Minnesota

In fact the bullying at school has been out of hand, at least here in my Central Texas community. The mean kids telling the Hispanic kids to go back where they're from – when so many Texas Latinos have Texas ancestry dating back four generations or more, in some cases since before the Texas Revolution. The mean kids carefully do so out of earshot of the adults, on the playground for instance. That was happening during the first term. Can't imagine it has gotten any better.

A friend's son on the autism spectrum had other fifth graders texting him to kill himself a few years back. He was too traumatized to go back to school, or even be around other kids without his mom or dad around.

The Texas Legislature did one thing right. They banned the use of cell phones by students during the school day. I'm hoping that will help put a damper on the bullying.