Cops: Conn. Mom Gave Son Weapons For School
HARTFORD, Conn. (CBS 2) -- A national effort to fight bullying is coming to schools all across the country. This comes on the heels of an alleged bullying case in Connecticut that borders on the unbelievable.
Arrested and charged with the unthinkable is 38-year-old mother Sylvia Mojica of Hartford, accused of giving her 12-year-old son a BB gun and folding knife to take to his elementary school to defend himself because he was being bullied, reports CBS 2's Scott Rapoport.
It was an alleged desperate act that has shocked fellow parents at the school.
Today, the issue of bullying and bullying prevention has become a national concern -- through a federal initiative. The U.S. Department of Education is sending letters to schools, colleges and universities all over the country clarifying when bullying in schools may violate anti-discrimination laws and "... explains educators' legal obligations to protect students from student-on-student racial harassment, sexual and gender-based harassment, and disability harassment."
President Barack Obama is expected to help promote the effort.
"We've got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage, that it's some inevitable part of growing up. It's not," Obama said back on Oct. 21.
Psychologist Dr. Joel Haber is a bullying expert and supporter of the measure.
"I think what we're trying to do now is let every school know they have an obligation to raise awareness in the faculty, raise awareness among other kids and help kids who don't have the resources to help themselves, so they can feel safe," Haber said.
"Oh it's a great idea. I think it's wonderful. You know, I really do," said parent Nick Phillips of Short Hills, N.J.
"I think the schools should be a safe haven for our children. And I don't think anyone should be bullied," added Bayonne, N.J., parent Maryanne Murduce.
This as the White House said it will host an anti-bullying conference early next year and discuss tools to prevent the kind of behavior that allegedly drove the Hartford mother to arm her son.
That mother, Mojica, has been charged with risk of injury to a minor.
The boy has been suspended from school for 10 days. Administrators are investigating the bullying allegations.
