i agree wifflum, i graduated from high school in 1984. and back then ,even teachers and officials within the schools bullied me. i was called many names, for i am gay. i was not out and even was more masculine than any of the straight boys there. i went to a school for music, we had choir and such. but because i chose to be myself i was harrassed and made fun of. if i had known than, what i could have done. i too would have made this public and brought this too the proper channels. but when you have the staff and school boards doing the same thing, it makes you wonder why kids now a days are the way they are. i also went on to get married and have 3 children, for the pressures of being who i was supposed " to not be" made me choose something i was not! now i am divorced my family and my children, grandson and my partner all love each other for who we are. i taught my children better, and to accept and want to be accepted. this poor young man , he lost his sight. all because of i am sure , his parents and thier wicked bias and bullying ways. its is not only taught at home , but as my opening statements , it is also taught in the schools!

A bully would scream repeatedly in my hear. Almost two decades later, I still have problems with this ear. There are days when I've had to put something in my ear because any kind of sound produced soreness. I knew I wouldn't get help because teachers would just say stupid things like "Just ignore them" or "He probably likes you." Yeah, I got damage to my ear from an admirer. >:(

I hope they get every penny and then some! This bullying has got to STOP!

This has to stop.

It's not okay, it's not cool, it's not funny and it doesn't make the bully look tough, strong or smart. In fact it does just the opposite, you are a coward, inhuman, weak-minded and most of all an ugly excuse of a human being.

Yes, I have spoken up and confronted someone bullying another person on more than one occasion and only because it was the right thing to do, not for my own benefit or acknowledgemnet. Stop this disgraceful behaviour and try kindness and understanding for a change. Disgusting!

wifflum - you got bullied twice and it messed up your life? You need thicker skin and more self confidence. I was bullied, too, for my weight; but it taught me how to be more self reliant and care less what others thought of me; and I used it to motivate myself to take better care of myself. Sometimes I fought back, sometimes I walked away; but it did not mess me up mentally or emotionally.

I'm sorry for anyone who has been bullied or is being bullied, and agree it should never happen. But there is no way we'll ever totally rid society of it, so we should do our best to limit it and help the victims move on however best possible. Bullies have low self esteem, and knock down the self esteem of others. Even with all the crappy liberal child raising over the past 30 years, esteem has not come up across the board. So, instead of just going after bullies, we also need to teach kids how to resist and overcome it. Not easy, no, but we can't go through life being victims of something that happened 20 or more years ago.

wifflum - you got bullied twice and it messed up your life? You need thicker skin and more self confidence. I was bullied, too, for my weight; but it taught me how to be more self reliant and care less what others thought of me; and I used it to motivate myself to take better care of myself. Sometimes I fought back, sometimes I walked away; but it did not mess me up mentally or emotionally.

I'm sorry for anyone who has been bullied or is being bullied, and agree it should never happen. But there is no way we'll ever totally rid society of it, so we should do our best to limit it and help the victims move on however best possible. Bullies have low self esteem, and knock down the self esteem of others. Even with all the crappy liberal child raising over the past 30 years, esteem has not come up across the board. So, instead of just going after bullies, we also need to teach kids how to resist and overcome it. Not easy, no, but we can't go through life being victims of something that happened 20 or more years ago.

pittsburgboy, there used to be a time, not very long ago, when some people donned with white robes and hoods could run rampant through black communities, beating up, raping and lynching black people for entertainment. Law enforcement officials often ignored any criminal complaints, as some of the perpetrators were police officers themselves. Also, it was hard to convict these people, because it was almost impossible to find a jury that would convict a white person for committing a crime against a black person.

However, although we have never “totally rid society of it,” overt racism is not tolerated any longer in this country; and it is not because we have “helped the victims move on,” but because we as a civilized society together decided to stand up against it by prosecuting and jailing the perpetrators, no matter how long it took.

I do not think it is a stretch to compare school bullying to the antics of the Ku Klux Klan. Both are cowardly acts against vulnerable people. As Edmund Burke put it, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." So, I would have to respectfully disagree with you in saying that it is the responsibility of the victims to "grow thick skins" and ignore their tormentors. Would you tell the black communities to “grow thick skins” and “move on” or that they needed to learn how to “resist and overcome it?”

