Straight Talk On Bullying At Bloomfield High School

All it took was a perceived slight.

Kellum Smith, a bookish teen, was walking with friends in Irvington in 1997 when a gang who hung around the local high school terrorizing and bullying people thought he looked at them funny.

They brutally beat him as he fell to the ground, and even jumped from parked cars and landed on his back and head while people around him did nothing but watch. The violent attack left him near death. He had no pulse when he was rushed to a hospital.

But after months of intense rehab, Smith recovered. He went onto graduate from DeVry University in business management.

Nowadays, he and his mother Elissa Smith, both residents of Hillside, tour New jersey telling high school students that violence does not pay and bullying in schools must stop.

They told their message at an anti-bullying seminar at Bloomfield High School Thursday along with Jason Bing, the new school district superintendent.

About 425 sophomores sat in rapt attention in the school’s main auditorium as they listened to Kellum Smith’s story and Bing’s tough, passionate talk on bullying, a subject that has gained global attention, from United States to Australia, over the last several years.

The violent effects of bullying have recently dominated the news cycle such as the case of Phoebe Prince, the Massachusetts teen, who hung herself after months of torment from bullies. A popular web video from Australia depicts a teen boy body slamming his smaller bully after years of attacks.

Closer to home, Bing brought up Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University student who committed suicide after his roommate captured a webcam recording of Clementi having sex with another man.

“He (Clementi) couldn’t handle it,” said Bing, who said earlier that morning the presentation at BHS was his first of about seven this year.

Bing also brought up the massacre at Columbine High School caused by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who had a list of cliques and people they did not like.

Bing used them as tragic examples of when victims of bullying react violently against others.

“They skipped the kids who didn't abuse them,” Bing said about the Columbine shooters.

Bing also showed sobering statistics to the students about bullying that had the kids gasping and muttering in their seats.

Bullies identified by age eight are six times more likely to be convicted of a crime by age 24, he said.

A bigger problem in high school these days are girls bullying each other, Bing said.

BHS Principal Chris Jennings agreed. He said he gets more reports of girls ganging up on each other than boys.

Bing called it “female relational aggression.” He cited a 2005 study that showed girl bullying starts as early as preschool with girls separating themselves from other girls if they don’t wear Uggs boots.

But most students are good kids, Bing said, while citing a study from Paterson High School that says 90 percent of students there think bullying is wrong.

“But why do you sit back and let other students get abused on a regular basis,” he asked. “Abuse is not part of high school.”

People are afraid of becoming a possible victim, he said.

He urged the assembled students to stop judging each other and take a stand to sculpt their high school into the image they want.

Besides the anti-bullying seminar, Jennings said the school has addressed cyberbullying while pointing out a cafeteria banner that read, “Don’t be mean behind your screen.”

The message has been sinking in. Bing pointed out Isaiah Scott, a sophomore, who unwittingly took part in the ABC show, “What Would You Do?” with John Quinones.

In a staged scenario, Scott stopped another kid from bullying another.

“If you see something, say something,” said Elissa Smith, who presented last with her son while he sat in a wheel chair.

Though he suffered a brutal attack, her son was fine cognitive wise. she said.

“His mobility is affected," she said, "but he still smiles.”