When Kane Kramer's daughter was subjected to bullying, he says that the school refused to acknowledge the problem. So he came up with an idea that will give schools the evidence that they need in order to act. The "Bully Button" is a small transmitting and recording device that can be worn discreetly and can record incidents and conversations, writing them straight onto a hard disk. Thus giving schools a recording of the incident that they can study. Kane told us more. What actually happened to your daughter? Kane: There have been about three incidents during the course of the past three years, three serious incidents which have caused me to write two letters to the school and put them on notice that if they weren't able to kill the problem I would take her out of the school. Then on Monday, she had a scenario where she was surrounded by about ten or twelve girls in the playground who taunted her, called her names and disturbed her so much that she did what I'd asked her to do in that instance which was not to get involved, to try not to show any emotions and to remove herself from the situation and to call me.
 | | Good response: John from Stevenage sent this in |
She went into the toilets and called me from her mobile phone. It was the first time I'd had a call directly from my daughter on this bullying issue. After she left the toilet and made her way to the reception area to report the problem, and say that she was leaving school and that I was collecting her, the group of children followed her all the way into the reception and it all continued in that area in the presence of the receptionist who couldn't actually see what was going on because there were so many people around her. Do you have any idea why your daughter was being singled out for attention? Kane: It's difficult to know. Why does any child get bullied? She's quite confident and pretty well behaved, but a rational reason, no. As a parent it must be very annoying to say the least? Kane: It's very upsetting and I think one of the most disturbing things in this instance is that my wife had gone into the school to resolve the problem after I'd had a conversation with the head teacher who gave me an extremely good feeling that they would look at the video that was actually taken of the incident in the reception area and that a sensible discussion would be able to be had. But in actual fact, my wife and my daughter were launched into. But it's not important just what's happened to my daughter, it's a problem that needs sorting everywhere. So, tell us a bit more about the "Bully Button" then. Kane: Yes - you've got a receiver on your hard disk and then you've got the button itself which has got a little transmitter on a few different frequencies. It's worn discreetly inside the clothing so it's not seen, and then anything that takes place is immediately written to a hard disk on the school's computer. This would give the school the opportunity to go back over it again and see if the child was giving any good reason for others to react towards them in this way. I can certainly say that I don't have the benefit of being able to see whether or not my daughter had any behaviour patterns that brought this upon herself. If your daughter had had a bully button and recorded the incident, what difference would it have made if the school had had irrefutable evidence that she wasbeing abused? Kane: A massive difference. For a start my wife wouldn't have had two teary-eyed nights and there was the whole disruption to our entire family unit which was brought about by the school saying to my wife that they just thought our daughter was attention seeking. | "Imagine the relief that we could bring to children AND families, because it's not just the children who are affected." | | Kane Kramer |
That was how they dealt with the issue and brushed it under the carpet. When I brought it up with the head that this wasn't the first incident, he actually wasn't aware of any previous incidents and asked what had happened before. What about the legal implications of being able to record such a conversation? Kane: There's something quite interesting here. In the reception of the school they actually have video surveillance recording to protect the teachers in the event that pupils attacked them so the adults are using surveillance equipment in the schools and recording and interfering with the privacy of the children for their own protection but the children don't seem to be on a level playing field. We think that it can probably be used under the current privacy laws but if we had to take it through an Act of Parliament to protect our children, then that's what we will do. But imagine the relief that we could bring to children AND families, because it's not just the children who are affected. When my wife went to the school with my daughter to try and sort the problem out, they BOTH came back with a problem! Since you were on the BBC Three Counties Breakfast programme yesterday (Wednesday), we've had a big response and a company has come forward who might be able to manufacture them. That's absolutely fantastic news. Yesterday I actually finished up with six volunteers in my office full time all day yesterday working on "Bully Buttons". We're planning to have them ready by September. We're also setting up a National Bullying Register. I've never seen people respond so wonderfully and I've been so moved listening to adults who have been affected by it. The listeners have been fantastic. | 
