It's Time to be Constructive

As the recent conversation on Patch indicates, bullying is an area of high concern in this community.

Comments have been posted from the perspectives of people involved with both football teams as well as by those not directly affected. In all cases, your passion on this topic is clear. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this forum.

Only those who have witnessed or participated in a youth football game know for certain what happens on the field. That is true in any situation. While I have not observed youth bullying since I was a child myself, I think most would agree that it continues to be an unfortunate reality in our society, whether it occurs at school, during an extra-curricular program or in one’s own neighborhood.

At this point, I believe it is time to focus on the subject in general. To that end, I have closed the comment section on the . 

But that doesn’t mean the conversation about bullying in general has to end.

It’s a subject that often comes up among educators, who stress that there are three types of people involved in bullying situations — the bully, the victim and the bystander.

Which role do you play? Which role do your children play?

It is my hope that readers will continue to engage in this conversation and if problems are identified, that the community will band together to address them. You are welcome to continue to use Patch as a forum to express your views. I ask that you do so in a civilized manner. Name-calling, finger-pointing and speculation as to the identities of anonymous commenters will not solve anything. But working together to identify problems and solutions might.

A Buffalo Grove resident has announced he is in the early stages of . An . Do you plan to get involved? Do you have other ideas on how this problem should be addressed?

I hope that by working together in a constructive manner, the community can reach some consensus and find solutions that will put this issue to rest, in Buffalo Grove and beyond.