It has been many years since I've been in public school in Glen Cove, New York.  In Glen Cove High School there was a group of student athletes who regularly engaged in bullying.  They were known in the school as "the muggers". Not a weekend went by that someone wasn't physically assaulted  by one or more of that group.  An aquaintance in another grade had his arm broken by one of "the muggers". I personally witnessed 6 of the group physically attack a single student, driving him to the ground where he was kicked, punched and stomped until he stopped moving.  Despite the fact that they were all physically large and strong for their age, they thought nothing of fighting and bullying in a gang.

The administration at Glen Cove High School did absolutely nothing to discipline the students or stop the bullying.  I only had a couple of encounters with them myself but nothing ever happened. They apparently prefered to prey on loner type students without a social support group.  The single reason that the administration tolerated the behavior was that they were athletes and had the support of the athletic department. Those students, despite their sociopathic behavior, were erroneously perceived as strong, heroic and patriotic representatives of the school on the athletic field. But at the same time, they terrorized their fellow students, making everyday school and social lives miserable. 

There were other students at Glen Cove High School who were physically large and strong but who were also decent.   They kept a balance of power of sorts. They were the true heroes of the school and they did it by fighting back when confronted.  This is what I was taught as a child by someone who grew up in a much more dangerous environment. My father and his brother were raised in an orphanage in New York City with 5,000 other children.  One bully who cut my father found himself unconscious on the floor at the hand of my uncle. That same uncle was singularly responsible for ending corporal punishment at that 100 year old institution. He led his fellow inmates to rise up as one against the perpetrators of corporal punishment until it stopped. 

I am not surprised to learn that bullying, even in this small school district, is still alive and well. But I am surprised to learn that the State of New York has extensive laws in place to stop it. It seems that the State of New York is now the protective proxy of the "heroes" of Glen Cove High School. The State has also promulgated regulations and procedures on the subject of bullying that apply to every public school district in the State. 

The reason I am taking the time to write you is that having read the material on bullying on the State of New York website, I note that one of the key features of bullying that distinguishes it from normal conflict is an imbalance of power; the bully somehow has more physical and or social power than his or her victim. I would like to point out to you that anything that the administration of Sullivan West does to enhance the perceived power of someone engaged in bullying, either by failing to stop the bullying behavior, failing to remove the student from the environment or by providing a leadership platform.