My two younger daughters experienced something at the Starmount Academy of Excellence that no child ever should. One is in third grade, while the other is in kindergarten. For several months, these children have been bullied nonstop, and the school has really not intervened effectively.
This kid in fifth grade has been the source of all this trouble: Javion. He pulled a braid out of my child’s head as if it were nothing; he hit both of them with a football in their faces, stole their lunch boxes, and even spat on them. I read this, and it still makes my blood boil because these are small kids only trying to get into school and feel safe.
At my daughters’ end, they did what they were supposed to do. They told the bus driver. They said the school. They spoke about every happening. But it was like all silence-shaped walls had barricaded their voices. The bus driver brushed it off, stating she would take care of the matter in the morning, but nothing changed in that regard. The school later claimed it had handled it, but the boy was never suspended or properly penalized.
This left my daughters to fend for themselves. “Boo!” Every school day began with the same scary situation: the kid, the behavior, and all the silence from the adults supposed to protect her.
So, I put everything out in the public arena’s front. I was done with that silence. I told how Starmount Academy of Excellence and CMS Transportation had failed my kids. I said the school had concealed details and remained silent to prevent the boy from facing consequences. From a parent’s perspective, the most hurtful was that the bus driver kept ignoring my children whenever they asked for help.
I changed upon seeing my children come home, and I was very sad. I have seen them lose self-confidence. I have seen them cry over things no child should face. As a parent, that pain sticks with you. Very clear in that post was how frustrated and furious I was; I ended it with straight-up, y’all knew nothing was really done, and I was livid.
It really blew up on this. People poured in to react to the above posting. Most said that they felt very furious, saying that the school system keeps failing kids. One of them even said that families going through this just made her really hate things because, in her view, schools offer no protection to children. Further on, another one said that it is really crazy how babies are not protected and that the blame rests on adults who should have intervened. Yet another said they had no faith in bus drivers and would have chased the bus until the other child got off to find out the truth.
What really hurts, though, is that it was clear signs and real hurt, and still the bus driver and the school did nothing that had any effect. This online posting wasn’t merely some rant from me. The other people I wanted to be accountable for this were really the ones that I tried to open their eyes to the seriousness of bullying here at Starmount Academy of Excellence, and how so easily a child can be ignored by adults who choose silence.
It has sparked broader discussions about school responsibility and student safety. I think this story can help other parents to come forward before their kids have to go through the same thing; that was my primary objective. You may also be interested in: Evansville IN Parent Loses Control and Attacks Referee at Elementary Basketball Game
