Gay teen beaten after warning school of threats

[Caitlin.ann]

A 16-year-old boy in Texas says his pleas of help to school officials were ignored last week.

Jayron Martin said he went to two assistant principals and a bus driver warning them that some boys were threatening to beat him up because he was gay.

Jayron Martin is an openly gay ninth grader at Langham Creek High in Harris County.

Jayron says last Thursday he asked two school officials for help because a student threatened to beat him up after school that day, but Jayron says he got no help.

When the school bus stopped in his neighborhood, Jayron says nine kids started chasing after him. Desperate for help, he ran into a neighbor's open garage. He says the gang of kids continued chasing him through the neighbor's town home and one 16-year-old boy started beating him.

"He was hitting me with the metal pole, saying 'you're not gonna be gay any more, you're not gonna be any more, and everybody hollering' get the *** and all of that stuff." said Martin.

Link (http://www.thegrio.com/2009/11/openly-gay-teen-assaulted-after-warning-bus-driver-of-attack.php)

[Nicholas]

Disgusting.

I wish the worst for them. I hope they are punished to the full extent of the law, and those who ignored are also punished.

[watersprite]

Yes, unfortunately in the redneck South these things happen. It is an outrage and all the school officials need to be cited and suspended. With publicity.
I guess their Daddies are so proud!

[Caitlin.ann]

These things happen everywhere! Luckily here in the US the assassailants can be charged with a crime..a hate crime no less and be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[watersprite]

They DO happen everywhere. You are right. Still, there is an inordinate amount of Gay bashing here. Mostly they get away with it. Mostly because a lot of southern churches condone it.
The same folks that use God and Hates in the same sentence.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Perhaps just being the arse I am but just where does this tie into the school system having a say or action in it? It did not take place on any property owned by the school system. It did not take place on any grounds the school system had authority over. It did not occur on a school bus, nor on the school grounds. It did not even occur during school hours of operation.

Yes it is pathetic that some teens jumped the kid because of his sexual orientation. Yet it is not the school's place to oversee what occurs outside of their hours of operation or off of property beneath their control.

Without verifable evidence prior to the action the school system really did not even have a justifiable reason to take any action.

I'm sorry but the school is not responsible for what occured nor did it have any legal standing to act upon.

If the kid was that worried he should have been calling mommy and daddy and have them speak to the police about it.

[Caitlin.ann]

Perhaps just being the arse I am but just where does this tie into the school system having a say or action in it? It did not take place on any property owned by the school system. It did not take place on any grounds the school system had authority over. It did not occur on a school bus, nor on the school grounds. It did not even occur during school hours of operation.

Yes it is pathetic that some teens jumped the kid because of his sexual orientation. Yet it is not the school's place to oversee what occurs outside of their hours of operation or off of property beneath their control.

Without verifable evidence prior to the action the school system really did not even have a justifiable reason to take any action.

I'm sorry but the school is not responsible for what occurred nor did it have any legal standing to act upon.

If the kid was that worried he should have been calling mommy and daddy and have them speak to the police about it.

I agree. If it happened off school grounds then the school isn't at fault.

However I remember when I was in high school if we were riding a different bus than the one we were supposed to be on we had to have a signed note to hand to the bus driver. Maybe thats how the school could be held responsible?

ETA: I also remember back when I was in school a few dumbass kids posted youtube videos of them doing stupid stunts and they were or could have been suspended for it.

So there may be some legal issues I don't know about where the school could be held responsible.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Sacredsin wrote: I agree. If it happened off school grounds then the school isn't at fault.


Granted the referenced link it pretty bare of info but it states he ran into a neighbors garage and that the neighbor scared the boys off with a gun. To me that sort of implies it occured off of school property.



However I remember when I was in high school if we were riding a different bus than the one we were supposed to be on we had to have a signed note to hand to the bus driver. Maybe thats how the school could be held responsible?


That was the way it was in the school system I worked for. The kids in question had to have a note signed by a parent for each of them plus counter-signed by a principle from the school.

Yet unless there was pre-existing evidence to indicate such how would that even be accoubtable to the school. I know we had hundreds of such notes every week. Dozen's of kids that were in split households so they rode different buses multiple times a week.

I just think it casting blame in the wrong spot to lay it all upon the school when it really appears to have been in no position to do anything about it to begin with.

[~Audra~]

Yes, unfortunately in the redneck South these things happen. It is an outrage and all the school officials need to be cited and suspended. With publicity.
I guess their Daddies are so proud!

Yeah, the south does suck...trust me i know, i live there...

it's terrifying...if he'd been straight or whatever else that would have qualified him as "normal" he would have not gotten beaten up...

rednecks are like germs...you kill one and five takes its place...

trust me: being "abnormal" in the south is scary...

[Laisrean]

Disgusting.

I wish the worst for them. I hope they are punished to the full extent of the law, and those who ignored are also punished.

Why stop at the fullest extent of the law? Have them be beaten with a metal pole too.

[alwaysfallingup]

In our schools, we have a zero tolerance policy for bullying. So, once reported, the kids are supposed to be spoken with, parents are notified, and everyone is monitored and in some instances, reported to police, and if it progresses or escalates they are subject to harsh disciplinary measures. Maybe by failing to act in any way, the school violated it's own bullying/harassment/hostile environment policies.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

I suppose if the kid can prove the harasment occured in or on school property and was witnessed by another to colaborate the story the school might be found accoutable on some level. But if it occured outside of school property they have no accontable action they can take. It is in essence hearsay of he said she said type scenario.

[TeamTwig]

I thought (from what I heard on the news) that the school involvement was due to school officials being notified and failing to act.

The story I saw said that the bully had been threatening this child for a while, telling him that he was going "to beat the gay out of him". The threats were happening at school, and the boy told his teacher/principal/counselor about it, and they did nothing. So while the attack seems to have happened off of school property, the initial threats were made there, reported, and ignored.

If those school officials had contacted authorities or parents even, maybe this could have been avoided.

I had also heard that the authorities hadn't yet determined if the bully would be charged with a hate crime enhancer. WHAT?? Exacuse me? He beat this child with a metal pipe because of the child's sexual orientation. That is absolutely a hate crime and the little bastard that did this should rot for it.