Carbonyl said:
Then don't have just one person in there, I know I was allowed to be alone with my teachers and my guidance counselor, there was no law or school policy against it. The office can be in a busy suite of other school offices, the door can have a window. The point is that schools should provide at least one safe place, and at least one person to provide emotional support on the payroll. That's what I want.
Oh, there's no laws against it, but it seems to be encouraged in order to avoid scandals that can threaten a teacher's chances at employment.
Your suggestions are interesting, but it doesn't really solve the problem. I can see several flaws in the application of this idea as well:
1. Depending on the school, how large do you think these groups of students would become? Think about it, if bullying is such a problem then these independent rooms might not even be big enough for the bullied population.
2. Wouldn't these rooms, which basically distance the 'different' from the 'normal' even further not cause an even greater divide? I mean, yes, you'd be safe for say, lunch period, but the effects of bullying might be further encouraged by this divide, which could cause even more problems when these students are in the 'general population'(hehe prison metaphors work well for public school). I mean, I can basically hear the guys from my high school calling it the 'pussy room' even now. It makes sense to have a safe room, but I could see that creating an even larger stigma. Could very well be like painting a target on your back.
3. Well, ignoring the problems with public school funding, this 'emotional support' assistant is not a bad idea. I still see problems with it, mostly based on my own experience with public school 'emotional support' which seemed hollow and disengaged. I think the issue you'd have there is finding people who would legitimately care about your situation, but by all means not a bad idea.
I can see where you're coming from, but for me it's more an attempt to hide the problem then actually solve it. For your situation I can see the benefits, but I'm just trying to see if there's more general applications to the system that can help negate bullying to an extent, and I just don't see that happening in this model.