Bully in school.

[Mechanical]

Can the principal do anything? More and more state have laws against bully. The only thing is that your child might be shunned or ostracized for reporting or being a snitch. There are way around it, join a team or a club. Is there a peer system? There are more bullying in middle school than high school. I once told a deaf parent whom hearing kid came home crying all the time to call immigration rather than the police since the bully speak little English. It actually worked and the parents were warned "Bully my kid moreor you're deport..."
It is far worse in deaf school, especially if a new kid is still learning sign language.

Many times the principals do not actually handle situations. It is delegated to the vice principals who then delegate it to guidance counselors, who just try to do a mediation thing. This rarely works. The way schools are now is more based on the students sitting and learning and the teachers doing as little paperwork as possible.

Though there are laws against it, many students don't bother with the school systems way of handling problems because they see and experience that it doesn't work. Often a bully is given a detention or a day of ISS (In School Suspension) which is in a room where you are not allowed to talk, just sit at the desk and do work, read, or listen to MP3 players. I went to three high schools, all had the same thing. And often the desks are more comfortable in there. I had my fair share of ISS, and it was relaxing to just sit and read and listen to music or just stare out the windows all day. It becomes more of an incentive to go there.

And this is in recent times, considering I was in high school from 2004 to 2008. So this isn't an old problem, it is the current problem. Many students just lose faith in the school system and have to fend for themselves. And this doesn't only apply to large schools. I went to a large (5000+) a medium (2500) and a small (1500) high school. It was ALWAYS the same. The principal rarely deals with students and the vice principals only deal with people who are late or disrupt a class or when bullying becomes a MAJOR physical altercation (IE. blood, broken bones, damaged school property) and even then, they just hold the students until the police come.