LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee high school student's anti-bullying video has resulted in nearly 600,000 views on YouTube and a suspension for its creator. 
 
 Lebanon High School student Emily Gipson said school administrators accused her of "trying to incite violence" and gave her a two-day in-school suspension for the video entitled "Welcome to Lebanon High School," posted Jan. 22. 
 
 In the video, prompted by a classmate's October suicide, she asks students to treat each other better. It's a broad indictment of campus culture, but contains neither profanity nor calls for direct action. 
 
 "Welcome to Lebanon High School, where smiles are fake and suicide prevention is something to laugh at," she said in the video, criticizing her peers' reaction to the Stop It app the Wilson County school had put out in response to the death. 
 
 Her ire was not restricted to students, however. Perhaps the harshest words in Gipson's free-verse speech were reserved for school administration. 
 
 "Posters say 'Smile' and 'Be happy,' but how am I supposed to be happy in a world — no, in a community — where creativity is put down, where the people who make fun of others never get punished because 'There's no proof,' or 'There's nothing we can do about it,' or, my favorite, 'Kids will be kids,'" she says in the video. 
 
 "So let's summarize: We're expected to come to this emotional prison every day, and we're expected to forgive the bullies because the authorities are sure they didn't mean it. Sometimes I wonder how many kids it takes dying to make a difference." 
 
 Principal Scott Walters told The Lebanon Democrat he can't discuss the 16-year-old's punishment, but said he took issue with the fact that the free-verse speech was recorded in a classroom without a teacher's permission. Gipson disputed that, saying she had two coaches' permission. 
 
 Walters also said the video hurt his feelings, and those of teachers, too. 
 
 He said he's received feedback from parents and students who didn't agree with the video, including a gift from a student who told him he was doing a good job. He also said people could learn from Gipson's viewpoint. 
 
 "I can appreciate the perspective of the video," Walters said. "Of course, she's 16, and her perspective is going to be different from mine." 
 
 Kenneth Gipson, her grandfather and guardian, said the principal told him the only reason the teen was punished was because she didn't have permission to take the video on school grounds. "I don't have a problem with that. She violated their policies," he told The Associated Press 
 
 But Gipson says he's proud of his granddaughter for expressing herself. 
 
 "I applaud her for taking a stance. She's speaking against something that is obviously an issue in today's society — today's schools especially. I don't have a problem with the videos at all. I wish she hadn't of done the first one the way she did it inside the classroom, but as far as the message goes, I'm all for the message. I think she's done a great job in bringing to light a very sensitive and needed subject." 
 
 Gipson said her punishment is worth the good she feels the video has produced. 
 
 Then she posted another spoken-word poem on Youtube, titled "Have I Made a Difference Yet?" urging teenagers like her to speak up. 
 
 "I never knew that it would get this big, and through it getting this big I've learned a lesson: This is not my school, this is everyone's school, this is a national problem," she said. ||||| (CNN) A high school student who posted an anti-bullying video attacking her school's administration was given a two-day suspension, but the school is saying it had nothing to do with her video's message. 
 
 Emily Gipson is a student at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Tennessee. On January 22, she posted a YouTube video of her performing a free-verse poem about bullying and suicide at her school. 
 
 "Welcome to Lebanon High School, where smiles are fake and suicide prevention is something to laugh at," she begins. 
 
 In the days since it was posted, Gipson's video has racked up more than 700,000 views -- and has caused serious controversy at her high school. 
 
 Gipson was given a two-day suspension for the video, a punishment some people attributed to her strong words against the school's handling of bullying. 
 
 Read More ||||| STEVENSON, Wash. - A 15-year-old girl shouts in pain in a classroom in shocking video uncovered by KATU’s On Your Side Investigators. It’s one of two videos that show students being pelted with Koosh balls at a local high school under the direction of a chemistry teacher. 
 
 
 
 The teacher, Kem Patteson, was put on administrative leave from her job at Stevenson High School in Skamania County. 
 
 
 
 In a cell phone video reportedly shot in Patteson’s classroom in May, a boy cowers in a corner with a book over his face as students pelt him with Koosh balls. Students say it’s a punishment that Patteson has been doling out for at least the past two years. 
 
 
 
 In another video shot last week, a voice identified as Patteson’s can be heard directing students. This time Zoey Zapfe, a 15-year-old sophomore, says she was being punished. 
 
 
 
 “I was chewing gum in class,” Zapfe said. “She looked over and she told me to spin the wheel and that's like a normal thing." 
 
 
 
 Zapfe says when she spun the so-called "wheel of misfortune" Patteson kept in class, it landed on “cush firing squad”. After that, Zapfe says nearly 30 students and Patteson, a former semi-pro baseball player, lined up to take turns hitting her with a Koosh ball. Zapfe says it hurt. 
 
 
 
 "I clearly said that I didn't want to do this, and after that I found out that you can opt out with a lunch detention,” Zapfe said, “and when I said I don't want to do this, she said ‘too bad ‘or something and I got pelted." 
 
