Home of the Bulldogs or the home of the Bullies? Hard to tell the difference at this point. As a student of West York Area School District from kindergarten to 12th grade. I have seen and experienced first hand the bullying that happens in the district.

In first grade, there was a girl that sat behind me on the bus. She would call me names and pull my hair. When reported, they pulled the recording from the bus, but nothing was done.

Elementary School was a minefield, I was constantly being called down to the consulting office. At this point, I had my first feelings of not wanting to go to school. Kids were mean, and all the teachers ever saw was my retaliation. Even when explained what happened my word fell on deaf ears.

In Middle School, I was bullied in front of two of my teachers. One told me "Things would get better", the other sat me right beside my bully. I had meetings after meetings with principals, that made empty promises about how they were going to make everything better. Nothing got fixed and I was forced to leave the school for the semester to continue my studies online.

High School, I returned to the district hoping that a different building would be different. That was far from reality. Throughout my four years of high school, I had pictures of me taken and shared around the school on snapchat and twitter. I had kids that would make fun of me because I came out as gay. Every time a situation was brought to authorities attention, the situation was quickly covered up or just not taken care of.

My personal experience isn't the only one that is like this. There are many more students who were also forced at some point to leave the district either due to the district not providing care for those who needed it or forgetting expelled for bullying-related incidences.

Before I graduated from West York in 2017, they started an event called Day of Hope. It's an event that provides education to students about mental illness and depression. It's an emotional day where students share their own testimony about bullying and depression. It's a beautiful event, but it's still falling onto deaf ears and is put on for a show for the district.

There is never any mention about the kids that commit suicide because of bullying. No memorials or flowers, No coming together to change, No true hope until we look at the real mess that had been made. This is why I challenge you to actually make a change within the district.

If you are a student, speak up. Speak up for the students you see being picked on, speak up to teachers that are letting bullying happen in their classrooms. Parents, continue to speak up for your children because they need your help. Teachers, speak up for your students. Our children are the future it is time that we start protecting them in school.