Like Ranger I too am a middle school teacher in an inner city school setting. I am a special education teacher so the opportunity to be a bully or be bullied, depending on how the student handles his/her disability, is even greater. The problem is is that adults dont know what bullying is anymore because kids can be so discreet with it. The other problem is is that kids have way too much freedom to use phones, computers, etc. Parents need to monitor this better and not spoil their kids with the latest gadgets.
Kids are also not taught respect anymore because of the lack of maturity of many parents. These are the problems that should be addressed. When it comes to punishing the bully though, if he/she made the choice to have that much impact on another person's life, he/she can pay the price for those actions. And lastly in the incident that just happened one of the two girls went as far as to post negatively after the girls death. That takes a special kind of sicko who definitely needs to be punished.