 
 
 KATU obtained the videos with the help of the local newspaper, the Skamania County Pioneer. 
 
 
 
 "I'm gonna be honest,” Zapfe said regarding Patteson, “I'm hoping she gets fired because it was beyond humiliating." 
 
 
 
 Dan Read, superintendent of the Stevenson-Carson School District, says administrators didn't see the latest video until this week. They decided to pull Patteson out of the classroom Thursday evening. 
 
 
 
 KATU tried emailing and Facebook messaging Patteson but as of the time this story was published she had not responded. 
 
 On Tuesday, KATU obtained a copy of a letter from Read to parents saying Patterson had been reinstated: 
 
 Dear Stevenson High School Parents: 
 
 As you may know, we’ve been working with a third-party investigator to review the details of a video that surfaced on social media last week. The situation called to light an inappropriate classroom management technique used by a Stevenson High School teacher. It involved giving students the choice of spinning a “Wheel of Misfortune” for low-level misconduct rather than getting lunch detention. The consequences on the wheel included allowing other students in the classroom to throw a soft rubber “Koosh” ball at the student. The videos circulating showed students throwing the ball at a student. 
 
 This is not a practice authorized or condoned by the District and it has been stopped. When the high school became aware of the details of how the controversial classroom management tool was being used, the prop was removed from the classroom. The teacher was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. 
 
 First and foremost, our District aims to make sure that only high quality instruction occurs in the classroom and that our students are treated with respect. Our primary goal is to provide students with optimal conditions for learning by maintaining a school environment where everyone is engaged and positive. We all have learned from this unfortunate circumstance and I want to assure you, it is our top priority to carefully review classroom management techniques and provide sensitivity training. 
 
 
 
 As required by the new Teacher Principal Evaluation Project, we evaluate all of our teachers’ classroom instructional practices using rigorous criteria. We expect the best of our teachers and that they model only the best practices and behaviors. 
 
 On Wednesday, October 15th, the results of the investigation were provided to us. After interviews with students, school staff and the teacher, the investigator recommended that the teacher be re-instated to the classroom with appropriate safeguards in place to ensure an appropriate classroom environment. The investigator concluded that the use of the wheel was inappropriate, but well-intentioned, and the teacher did not desire to embarrass, intimidate or harm any student. However, poor judgment by any teacher is concerning and we plan to work with the teacher on more positive and productive classroom management skills going forward. 
 
 We understand some parents may still have concerns, and we ask that you please contact us directly so we can address your questions and discuss options. I want to thank parents, staff and community members for their support, patience and understanding as we work through this challenge and work together in a positive, productive way. 
 
 
 
 Read originally sent KATU the following statement: 
 
 “Our first priority is the safety of students. The Stevenson-Carson School District strives to provide students with optimal conditions for learning by maintaining a school environment where everyone is treated with respect and no one is physically or emotionally harmed. 
 
 Therefore, we take any type of reported bullying very seriously and begin investigating the situation immediately. 
 
 
 
 The SCSD District Office received a formal complaint on Thursday, October 9th that one of our high school teachers was using a controversial classroom management technique that has been construed as inappropriate and a reported form of bullying. 
 
 
 
 We take any matter of concern voiced by parents and students seriously. When the high school initially became aware of the incident at hand, it was dealt with in a prompt manner by the school principal. 
 
 
 
 The district has secured a third party investigator with the assistance of our district personnel office to look into the complaint. In the meantime, the teacher has been placed on administrative leave. 
 
 
 
 The SCSD provides a safe and nurturing environment for all children. If you have any questions or concerns regarding what is happening in your child’s school, please don’t hesitate to contact the district office.”
– "We're expected to forgive the bullies because the authorities are sure they didn't mean it," Emily Gipson says in a YouTube video posted Jan. 22. "Sometimes I wonder how many kids it takes dying to make a difference." The 16-year-old sophomore at Tennessee's Lebanon High School made the video after a classmate's apparent suicide, the AP reports. The video went viral—surpassing 800,000 views—and Gipson has been hit with a two-day suspension. In the video, she says her school is an "emotional prison" and a place "where creativity is put down, where the people who make fun of others never get punished because 'There's no proof,' or 'There's nothing we can do about it,' or, my favorite, 'Kids will be kids.'" Principal Scott Walters says his feelings and those of teachers were hurt by the video, but that's not why Gipson was suspended. Gipson says the school administration accused her of "trying to incite violence," but Walters says she was suspended for filming in a classroom after school without the teacher's permission or knowledge, the Tennessean reports. Gipson says she had permission from two coaches, and in a statement quoted by CNN, Wilson County Schools spokesperson Jennifer Johnson confirms that Gipson asked a coach if she could use the classroom only to have the coach later be "mortified by the nature of her message." Johnson adds that it's "patently false" to say Gipson was punished for inciting violence and there's "no evidence whatsoever" that the student who died was bullied, despite the claims of other students. Gipson says she wanted "to be a voice for as many people as possible" and ends the video by imploring others "do not be the bully ... do not be the one that takes their own life."