I would hope not. Instead, it is the responsibility of all of us to stand up for anybody who is being victimized by thugs because they are perceived as somehow different from “the norm.” If local law enforcement (including parents or school officials) choose to ignore the problem, then the Federal Government needs to step in just as it did 50 years ago because bullying should be looked at as a civil rights offense, in my honest opinion.

they most likely need the money for all the surgeries this child needs...........hope you nor your children ever get maimed or blind. but from your comment i see you already are blind, to life and acceptance......you make me sick!

If you beat someone until they're blind, you can expect to be sued for a lot of money. That's completely appropriate.

Except they are suing the school, the school didnt beat anyone. There should be charges against the school aides however, Criminal Negligence. It obviously took far too long for the aides to act, its not like cafeteria fights are quiet, especially with the surrounding students cheering them on (as usually happens).

The school is responsible for safety. You don't care about the situation. You probably just skimmed the article so you could go off on some baseless rant about how someone other than you is getting money for a crime that was committed against them.

So, the ENTIRE school district is responsible because a few people didnt do their job right? Right, im the one going on a baseless argument.

Got it! A bit slow on the uptake, but got it just the same (end of grueling workday). Eureka! You're just a troll. Go back under your rock or bridge or whatever.

This CHILD was at a school and had been repeatedly bullied in the past. The school, being aware of the problem and the severity of the attack, should have been protecting him and it was not.

The lawsuit is legit. If a security guard at your work place did nothing to protect you in an attack from your co-workers, you would have every right to sue your employer. It's no different here, particularly given his history of being bullied.

You don't get it. the Parents sent their son to school fully expecting that he would be safe from violent attacks by other students while on school property. They failed to do their job. His health care will be expensive. He will need psychiatric care for some time. Cover one of you eyes for a couple of weeks and see how you fare. He is facing a lifetime disability because of the school's negligence. What will prevent a similar event? Make it painful for the school.

Moheeheeko

"So, the ENTIRE school district is responsible because a few people didn't do their job right? Right, im the one going on a baseless argument."

Yes you are. The school district runs the school that hired to people and made the policies that allowed this to happened. If you buy a Toyota and a defect in it causes you to have a serious accident that severely injures you, do you sue Toyota, or eh guy on the assembly line that put the defective part on the car, or the plant that assembled it?

Your argument is beyond baseless. It's just stupid.

you must be really, really stupid

So why not use for the medical expenses only? I'm sure that they are under $16 million. Family is looking for a payday as well. Sad world we live in.

To all those blaming the school or the aides instead of the actual bullies:

I work in an urban middle school. We are told repeatedly NOT to get involved physically in a fight. (Probably because, if it were our job to physically break up fights, and we were to get injured doing so, then we could sue or go out on disability. Or, if we were to get involved, and accidentally injure a student while pulling him/her off a fight, then we can also be sued.) The only people who can break up fights are the school police. Unfortunately, what with the budget cuts that are becoming so popular all over the country, there are not nearly enough school police. My school, for instance, has roughly 1,300 students and exactly 1 school police officer. I do not know the precise circumstances of the incident in Brooklyn (if this article is all we have to go on, then none of us know the precise circumstances), and perhaps there was negligence. (In fact, I remember, years ago, a girl lost an eye in a fight at another middle school where I was working. The teacher was calling frantically for 10 minutes before the gruesome incident, for security to come help, and they never came. Who did the administration blame? The teacher.) But it is also easy to imagine that the cafeteria aides called for help, yelled at the students involved, and did everything else that they're allowed to do, and the bullies just ignored them, until security actually arrived.

Who to blame in that case? The aides? The school district, even though they're dealing with inadequate budgets handed down from the city? The security officer, for being busy someplace else when the call came in? The parents of the bullies, for raising little cretins? Or maybe blame the bullies themselves? The problem with that, though, is (1) they're not adults, and in our culture we don't like to blame kids, even teenagers, for anything, and (2) the kids don't have $16,000,000 available to fork over. How about blaming the voters, who seem to think that schools can be run on a shoestring budget, but seem surprised when things go wrong?

