It’s official. Sophie is a victim.

At our meeting this morning, the principal informed me that per the school’s anti-bully policy, Sophie now has a file that includes information about last week’s bullying incident.

Sophie’s got a victim file, the principal added unnecessarily.

That’s the only time during the meeting I teared up.

The principal confirmed that after her “investigation” (which involved questioning the two girls who bullied Sophie but, curiously, not the girl who initially reported the incident and mentioned far more than the bullies copped to) this was determined to be a very serious case of bullying.

Apparently, two older girls were leaving the cafeteria at lunch one day early last week and grabbed Sophie’s lunch box on the way out. Sophie got  upset and the incident of “keep away” continued on the playground. A teacher was told that Sophie “was sad,” and the teacher did talk to the girls involved. 

But she apparently didn’t tell anyone else about it.

And that, the principal admitted, is where the school’s anti-bully policy failed. With an adult, not with a kid.

Thank goodness that kid went home and talked about it, or no one — not the principal, Sophie’s teacher, or I would ever have known.

And it’s important that we all know, because one of the girls involved has a long history of inappropriate behavior. Very inappropriate. I won’t go beyond that, for confidentiality purposes, but if your mind wanders to the worst places, you’re in the neighborhood.

Annabelle has had to learn to fend for herself against this girl. Sophie simply can’t. When I heard that girl came near Sophie, my blood began to boil. And it hasn’t stopped.

All the right things were said at this morning’s meeting. But that, as I told the principal, is not enough.

It reminds me of the Bully Free Pledge that is read over the loudspeaker at school every Monday morning.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m anti-pledge in general. The Pledge of Allegiance creeps me out. I don’t like any rote behavior that lulls people (particularly children) into a false sense of security and, well, for lack of a better word, allegiance.

The little girl who ratted out the girls bullying Sophie stuck to the pledge. The adult didn’t. So what good is it? You read the pledge and tell me.

We will not bully others. We will help others who are being bullied. We will include others who are left out. If we know someone is being bullied we will tell an adult at school. The adult will listen, and will take appropriate action.