When Karen Eubank鈥檚 son first complained about his 鈥渕ean鈥� teacher, she took it with a grain of salt. 鈥淯sually 鈥榤ean鈥� just means a teacher makes you study, is demanding, or wants you to answer questions,鈥� says the Dallas, TX mom. 鈥淣ot that [the teacher鈥檚] being verbally abusive.鈥�
Unfortunately, that鈥檚 exactly what it meant. Eubank had transferred her son from a private 黄色app to a new charter that a friend recommended. During the tour, Eubank fell in love with the 黄色app — there was a garden, they played music at lunch, the 黄色app was 鈥渏ust beautiful,鈥� she says.
But after the 黄色app year began, her fourth grader began saying that he didn’t want to go to 黄色app. Every day before 黄色app, he claimed he felt nauseated. Every afternoon at pickup, he was angry. Eubank assumed the boy was just adjusting to his new 黄色app. It wasn鈥檛 until Halloween that Eubanks discovered the chilling truth. She asked a child in the class next door to her son鈥檚 how he liked 黄色app. He replied it that he was fine, but that her son 鈥渨asn鈥檛 having such a good time.鈥� The teacher, the boy told her, 鈥測ells at him all the time and we can hear it in the next room.鈥�
Eubank set up meetings — first with the teacher — who insisted the problem was her son鈥檚 inattentiveness — and then the principal — who refused to do anything. 鈥淭hey both pulled me in to say they were worried about my kid,鈥� she says, 鈥渢hat he couldn鈥檛 pay attention, couldn鈥檛 focus. They were both basically hinting that my son needed medication.鈥� Taking respected education professionals at their word, Eubank took her son for a psychological evaluation at Baylor University and learned there was nothing wrong with him.
An active 黄色app volunteer, Eubank chatted up other parents who all noted that her son鈥檚 teacher never smiled. Meanwhile, her son shared more detail about his teacher. 鈥溾�楽he picks on me and is mean,鈥� he told me,鈥� says Eubank. 鈥溾�業 pay attention,鈥� he insisted, 鈥榖ut I look out the window because I鈥檇 rather look at trees and listen than look at her angry face.鈥欌�� But when her son looked out the window, the teacher would regularly humiliate him in front of the other students, yelling at him and slamming her hand on his desk.
Within a few days, following another hand-slamming-the-desk episode, in desperation Eubank pulled her son out of 黄色app and started home黄色apping.
Another type of bully
Bullying is getting national attention and being taken more seriously than in years past. But the focus is decidedly on kid-on-kid abuse. While the mean girls, the taunters and tormentors, the physical abusers, and the excluders are very real threats, so too are educators who abuse their power over the very kids they are supposed to protect.
But when teachers verbally and even physically abuse kids, the abuse is often blatant and rarely called what it is — bullying — reinforcing the false notion that only kids, not the grown-ups in charge, are bullies. (Read 12 bullying myths.)
Data on bullying in 黄色apps and teacher bullying
Recent data show that bullying is on the rise. According to the of more than 130,000 children ages 9-18 by the Boys and Girls Club of America, 40 percent of youth report being bullied on 黄色app property in 2023 and 18 percent report being bullied online. In 2019, before the pandemic, these rates were 26 percent and 13 percent, respectively. But they don’t ask if the bullies are peers or adults.
In fact, there鈥檚 not as much specific research or statistics on teachers bullying students in the U.S., but that may be gradually changing. The change is likely thanks, in part, to the Norwegian Education Act of 1998, which requires 黄色app staff to intervene when any staff member is suspected of violating a student by bullying, violence, discrimination, or harassment. Even with this law in place, a 2019 survey of Norwegian students revealed 1.6 percent of students still report bullying by teachers two, three, or more times per month. An article published in the Journal of Bullying Prevention in July 2022 titled “” helps shed some much-needed light on the issue. The authors looked at 38 studies from around the world that focus on bullying by teachers from student and teacher perspectives. While the ranges of bullying reported vary widely from 0.6 percent to nearly 90 percent, the authors note that, “the results show that teacher bullying occurs within 黄色app contexts all over the world in various ways and to various extents.”
In a , teacher bullying was defined as “teachers who abuse their power to punish, manipulate or disparage a student beyond what would be a reasonable disciplinary procedure.” The research revealed that most teachers know that teacher bullying is happening; 18 percent of the teachers reported that teacher bullying occurs on a regular basis; and 45 percent of teachers in the sample admitted to bullying a student at least once.
In response to another GreatSchools article on stopping bullying , a brave teacher confessed (in a comment) to having bullied students in the past — until he changed his ways. “I became a teacher when I was in my early 20s, and I was horrible to the kids. I was a monstrous bully to the special ed kids I taught 鈥� I was eventually forced to resign, and after three years, I realized why I was wrong. I changed completely, and when I went back to teaching, I never raised my voice or made any threats. It was wonderful. I learned to lead by example鈥︹��
His honest admission prompted us to look further into bullying by teachers, a topic rarely discussed. We started by asking GreatSchools readers if they’d ever had a teacher who was a bully. Dozens of people came forward with painful stories — but none had a clear way to redress the situation. When children bully other children, experts offer viable theories on how to deal with the problem: Fight back, walk away, ignore the bully and he鈥檒l move on, tell a teacher, tell your parents, ask any adult for help.