No that boy was minding his own business and it escalated to this because he's different beat him because he looks a certain way beat him because he is gay beat him, regardless no one has the right to put their hands on you and I can't believe no one stopped it or helped him it is rediculous how cowerdly today's children/young people are. I stuck up for everyone I was popular and talanted but I didn't ridicule anyone for not being like me I praised anyone who was willing to fight for the rights for all not just me myself and I

ashleyaddams

to get the type of injury he has it had to been a good 15 minutes and to have 2 children arrested speaks volumes

First, if it was the glasses that broke and splintered into his eye, that would have taken all of about 1/2 second.

Second... two "children" arrested? The arrested punks were low life POS thugs. They were NOT children. The kid is just lucky they didn't use a knife or other weapon.

Oh, and after my own bullying stopped, I became the go-to peacemaker. The others being bullied came to me for help. As I had already kicked a$$ on my own tormentor, the others backed down quickly. So I know from personal experience what the "attackers" were and are. Cowards, unable to deal with anything alone and they operate in the pack mentality to make themselves appear superior.

Agree XD 8) The bullies in my school were always cruising in packs 8(

toughen up and grow a pair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For someone who "toughened up" you certainly remember what happened to you in detail. Doesn't sound like you got over it, which just proves how devastating bullying is, even to people who pretend like it didn't affect them.

Sheri.Get your gay friends and watch a revue.You need bucking up.Get a pint of ben and jerrys too

I usually stay out of these discussion because they all too often attract name callers who have the brain power of fleas. However, let me share this tale of bullying and the school personnel who join in all too often.

My son was born with a hare lip, cleft palate and mild dyslexia. From K-junior high, he was taunted with ugly names, repeatedly pushed down stairs during class changes, and once knocked unconcious while in his classroom. His "teacher" who watched refused to let him go to the principal's office to report his abuse or to ask for medical help.

I sued the school board. OUr lawyer told me to serve the court summons. The principal refused to take it saying, "My teachers and are too busy to testify." The good angels were sitting on my shoulder. I said, "well, the superintendent told me to give it to you." This piece of garbage who allows his students to be beaten in a classroom snatched it from my hand and, heading to his office, said, "I'll call her and just see about that." I ran like a track star from the building and presto, he was served.

Yes, I won and I used the money to send my son to a private school that specialized in special children. I have never been more proud of myself. My son has now graduated from Medical school and practices as a physical therapist. Thanks to several great plastic surgeons, he is also handsome. Married, father of two.

Rock on, family. Sue the butts off them. There are sins of commisson and there are sins of ommission. This school district committed both.

Too many people still hold the mentality of "boys will be boys" and "sometimes things go to far, but nobody died, did they?"

This young man is BLINDED in his right eye, possibly for life, because some selfish, self-centered youths thought they could prove their manhood.

He is left with one eye that is now taking on the load of providing him with sight, and it's an orb that is vulnerable to further injury and/or illness--if and when the sight in that eye goes, he will be completely blind. How is he supposed to be a productive member of society in that instance?

And what's going to happen to his quality of life in other ways? What about driving? He is now forever ineligible for military service; that avenue of possibility has been closed off to him, as have any other number of jobs where two eyes are essential to his and others' safety.

A multi-million dollar lawsuit against a school system that knew but failed to protect him against a problem is not excessive... not once that amount gets nibbled down by negotiation and lawyers, especially.

It was not the "proof" of manhood. It is assumed that you are "gay" if you do not chase after the girls, and openly show interests in them. I was under such threats when I was in high school a long time ago, because I was not interested in the "girls" at the time. My only concern was my school work, and getting good grades. I never got beat like that. That young man is mostly blind in that right eye for life. Every kid involved should go to jail, and the teachers fired for not doing anything about it. The person doing the bulling is not going to stop if he sees that "no one" is going to do anything about it! Even as teenagers you learn the concept of "might makes right".