Fighting a broken school system
Donation protected
My little girl has been victimized repeatedly by a school system that is clearly indifferent to the issues our county is having.
One of the school board members, who is also a SRO for the school walked out on the August board meeting then adjourned the September meeting in the middle of questions concerning bullying and the anti- bullying committee while the superintendent was attempting to respond to a question about the anti-bullying committee.
She has been molested on the bus by a child who still rides the same bus to this day. She has endured physical threats, verbal abuse including verbal sexual comments and been assaulted more than once. She was forced by a previous bus driver to sit with her abuser and not allowed to protest or explain. She has been taken from my home by this same driver with no intention of delivering her to school. He had her and her brother removed from the bus - for no substantiated reason. They were standing in the dark, at a small store in the Cherokee National Forest with the police officer so upset, scared and shaking. They felt incredibly violated and endured more verbal abuse by their peers on the bus that day.
She has NEVER been instigator in these cases. She is a good child who has tried out for and made her cheer squad for the last two years. Until she started middle school, she was an A/B honor roll student. She has defended herself physically only twice & been punished in both cases. The Superintendent of the school admitted in the first incident that she DID have the right to defend herself (within reason) and declined to punish her after I offered a solution of suspending all the other kids involved too. Though for some reason it did not still apply in this one.
The school clearly sided w/the students systematically targeting her. She isn't safe. Now the bullies know they can hurt her on the bus, gang up, lie & no one will care. She's in a hostile unsafe environment that has been allowed to continue for far too long. When I asked to see the video, they refused. My children tell me there is no camera and in any past incidences the school admitted some of the buses have no cameras.
There is NO ONE at that school she trusts to confide in & she is dismissed if she does - the teachers tell her it is a tattle. The vice-principal yelled at her for talking to the school counselor saying SHE is the one she should have come to. My daughter has told me she is afraid of the v-p and that she extremely intimidating.
Will it take the death/injury of my kids for someone to listen? THIS HAS TO STOP!!! We removed her from school the last incident on August 24 and as a result were summoned to their "campus court" for truancy. We were NOT allowed to finish a sentence - they tried railroading us...however were were not having any of it. We were told that keeping her out of school was WORSE than any of the abuse she has suffered and after we volunteered to withdraw her from school then and there to homeschool they refused without proof (my guess is to keep counting days out). By law I believe we have 30 days. Then decided to "threaten" us with REAL J.V. court and we so we said "Okay".
They didn't like that and the J.V. probation officer herself asked the SRO/Deputy if he was charging her with assault. He readily agreed he was and they stuck us in court less than a week later to answer for both the truancy and the assault charge that suddenly appeared. They flat said there was no bullying issue and when I asked about Patrick and Jazmine , I was told that had nothing to do with anything - Polk doesn't have a bullying issue.....
Today in court they came in force - the vice principal, the SRO (who threatened her during interrogation - saying if the kid she defended herself against had a red mark at the end of the day, she would go to court and WHEN she lost she would go to jail), the Superintendent and the J.V. probation officer. Thankfully we scraped up the last of our money to put a downpayment towards hiring an attorney, who showed up with us, even though it has left us completely broke. They set the case out to the end of next month. We have to withdraw her from school and give them proof of homeschooling. It should render the truancy charge invalid and drop that one. However it looks like we have a mighty battle on our hands to come as far as the rest of the story.
I could talk for days about the corruption in this little town, how if you are different or LGBT you are "not welcome here" and more importantly if you are connected to the right family you can do no wrong. This isn't right and we have to fight - not just for her but for every kid who has no voice, as well as all the kids who will come after us.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story, we realize it is very long and complicated. Any money recieved will go towards her private school enrollment and her supplies as well as to pay for the attorney to fight this in court. Any funds over the amount will be donated to the families who have lost their children. We appreciate any and all assistance you can give and we hope to give a voice to the kids who are not being heard.
One of the school board members, who is also a SRO for the school walked out on the August board meeting then adjourned the September meeting in the middle of questions concerning bullying and the anti- bullying committee while the superintendent was attempting to respond to a question about the anti-bullying committee.
She has been molested on the bus by a child who still rides the same bus to this day. She has endured physical threats, verbal abuse including verbal sexual comments and been assaulted more than once. She was forced by a previous bus driver to sit with her abuser and not allowed to protest or explain. She has been taken from my home by this same driver with no intention of delivering her to school. He had her and her brother removed from the bus - for no substantiated reason. They were standing in the dark, at a small store in the Cherokee National Forest with the police officer so upset, scared and shaking. They felt incredibly violated and endured more verbal abuse by their peers on the bus that day.
She has NEVER been instigator in these cases. She is a good child who has tried out for and made her cheer squad for the last two years. Until she started middle school, she was an A/B honor roll student. She has defended herself physically only twice & been punished in both cases. The Superintendent of the school admitted in the first incident that she DID have the right to defend herself (within reason) and declined to punish her after I offered a solution of suspending all the other kids involved too. Though for some reason it did not still apply in this one.
The school clearly sided w/the students systematically targeting her. She isn't safe. Now the bullies know they can hurt her on the bus, gang up, lie & no one will care. She's in a hostile unsafe environment that has been allowed to continue for far too long. When I asked to see the video, they refused. My children tell me there is no camera and in any past incidences the school admitted some of the buses have no cameras.
There is NO ONE at that school she trusts to confide in & she is dismissed if she does - the teachers tell her it is a tattle. The vice-principal yelled at her for talking to the school counselor saying SHE is the one she should have come to. My daughter has told me she is afraid of the v-p and that she extremely intimidating.
Will it take the death/injury of my kids for someone to listen? THIS HAS TO STOP!!! We removed her from school the last incident on August 24 and as a result were summoned to their "campus court" for truancy. We were NOT allowed to finish a sentence - they tried railroading us...however were were not having any of it. We were told that keeping her out of school was WORSE than any of the abuse she has suffered and after we volunteered to withdraw her from school then and there to homeschool they refused without proof (my guess is to keep counting days out). By law I believe we have 30 days. Then decided to "threaten" us with REAL J.V. court and we so we said "Okay".
They didn't like that and the J.V. probation officer herself asked the SRO/Deputy if he was charging her with assault. He readily agreed he was and they stuck us in court less than a week later to answer for both the truancy and the assault charge that suddenly appeared. They flat said there was no bullying issue and when I asked about Patrick and Jazmine , I was told that had nothing to do with anything - Polk doesn't have a bullying issue.....
Today in court they came in force - the vice principal, the SRO (who threatened her during interrogation - saying if the kid she defended herself against had a red mark at the end of the day, she would go to court and WHEN she lost she would go to jail), the Superintendent and the J.V. probation officer. Thankfully we scraped up the last of our money to put a downpayment towards hiring an attorney, who showed up with us, even though it has left us completely broke. They set the case out to the end of next month. We have to withdraw her from school and give them proof of homeschooling. It should render the truancy charge invalid and drop that one. However it looks like we have a mighty battle on our hands to come as far as the rest of the story.
I could talk for days about the corruption in this little town, how if you are different or LGBT you are "not welcome here" and more importantly if you are connected to the right family you can do no wrong. This isn't right and we have to fight - not just for her but for every kid who has no voice, as well as all the kids who will come after us.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story, we realize it is very long and complicated. Any money recieved will go towards her private school enrollment and her supplies as well as to pay for the attorney to fight this in court. Any funds over the amount will be donated to the families who have lost their children. We appreciate any and all assistance you can give and we hope to give a voice to the kids who are not being heard.
Organizer
Christina Price
Organizer
Big Island, TN