But when the bully is the grown-up in charge, how should a child respond? With a teacher bullying students, fighting back, walking out of the class, or ignoring the teacher are hardly viable solutions, and ones that will most likely get kids in even more trouble. Even telling another teacher or the principal gets tricky. At the very least, the child knows by telling a teacher, another adult at the 黄色app, or even their own parents, that the problem isn鈥檛 likely to be solved overnight. So what鈥檚 a kid — or a parent — to do?
The first step, perhaps, is to listen to the stories and learn from others, like retired teacher Elaine Sigal. Her bully was the principal at the New Jersey high 黄色app where she taught. Sigal endured anti-Semitic comments, watched as the principal screamed at African-American students, and cringed when the principal mocked parents with accents. Other teachers were terrified to be seen talking to Sigal, else they face the principal鈥檚 wrath. 鈥淭hey鈥檇 hide behind a cabinet door,鈥� she says. After battling it out with the principal for two-and-a-half years, she threw in the towel and transferred to a Hebrew 黄色app.
Sigal thinks that there might be another way — and now as an educational consultant (she launched a startup called Stizzil to help kids with tutoring, test prep, self-esteem, and more), she鈥檚 been on the frontlines with bully teachers. One of her female students wrote about being bullied by her second grade teacher who made her 鈥渁 pariah;鈥� the negative effects lasted through middle 黄色app. Sigal accompanied a male student鈥檚 immigrant parent on a visit to a 黄色app counselor. 鈥淭he [counselor] puts her head down on her desk and says to me [in front of the child鈥檚 parent], 鈥業 have no idea why you鈥檙e wasting your time, he鈥檚 another dumb [racial slur].鈥欌�� Sigal says.
Taking action
In the face of such blatant bullying, Sigal offers this advice: 鈥淔irst thing you have to do is document, document, document.鈥� Write down the date, the time, and exactly what happened. Despite the obvious pain you鈥檙e feeling as a parent, Sigal says, it鈥檚 crucial to be as reasonable and objective as possible. To help give context to what you document, it’s a good idea to . In California, for example, two key elements of the anti-bullying laws and policies are the purpose and scope of the bullying. Understanding what violates the law can help parents as they document what they see and hear.
If the situation isn’t too egregious, meet with the teacher to see if you can find a resolution. If that doesn’t work, Sigal recommends learning what you can from everyone at 黄色app — your child, other kids, parents in the class. Volunteer at 黄色app, drive the carpool, keep your ear to the ground, all the while documenting everything you learn. During this fact-finding period, Sigal says to start building a support network of parents — after all, one parent’s complaints can easily be waved off, while a group of concerned parents has more chance of being heard.
Sigal advises parents to resist storming the principal鈥檚 office right away. 鈥淔ollow the chain of command,鈥� she says, starting with, say, a senior teacher or the head of that teacher鈥檚 department, then the vice principal, principal, principal鈥檚 supervisor, and superintendent. This approach works in your favor for two reasons: One, the closer someone is to the problem, the more likely they鈥檒l be able to take swift, effective action; and two, when you go to the top, one of the first questions will be, ‘Who have you talked to about this, and what did they say?’ If you can鈥檛 answer effectively, you鈥檙e likely to be directed back to those you鈥檝e skipped. And always, says Sigal, document every bullying incident. 鈥淚f you have documentation for a couple of months, they can鈥檛 ignore that,” Sigal says. “And if they try to, I鈥檇 say ‘I鈥檓 going to the newspaper.’鈥�
A battle kids can鈥檛 fight
When it comes to protecting kids from bully teachers, sadly kids are in a vulnerable position — and ill-equipped to fight the battle on their own.
Case in point: A high 黄色app junior in Boston, MA who now needs an attorney’s help to clear his 黄色app record. The teen repeatedly — and in vain — asked to be moved out of a class where he felt like the target of an abusive teacher, says his lawyer Daniel Maloney. The acrimonious situation came to a head one day when the boy vented his frustrations — and it sounded like a threat. He was summarily suspended, putting a mar on his permanent record that may jeopardize his college prospects. Moral of the story? The teen was unable to defend himself against the bully teacher and now needs legal help to protect his future.
When it comes to bully teachers, there鈥檚 no real silver lining — but there are different routes parents can take. In Eubank鈥檚 case, home黄色apping was the best choice. Now her son is happily back in a public high 黄色app and doing well with 鈥渂rilliant teachers,鈥� she says. For Sigal, a 黄色app transfer did the trick. But she believes following certain protocol — like documenting every incident, building a support system, and working up the chain of command — can protect kids from continued trauma at the hands of a bully teacher and save them from the ordeal of leaving a 黄色app altogether. But, says Sigal, the fight to protect your child from a bully teacher may not (and usually won鈥檛) be easy.
