Tanya Sydney, Minnesota Mother, Banned From School And Bus Stop For Confronting Son's Bullies

A Minnesota mother has been banned from her child's school and bus stop for defending her son against bullies, WCCO-TV reports.

After her 10-year-old son Sovante Griffin complained about taking hits from boys on his school bus, Tanya Sydney confronted the bus driver, who told her he couldn't 'be in 50 million places at once,' according to WCCO-TV. That's when Sydney took care of the situation herself -- by yelling at the two boys Griffin said were the bullying perpetrators.

Sydney then walked Griffin to school, and Griffin and the bullies later apologized to each other. But Sydney received a letter from Griffin's school principals telling her to stay away from the bus stop and school property for the remainder of the academic year. She has filed an appeal, but says she doesn't regret what she did.

Sydney's banishment comes after a series of parent-involved school bullying incidents across the country.

Last September, Florida dad James Jones did something similar -- he charged onto a school bus and threatened his 13-year-old daughter's bullies. He was fined and did community service as penance, but told the Today show last month that he would do it again.

More recently, a Long Island mother was arrested last week for allegedly provoking two girls into a schoolyard fight. And a similar situation in August involved a Michigan mother and father who encouraged their son to fight a bully -- but the school crossing guard was the one who got caught up in the altercation.

Comments

[Shelly Marie]

03:49 PM on 11/06/2011

I think she did what any GOOD MOTHER would do! She loves her child!! I would do the same thing for my son!! Which I have, in a similar instance! But it was a parent who bullied my kid! She also has 25 years on me and is a good foot taller than me! LOL! You mess with my kid you mess with me! Our children need to know they can go to someone they trust and to someone that will help them if they are feeling helpless! It's called caring and LOVE!!! So many parents these days are so naive to what their children are doing, or maybe they just don't care...and SO many school administrators & parents are so damn LAZY, JUDGMENTAL, CADDY, and they could care less about taking appropriate action...it is sickening! If you, THE PARENT, isn't going to stick up for your child, your blood, your greatest blessing and your greatest gift from the lord above...THEN WHO IS??

[Shelly Marie]

03:49 PM on 11/06/2011

Did you hear about the little 11 yr. old, beautiful little girl that took her own life a couple weeks ago from Bloomington, MN because she was being bullied! What is going on with this world today?? So So So sad! 11 YEARS OLD!! And no one really knew that is was going on!! Why?? Did the little girl feel she couldn't trust anyone, or that she'd get bullied more?? Kids need to understand that by them hurting someone, physically or emotionally...could result in someone taking their own life!! JUST TERRIBLE!!There are so much crime and violence around our children these days! Look at the cartoons they watch, video games they play. Well it's not their choice on what they get to watch or what they get to play. Who's the parent?? It's our choice! Our kids need to be in activities, outside playing, and need to watch movies from years ago...like SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON!! :) Good family movie with GOOD FAMILY VALUES!! :)

[Howard Latchford]

08:33 AM on 10/03/2011

There is no more gutless a creature than a school administrator.

[rues]

08:38 PM on 09/30/2011

When we moved to Detroit from California, my gentle blond very short son, with glases was terrified. Kids picked on him, threw his books, you name it. I flew my linebacker 6'4 295 lb. college student son to Michigan. He stood by the entrance and waited for his little bro to go to his locker. There, the boys came to pick on him. My son walked over and gently closed one of the bullies lockers and said "you have a problem with my little bro?"...It was amazing, that is all it took. No threats, nothing, the mass of my son spoke tons. More power to this Mother, schools brush this stuff off way to often. What goes on in little minds, when they can't take it anymore. Someone has to stop the bullies of the world..its gota stop...peace

[calicoerotica]

07:07 PM on 09/29/2011

You go, Mama! You did the right thing protecting your son. I'd do the same without a second thought. Parents of these bullies should be forced to pay fines to the school for their kids bullying behavior. Those fines could go toward paying for a separate class area for those who are busted for bullying. Let all the bullies sit in a class together. Might as well, they'll probably be sharing the same jail cell a few years down the road.

[madjanssen]

03:57 PM on 09/27/2011

Coincidentally enough, after reading this article, I watched a movie 'Tormented' about a boy who killed himself after constant bullying from his schoolmates. He then came back from the dead, kinda like a zombie, and killed them off one by one. He didn't even spare the mean soccer coach who also encouraged the bullying. Of course it will never happen in real life but at least now the internet has made it easier for us to support mothers like Tanya. I hope she stays strong and I'm sure her kids are grateful to her for what she did for them.

[rdsmith627]

09:32 PM on 09/27/2011

Zombies are a very real threat.

[slumlord420]

02:18 PM on 09/27/2011

He can ban her from school property, but there is no way he can ban her from the bus stop which is on a public street.

[thewholetruth1]

01:41 PM on 09/27/2011

If a child is deemed a bully by a school, it should go on their permanent records. A lot of bullies strive on schools failure to communicate. Bullies are not created overnight.

