School Bullying

This is my first blog. I started because I want to share my feelings about the bullying our children face in school. And that many schools are not doing enough to address this issue. My brother has been dealing with bullies since he moved to this state. The schools and the school board have been made aware of the issues several times and yet nothing changes. He started high school this past school year and because of bully's he started having panic and anxiety attacks. So he missed a lot of school. He went for several doctor appointments and they found that he had mono at one time and sent him to a place to help with the panic and anxiety. The school was aware of this too. Nothing changed. They took him to court for truancy. They put him on an improvement period. He did the best he could and made it there, but he was late. So they put him on probation. He had to see a social worker, and be home by 8pm. The social worker found there was no need for her to be there. This goes on for months. The day before the end of the school year he was stabbed in the back with a pencil, in class, with the teacher present. They had to cut his back to get pieces of the pencil out. My brother has done everything the probation and courts have asked him to do to the best of his ability. This past Friday they went back to court. His lawyer brought up him being stabbed. Neither the prosecuting attorney or the judge would address this issue. They sent him to a group home. This group home is two hours away. He had to be taken out to the van while having a panic attack. His first day there he didn't eat, drink or even go to the bathroom and had several panic attacks. Today he went on an outing and got sick and had to go to the doctor. The school he is in is suppose to have a zero tolerance policy. So why is he the one being punished? Why won't they address the issue of  him being bullied? I read on line that this school he is in, is being looked into by the federal government because it has one of the highest rates of bullying in the country. My son, who has Down Syndrome, goes to the school where the trouble started for my brother. My son was suspended three days end of the school year for defending himself. Another kid was choking him and it broke into a fight before the teachers aides decided to step in. It doesn't seem like many of the parents here care about this either. It is time that as parents we speak up for our children. The schools we send them to should be safe and there is no excuse for them not to be! And there is no excuse for a child being bullied to be the one punished! He has been fighting this for years. I see no justice in what the judge had or has decided for my brother. I just pray that the place he is in can help him with the panic and anxiety attacks. Something good has to come out of this.