Thursday, February 21, 2013
There were three fewer incidents reported during the first semester than the same period last year
The amount of bullying incidents at Mentor Schools decreased during the past year, according to a recent report. There were 11 incidents during the first semester, compared to 14 at the same time during the previous school year. According to a report from Assistant Superintendent William Porter, bullying is defined as "any intentional written, graphic, verbal, or physical act that a student has exhibited toward another particular student more than once." Porter presented the report to the Mentor Board of Education at its February meeting. The Ohio Department of Education mandates that all districts provide bullying reports and statistics on a semi-annual basis. The ODE states that an act is considered bullying if it produces mental or …
Friday, February 1, 2013
Dragan and Celija Vidovic sued Mentor Schools after their 16-year-old daughter, Sladjana, killed herself in 2008
Today, the U.S. District Court Judge Donald C. Nugent dismissed the lawsuit that Dragan and Celija Vidovic had filed against Mentor Public Schools in 2010. Their 16-year-old daughter Sladjana had attended Mentor High School before she killed herself in 2008. In their lawsuit, the Vidovics claimed the school knew their daughter was being bullied but they did not do enought to prevent it. The suit also claimed that, as a result of the constant bullying and harassment, Sladjana had to leave the school and eventually became so depressed that she committed suicide. In addition to the school district as a whole, then Superintendent Jacqueline Hoynes, former MHS Principal Joseph Spiccia and guidance counselor Pamela Goss, as well as 10 unnamed …
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
The students and staff offer suggestions on how everyone can make the school a better place
Both students and staff from Ridge Middle School made this video about how to stop bullying and make their school a more welcoming place. They showed the video to their classmates Friday. This video was first published on and appears courtesy of the Mentor Schools web site.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
The district's bullying policy is being expanded to include cyberbullying
The Mentor Schools Board of Education is meeting 7 p.m. today at the district's administrative office and they have both the schools' bullying policy and annual appropriations budget on its agenda. The Board has a first reading scheduled for the district's proposed policy toward harassment, intimidation and bullying. The new policy is similar to its predecessor. (It's attached to this story as a PDF if anyone wants to read it in its entirety.) However, it expands the definition of bullying to include electronic- or cyber-bulling. "Cyberbullying" includes taunting, intimidating or embarrassing fellow students using phones, computers or other electronic means. The proposed policy lists abusive texts, posting embarrassing photos on the …
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
See William Porter give the school district's report on its anti-bullying efforts from the second semester of the school year
William Porter, the director of Mentor School's kindergarten through eight grade education, gave the School Board an update on the district's anti-bullying efforts during the board's meeting Tuesday night. Each semester, the district gives the board an anti-bullying report. This report's information came from the 2011-2012 school year's second semester. (Click here for info from the first semester.) Porter said Mentor Schools had 12 reported bullying incidents at Mentor High School, eight at the district's middle schools and 2 in its elementary schools. That is twice as many bullying incidents at the high school as last semester and three more than the second semester last year. The middle schools also reported two more bullying incidents …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Board can also vote on a resolution pertaining to calamity day alternative makeup plans
William Porter, the director of Mentor School's kindergarten through eight grade education, will present the Board of Education with the district's semi-annual bullying report during its meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday at the administration building. The report offers statistics on the number and type of bullying incidents that are reported in the schools. It also highlights any new anti-bullying initiatives that the district is focusing on. During the previous anti-bullying report, Porter said bullying incidents have decreased at the high school and elementary schools, thought there was a slight increase at the middle schools. Previous reports focused on the dangers of cyberbullying and other pertinent topics. Mentor Schools has had two lawsuits …
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Elementary students learn what life is like for kids with disabilities during the Celebration of Differences event
Students at Hopkins Elementary School learned about different disabilities some children their age experience during the school’s Celebration of Differences event. This exercise in empathy featured several stations that were set up to simulate the effects of certain disabilities. For example, students simulated dyslexia by trying to color while looking in a mirror or wore blurred glasses that simulated a a vision impairment while completing a worksheet. Parents and students from theMentor High School’s early childhood program volunteered to help run different station. Celebration of Differences is part of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. It discourages bullying by teaching students to have empathy for those who are different from …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The “Combating Teenage Bullying in Your Schools” Seminar Series is aimed at helping school administrators, staff, bus drivers and educators address bullying and harassment, both on campus and off
The office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) will hold the second in a series of seminars to combat school bullying from 4:30 to 8 p.m. today (May 8) at Memorial Middle School. The “Combating Teenage Bullying in Your Schools” Seminar Series is aimed at helping school administrators, staff, bus drivers and educators address bullying and harassment, both on campus and off. The senator's office has paired with the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the Ohio Department of Education, the Anti-Defamation League, Gay and Lesbian Education Network and Equality Ohio to hold the seminars. "Whether it happens on school grounds, on the Internet or via cell phones, bullying has disturbing consequences …
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Superintendent, principal say documentary only tells one side of the story
Both Mentor Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Hoynes and Mentor High School Principal William Wade posted messages online Wednesday, reacting to the trailer for the documentary "Mentor." The documentary, which is directed by Alix Lambert, is about bullying and teen suicide at Mentor High School. For the documentary, Lambert interviewed the parents of Eric Mohat and Sladjana Vidovic. Both sets of parents have filed lawsuits against the school district. They claim the school did not do enough to prevent the bullying of their respective children and that the bullying ultimately led Eric to shoot himself and Sladjana to hang herself out of her bedroom window. The Mohats' lawsuit has been dismissed. The Vidovics' suit is still ongoing in …
Friday, March 2, 2012
Local businesses, Mentor High students raise money for the Brandon Shima Anti-Bullying Fund
Mentor High students and local businesses teamed for the second annual Brandon Shima's PROMise. The event commemorates the life of Brandon -- a 16-year-old Mentor student who died in November 2010 after suffering from a reoccurring MRSA infection. It also raises money for the Brandon Shima Foundation Against Bullying. Expressions Bridal, Jenniffer & Co. and American Commodore Tuxedo provided the evening wear, makeup and hair styling. The models for the event were all Brandon's classmates.
Michael Bojana Talevic
11:38 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
The Article also did leave out details the girl may have had PTSD since they were from a war zone in Bosnian and Not All though most Balkans people live by Turkish rules where the girl is nothing and son is everything. Parents should have pulled her out of school or changed the school and at the same time retained a Attorney to push to have something done as I am doing with 2 Croatian families … more ›