I'm sorry to hear about this; that sounds like a really difficult situation for everyone involved. If I can presume to mount my own soapbox in response, though

I'm sorry to hear about this; that sounds like a really difficult situation for everyone involved. If I can presume to mount my own soapbox in response, though: This strikes me as a symptom of the rather extreme age segregation that goes on in typical schools. I went to quite a few, and my favorite for the social environment had middle school and high school all together in one building, with a total student body of a bit over 100. And one of the neat things that happened there is that, while kids were generally age-segregated in their actual classes, we were all together for lunchtime, school plays, etc. The group of people I typically sat with at lunch time during my junior year of high school included seniors and also one 6th grader. In retrospect, I imagine that made for a better environment for everyone's social and emotional development.