A story of extreme middle school bullying gives hope to other victims

My guess is that most of our listeners have heard about the sexual assault case involving junior varsity football players at Damascus Senior High – an assault that one prosecutor described as “astonishingly cruel.”  While it’s easy to dismiss such occurrences as extreme and rare, it does beg the question, is this evidence of a much broader culture of abuse and bullying in our schools? 

Tonight’s guest is here to answer that question.  Just a few years ago, Knott Kavanaugh was the target of never-ending abuse at the hands of fellow students at a Fairfax County middle school.  The bullying got so bad, and the teacher apathy so persistent, that he attempted suicide at age 13.  After Knott’s mom pulled him out of the school and became a home schooler, Knott wrote a book about his experiences as part of a class assignment.  When he saw the affect his story had on other bullied children and their unaware parents, he knew he could make a difference by sharing it with people – and he’s here to do that tonight.  We’re also joined by Knott’s mom who will give us a parent’s perspective on bullying.