[SOD]

08:34 PM on 09/27/2011

That would forever tarnish a person's future for little more than juvenile indiscretion.

I think it would be better if you realized that children are not adults and treating them like adults only makes things worse.

Who would decide a child is a bully with your permanent record "solution"?

[rdsmith627]

09:33 PM on 09/27/2011

Well said. Plus, I see nothing wrong with bullying. The pansies who are letting themselves get bullied better get used to it. Right now it is their peers, then their bosses, then their wives!

[Elizabeth Forbes Wallace]

10:57 AM on 09/27/2011

Vas you 'dere, Charlie?, a quote from radio personality "Baron Munchausen" (Jack Pearl) comes to mind.

None of us reading this article were. None of us readers of this article can pass judgment on either side with so few facts. There is no, I believe, video tape of each of the incidents and even, then, it would be taken from the camera's angle, an inherent bias in itself.

What we need is more MEDIATION and less LITIGATION. Perhaps some of these events are molehills made into mountains. Perhaps there are nuances to these events that are not portrayed here.

[jenimbird]

09:16 AM on 09/27/2011

What happened to the golden rule? Do unto others as you would have them to unto you NOT do unto other before they do unto you. In other words treat others the way you want to be treated. It all starts with respect of the other person. Think of others before yourself. I was taught that at a young age, not really hard to do. I have a lot of admiration for this person stepping in. If the school or bus driver isn't going to step in, then someone should.

[GlennWatson]

11:07 PM on 09/27/2011

Do you think this woman was practicing the Golden Rule by shouting at small children on a bus? Really?

Jesus said to turn the other cheek 70 times 70 times.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[scarletxoxoxo]

05:49 PM on 09/28/2011

I hope you are saving your money so that you are able to post bail for you children in the future.

[manmythlegend]

08:39 AM on 09/27/2011

Schools always drop the ball on bullying. I'm not mad at this woman at all. The parents of the bullies should be on her side as well.

[champions1]

11:30 AM on 09/27/2011

thank you, i agree the kids should all be brought together with the parents and told this is wrong and not to do it again, but parents are so willing to listening to their lying little angels that they ...really should know their child is a brat or not...make their children accountable for their actions...Just my opinion..do not want to cause a fight but UNTIL we start teaching these children the GOLDEN RULE...what is right is right and Wrong will only bring you down...these kids do not understand there are only two place's to go to SCHOOL or to JAIL. when are we as parents going to hit that register...

[joannevlavender]

12:35 AM on 09/27/2011

Bullying is the buzz word of the 10-11 and11-12 academic years. At our site, bullying simply isn't tolerated. That doesn't stop parents from calling and complaining their child is being bullied. Last year, one set of parents took the anti-bullying class for parents. Suddenly, their son was being bullied every moment of his time in my classroom, on the playground, during PE...etc.

I watched that child's behavior and his interactions with the children in my room carefully. He was not being bullied. But he had a nasty habit of, during "rug time", pinching the toughest kid in the class when he thought I wasn't watching. I documented that carefully and presented it to admin and the parents. They stopped whining about their son's being bullied.

So, the question really becomes who is the bully, and who is the one being bullied?

[SOD]

08:38 PM on 09/27/2011

"So, the question really becomes who is the bully, and who is the one being bullied?"

Children are being bullied by adults who are pushing this bullying obsession to the limit.

[JoyceBains]

12:33 AM on 09/27/2011

She can't be near the bus stop OR the school? I'd love to see that legally enforced. Mom needs to lawyer up.

[Raejeanowl]

12:44 AM on 09/27/2011

There a great deal of First Amendment involved here, isn't there?

[rockymtnal]

12:23 AM on 09/27/2011

Hey, schools! You can't have it both ways...either you want parental involvement or you don't. My kids are all adults now, but if something like this happened and nobody in the school district was willing to handle the issue, I'd do considerably more than yelling. Protection and Restraining Orders work well...imagine if the bully wasn't allowed to come within 1,000 feet of the victim...you think his parents would be pleased having to drive their kid across town to another school?

[msdaubie54]

11:53 PM on 09/26/2011

When are schools across this country going to remember that THEY are responsible for our children while they are waiting for a bus, while they are on the bus, while they are on school grounds, and get off the bus that afternoon? Oh wait a minute, did that law get changed somewhere along the line over the past, oh, 20 years since my kids went to school? I would have done the very same thing this mother did IF it were my child being bullied.

[rockymtnal]

12:28 AM on 09/27/2011

In my world, there's a legal obligation called, "Duty to Care." If someone is in your custody (and that includes schools), you have such a legal obligation and can be subject to civil suit for ignoring that obligation.

If this was my kid, there'd be a restraining order issued on the bullies so fast that their parents wouldn't know what hit them...and then I'd file a civil suit for emotional disrress, etc.