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Matthew Kneisler just wanted to ride the school bus with the other students.

The kindergartener had graduated recently from a preschool program for students with developmental delays, so he wanted to travel to Great Seneca Creek Elementary School and be "normal," recalled his mother, Dawn Kneisler.

"He wanted to be a big boy," she said.

But when Matthew got his wish to ride the bus, some students would blacken his eyes, scratch and pinch him, Dawn Kneisler said.

Matthew, who has autism, was bullied so often that his mother began driving him to school each morning to avoid the harassment.

And while Matthew's parents tried to get the situation resolved at Great Seneca Creek Elementary, Dawn Kneisler said they were so dissatisfied with the way the school administration handled the ongoing problem that they transferred him to nearby Lake Seneca Elementary, where he is doing "phenomenally well."

The school bus driver at Great Seneca Creek reported the bullying incidents to the bus depot, but the school's administration did not follow up to resolve the issue, Kneisler said.

On Tuesday, the county school board is scheduled to vote on a policy that sets the goal of eliminating bullying in Montgomery's 200 schools.

In 2008, the General Assembly passed legislation that required the state school board to develop a policy to prohibit bullying. The law also required local school boards to craft their own policies.

Under the county board's policy, the school system is supposed to implement programs to prevent verbal, physical or written harassment and provide professional development for school administrators and staff members to understand the causes and consequences of bullying.

The professional development should include how administrators respond to students who bully, who are bullied or who witness the bullying, according to the policy.

"It's the big-picture commitment that we're going to have a systemwide program to address bullying," said school board member Shirley Brandman (At large) of Bethesda, chairwoman of the board's Policy Committee.

The school board tentatively adopted a version of its bullying policy in October and put it out for public comment. Brandman said she is "hopeful" that the full board will pass the final version of the policy.

Once the policy is approved, Superintendent Jerry D. Weast will enact a directive to school administrators that provides specifics on how bullying will be addressed in the schools.

For the 2008-2009 academic year, the school system reported 147 incidents of bullying to the state Department of Education. That number includes written reports of bullying that were filled out by parents, but does not include all verbal reports, which were still investigated by principals.

The year before, the school system reported 79 bullying incidents to the state.

The school system has resource security officers in all high schools and two middle schools, said Robert B. Hellmuth, the school system's director of school safety and security.

Parents who aren't satisfied with the school's response to their child's bullying incident should contact the community superintendent's office for their respective area, said Dana Tofig, a school system spokesman.

Dawn Kneisler isn't convinced that a new systemwide policy will solve the problem. "You can enact a policy, but the fact is the principal has the final say over their school," she said.

On several occasions, Susan Carlson's son, Alec, would come home from school with bruises and scratches after being bullied, she said. Two years ago, Alec, who is autistic, was punched in the face in a hallway at Gaithersburg High School and was forced into a girls' bathroom by a group of students.

"The staff said, ‘If we don't see it, it didn't happen,'" Susan Carlson said.

Eventually, his mother withdrew Alec from Gaithersburg High and enrolled him in a private placement. He is now in the 11th grade.

Like Kneisler, Carlson questions whether the school system can devise a policy to eliminate bullying.

"You can't make people be nice," Carlson said. "Unless things change in people's minds, I don't see how that can make a difference."

But Allan L. Beane, a national expert on bullying and president of the Bully Free Program, said the Montgomery County school system is on the right track in its stance against bullying.

"I doubt we can ever get rid of all of it, but we can make a tremendous dent in it," said Beane, whose son, Curtis, was bullied in school and died of drug use at age 23. "A policy is good, but it's just scratching the surface. It's going to take a stronger curriculum and stronger supervision."

Bullying can have a devastating impact on children because it affects their concentration, Beane said. For example, a student who has been bullied before class and then sits near the bully during class will have trouble focusing on instruction, he said.

Also, Beane said, being bullied causes stress, which can accelerate the student's brain waves and hamper memory. He has spoken with parents whose children's grades have dropped a letter after they were bullied.

"The reason bullies bully is because they can," Beane said. "The reason we have had bullying is because adults have allowed it."

Scott Ellinwood, whose son had been bullied at Whetstone Elementary School in Montgomery Village, decided to visit the school during a recess to observe for himself. He didn't witness any incidents, he said.

Still, Ellinwood's son would complain that the other students called him weak. The boy would come home with scratches, footprints on his jacket and would not want to return to school, Ellinwood said.

The father said he had seven or eight phone conversations with the school's administration, but hasn't been satisfied with the response. He, like other parents, wants the school to stop the bullying of his child. For that reason, he is looking to transfer his son to the private Holy Redeemer School in Kensington. Ellinwood was scheduled today to meet with Holy Redeemer officials about the transfer.

"It's not a safe environment for our son to learn," Ellinwood said. "If he's worried about his safety, how can he be focused on his education and maximizing his potential?"