Here’s your sign: Teen gets public punishment

updated 10:25 p.m. ET May 17, 2007

TEMECULA, Calif. - A seventh-grade girl got suspended from school for a week for bullying another student. Then Mom got involved, and things got worse for Miasha Williams.

During the suspension week, the 12-year-old's mother, Ivory Spann, made her daughter stand outside various schools with a poster reading: "I engaged in bullying behavior. I got suspended from school and this street corner. Don't be like me. Stop bullying."

"I don't want that kind of environment at the school my child attends, or the school any child attends," Spann said.

The suspension came May 10, after Miasha and some friends at Gardner Middle School heard that they had been insulted by another student and aggressively confronted her.

"At first she was boo-hooing and saying, 'But, Mom, I didn't do anything.' Well, let me tell you, you did do something," Spann said.

Miasha's last day on sign duty was Thursday. "I don't want to hold the signs, but I think it's the right punishment," the girl said.

Spann said she also plans to organize anti-bullying rallies at high schools.

Patricia Mathis, assistant principal at Gardner Middle, said she supported Spann's right to discipline her child.

"My theory is this: Parents know their children far better than we do as educators," she said.

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