Bullying Leads To Arrest

North Texas has seen 2 highly publicized cases of bullying in recent weeks.

In a story that does not need any more attention, Aledo HS was accused of bullying by a parent after beating Fort Worth Western Hills HS by a score of 91-0.  If it was not for the bullying complaint, many people would not have known about this game (as with the other ridiculously one sided scores put up by Aledo this season).  But since a written complaint was logged, the administrators had to conduct an investigation into this.  Unfortunately, the parent that filed this complain remained anonymous and avoided public scrutiny.  Great time waste there that's all.

The sad story of Shea Shawhan has also reached national levels.  Shea is a student at Plano West Senior High School, in Plano, Texas.  Shea was left with a brain injury from complications during her birth.  as a result she suffers from seizures and developmental delays.  Shea was the victim of many harassing text messages, including some hoping for her death from a seizure and others discussing rape.  The coward sending these messages used a third-party app for a smart phone so his identity would be concealed.  Or so he thought.  Today the Plano Police Department arrested a juvenile male in connection with these texts.  Once again, there truly is no secrecy in cyberspace.  IP addresses are linked to many things, and in this case were used to track down this kid.

Shea's mother has come under scrutiny for publicizing both her daughter's condition and the threatening and vulgar texts she received.  She went as far as placing the screen shots of the messages on Facebook.  I applaud her mother for not standing down and being a victim.  By speaking out and placing her daughter in the public eye, she helped the anti-bullying conversation and campaign.  She also stood by and fought for her daughter, something we as parents often fail to do.  We often are too worried about the consequences, what others will think, how they will judge us, etc.  And after speaking to countless children and victims, many of them echo the same sentiments...they just want someone to fight for them.  Well this mother fought, and she won.

For more information on Shea Shawnham and the fight her mother is putting up, check out https://www.facebook.com/imwithshea