As school resumes, effort to prevent bullying grows

“It was horrible — horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible,” Keri Martin, a concerned mother, said Monday.

She’s describing her daughter’s experience with bullying.

Keri’s daughter is a 3.8 student and varsity volleyball athlete. She even has colleges interested in her.

“It started with the cyber bullying,” Martin said. “You know — the tweets, the Facebook.”

She said the online bullying escalated to face-to-face abuse.

Redmond School District officials said they have protocol in dealing with bullying that takes place on school property. They try to handle cyber bullying in the best way that they can as well.

“We have to see that it’s interrupting our instruction during the day,” said Martha Hinman, executive director of student services. “So even if the text comes at 9 o’clock at night and it goes into the day, that’s something we will definitely be addressing.”

However, Martin is still confused on who to call to help her and her family.

“I called the police,” Martin said. “They said, ‘There’s nothing we can do,’ said call the school in the morning, I did — the resource officer got involved, and of course the girls denied it.”

Knowing who interviews and when is not black and white any more.

I really think the schools need to catch up to technology and even the police,” Martin said.

Which is why Redmond High School and Redmond police are teaming up to create a program designed for kids of the “tech” age.

The program is called Text a Tip. Kids can text a number and report all kinds of abuses and issues they see on and off school property.

The number is 541-316-5585. The number is anonymous for those who use it and is reserved for Redmond-area high schoolers., at least for now.

Police say if someone abuses the hotline, they are able to retrieve information needed to find the person behind the number.

The hope is that police can use the same technology that kids use to bully, to put an end to the abuse.