School Authorities Didn’t Take a Student’s Bullying Complaint Seriously Until Her Mother Gave the Principal a Taste Of His Own Medicine
Holly Blair (@hollyablair) talked about getting bullied in middle school on TikTok. Instead of being helped, the principal decided to punish her for standing up for herself. Holly’s mother wasn’t going to let that happen and decided to give the principal a taste of his own medicine.
Holly said she was heavily bullied to “movie” levels. She made the example of mean notes in her locker and being intentionally tripped, among other forms of physical and verbal bullying. From the looks of it, the aggressors took notes from Disney movies and applied them all to real life. Holly claims she fought back occasionally but decided it “wasn’t worth it.”
Until one bad day, Holly decided to snap at one of the bullies. The perpetrator in question shared that her father left in the middle of the night and was not seen since. Holly used this information and said, “You’re the reason why your dad left in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. Didn’t take a single sock, didn’t take nothing—it’s because of you. It wasn’t because of your mom, it wasn’t because of your brother. It was because of you because you’re an insufferable little asshole.”
The bully was so taken aback by Holly’s words that she apparently reported it to the principal, Mr. Baldwin. Holly, who has been reporting bullying to teachers, was essentially ignored. But when that bully reported Holly, the principal immediately called her to his office.
Holly said that the principal thought her words were so “mean” and “unacceptable” and decided to call her parents to address the issue.
Calling the wrong girl to the principal’s office
“If there’s one thing about my mom, she will advocate for her children if they are being bullied,” Holly prefaced. Since Holly has been bullied for months now, her mother assumed she was called into the principal’s office to discuss her daughter’s case.
Apparently, Holly didn’t initially want her mother involved and has been trying to resolve the bullying on her own by reporting to teachers. Unfortunately, the teachers were not responsive.
“What Holly did was absolutely unacceptable, and we don’t tolerate that in any capacity. So, we are moving forward with punishment for her,” Mr. Baldwin supposedly said to Holly’s mother.
“She’s been being bullied for weeks; she finally retaliated and said something mean, and now she’s getting punished?” Needless to say, Holly’s mother was surprised. The principal practically agreed. Baldwin seems to have missed the irony of the situation.
Holly’s mother asked what her daughter should do the next time she’s bullied. His response here was equally appalling.
“You want her to sit and take it and report to the teachers who have not done anything… You want her to sit and be bullied and abused by these girls?” To that, Baldwin apparently agreed that Holly shouldn’t retaliate.
Schools suck at handling bullying, even on TikTok
This is just a recollection of her mother’s words from Holly, but the read against Baldwin couldn’t be nastier. Baldwin was obviously offended by this and said he wouldn’t “tolerate” such treatment.
But her mother reminded Baldwin that he’s supposed to “just take it.” It’s the same abuse that he thinks her daughter should sit through from those girls. Baldwin seems to have realized his lapse in judgment. He dismissed Holly without punishment and decided to “handle” her situation with the other girls.
Many TikTok users were in awe of Holly’s mother, and others were speculating that Baldwin got his ego hurt. But concerningly, some users brought up the question of why schools are terrible at handling bullying. In Holly’s case, she was being bullied and then ignored.
In Holly’s case, she was being bullied and then ignored. It’s possible that schools are underfunded, and resources to help students who face violence are scarce. In Holly’s case, administrators simply didn’t care and thought she could “tough it out”—even if she shouldn’t. But if Holly’s case is the latter, then her bullies should’ve known that whatever they dish out, they should be ready to take.
(featured image: hollyalair on TikTok)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
