A problem is that verbal bullying doesn’t get recognized as bullying. Neither does emotional bullying, something I learned when dealing with a similar issue for my daughter.

For what it’s worth, schools are beginning to add clauses to the anti-bullying rules and regulations, but there’s still a lot of failure. The failure’s causes are two-fold.

First, it’s harder to recognize when it’s happening. It’s the problem with politically correct speech. There’s a line when it goes from stopping bullying to excessive constraint of speech. That line is not bright but is instead a zone in which the break point is not merely different for each individual but different for that individual depending on a lot of other factors. Something I’ll tolerate today may be unacceptable tomorrow after I fail a test, to make up an example.

The second cause is the lack of evidence. You’re getting, literally, he-said/he-said battles with (usually) biased witnesses and no marks, bruises, torn clothes, or anything else to help figure out which side is lying or exaggerating.

It isn’t easy to solve. It happens, though, and is recognized enough people are trying to fix it. I wish you luck.