ego. There is also the bullying done as revenge, out of anger, and sometimes students are cyberbullying without even intentionally trying to.

While many students, usually believe their words are harmless, what they say can many times lead to a higher level of misdemeanor cyberharassment charges.

There are two kinds of cyberbullying, direct attacks (messages sent to your kids directly) and cyberbullying by proxy (using others to help cyberbully the victim, either with or without the accomplice's knowledge).

Not only does cyberbullying, include harassment that could bring upon legal issues, but many times, it also turns into defamation. Defamation, which is also known as slander, is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual a negative image. Many times students often take it to the extent of defamation by making up rumors or doing whatever else it takes to make the bullied look as bad as possible.

Parents need to be the one trusted person kids can go when things go wrong online and offline. Yet they often are the ones kids avoid when things go wrong online. Why? Parents tend to overreact. Most children will avoid telling their parents about a cyberbullying incident fearing they will only make things worse.

Parents also need to understand that a child is just as likely to be a cyberbully as a victim of cyberbullying and often go back and forth between the two roles during one incident. They may not even realize that they are seen as a cyberbully.

The message is simple. Don't write it. Don't send it. For more info on cyberbullying and how to prevent it, visit http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/.

A 2010 Attica graduate, Jesse Kern, that is currently serving in the Army, publicly defended one of the most recent victims on his Facebook page and posted this video and commented: "People just don't get it."

With these photos, you are looking at the future of Batavia Blue Devils football, and from all appearances, it's a bright one.

The Batavia JV squad is undefeated on the season and going back to last year, when the team went 6-2, the junior Blue Devils have 13 straight wins.

All of this winning has come under Head Coach Brennan Briggs.

Briggs credits the players.

"We don't really have any superstars on the team," Briggs said. "They really work well together. They've bought in to what we've been teaching -- work hard, no excuses football."

The JV team beat Bishop Kearney on Monday night 47-14.

Assistant Coach Brandon Ricci said there are 10 to 15 players on the JV squad who are likely to make varsity next season, including some freshmen, and each of them could make a contribution.

"They might not take a starting job from a senior, but you won't be losing much when you put them on the field," Ricci said.

Next week, BHS JV plays Olympia and according to parents at the game, it will likely be the team's toughest challenge of the year. To reach 8-0, the JV squad will need to beat a team also looking to finish with an 8-0 record. The game is Saturday afternoon at Van Detta Stadium.

Here's how the team faired in its previous six games:

Game 1 @ Bath W 27-0
Game 2 @ Bishop Timon W 27-20
Game 3 vs. Livonia W 29-20
Game 4 vs. Le Roy W 30-12
Game 5 @ Elba-Byron Bergen W 48-17
Game 6 vs. Attica W 36-6

 

One year ago, then-Board of Education President Andy Pedro proposed a resolution creating a review committee for all city school field trips, with the hope of instating some sort of moratorium or strict criteria for all trips. Pedro was looking ahead to the dark days under a possible property tax cap, and thinking creatively on how to save money with cuts to non-mandated programs.

The resolution passed, and the committee was formed.

That committee has not met one time since. But its vision was realized Monday night, as the board voted 5-2 to deny the Batavia High School hockey team its annual trip to play in an out-of-area tournament.

“It’s got nothing to do with the hockey program, nothing personal against hockey,” Pedro said. “My opinion was no field trips, period.”

But what will make the ruling frustrating for players, parents and coaches is that the trip would not have cost the district a dime. All of the money was raised by the players and the Hockey Boosters club, to completely fund the cost of the tournament.

“If these organizations are raising this kind of money…our district is in a tough financial situation right now, and it’d be nice if that money could help alleviate the pain the district is feeling,” Pedro said.

In other words: have the sports teams at least partially pay for themselves.

Senior Board Member Patrick Burk echoed that sentiment.

“We’ve been given a directive to cut all of our interscholastic athletics, as well as clubs and activities for students, by a large amount,” Burk said. “When you’re looking at sports…in order for (them) to even be in the district next year, they may have to raise this amount of money just to save their program.”

Burk noted that imposing “pay-to-play” restrictions on high school athletes is illegal in New York. But, it’s not illegal to have a sports boosters' club raise the money to fund a program. Burk pointed to the Elba Central School District, which cut football out of its budget in the middle of the last decade. A football boosters club was able to adequately fundraise and save the program that year.

“At some point, somebody’s got to be the ‘bad guy,’” Burk told his colleagues, or all sports and other extracurriculars could suddenly disappear simply because they’re not mandated.

The two board members voting to approve the hockey team trip were Amy Barone and Steve Mountain. Mountain saw no reason to deny the kids a trip they’d worked toward throughout the year.

“To me, it’s giving the kids the opportunity to do what they want to do,” he said. “I think that they deserve the opportunity to go.” But he also expressed that he never hears much feedback from area parents, which may have skewed his decision.

Pedro says he does hear a lot of feedback from parents, who say enough is enough when it comes to fundraising.

“I had two kids who played sports all through high school, and the fundraising just gets out of control,” Pedro said. “I think (the hockey team) can accomplish what they need to accomplish by staying in our area, playing competitive teams.”

PHOTOS: inset top, Patrick Burk; inset bottom, Amy Barone, left, and Steve Mountain.

City School Superintendent Margaret Puzio confirms this afternoon that a short lockdown occurred at Batavia High School today, as a female student was subdued by police.

The student, age and grade unknown, became "upset" according to Puzio. She was deemed "a danger to herself."

All other students were confined to their classrooms as the girl was apprehended. Puzio estimates the actual lockdown period was only about five minutes.

The identity of the girl and any disciplinary action she faces from the district will be kept confidential.