A parent in the North Union school district is urging administrators to take action after her daughter experienced several incidents of bullying and harassment.
At Monday’s regular board of education meeting, Brandi Edwards asked the board to uphold the district’s mission and vision to “prepare, challenge and empower” by doing something about the incidents.
“Today I am here due to the bullying and months of harassment my child has endured,” she said. “My daughter has been subject to a perpetrator that has violated 13 of the 28 code of conduct polices repeatedly and consistently since November of last year.”
Both of the students are in the high school and Edwards said school administrators were responsive to the concerns initially but have not been quick or aggressive enough in taking action.
The harassment has increased in frequency and severity since it began and led to text messages and videos of the male student “telling my daughter to kill herself and wishing her dead,” she said.
Edwards said not only does that go against any philosophy set forth by the district, she feels the student has been “rewarded” by being allowed to continue in the classroom and with after-school activities such as participating in sports.
“No sports win is more important than my daughter’s life,” she said. “It shouldn’t have had to go this far. It shouldn’t be this hard for our school to hold our children accountable. I should not even be here.”
She said she felt she had to “make a lot of noise” and “ruffle a lot of feathers” to get more of a response, which included reaching out to administrators, posting information on social media and showing up to the meeting.
In social media posts, Edwards said the student has “physically grabbed my child at school” and “showed up to my home numerous times.”
Edwards said the harassment got so severe at one point that she had to take her daughter out of school.
“Bullying happens way more than it should but you all have the power to make a difference and the same with all of our school administrators,” Edwards said. “I do not believe the district missions means to prepare my daughter to be home schooled, challenge you adults who are meant to protect her safety or empower our community to take a stand against an individual that continues to cause harm.”
She said she’s urging the district to investigate the situation and find a solution.
“Something needs to change,” Edwards said. “We as a community need to be that support network for these kids and these students who can’t speak for themselves.”
She said she hopes in the future, the district steps in at the “first incident, not after the 20th.”
The North Union student handbook defines bullying and harassment as “an intentional written, verbal or physical act that a student has exhibited toward another particular student more than once. The intentional act also includes violence with a dating relationship. The behavior causes both mental or physical harm to the other student and is sufficiently severe, persistent or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment for the other student. This behavior is prohibited on school property or at a school sponsored activity.”
Edwards said the actions of the student are in clear violation of these terms.
Board members said the group has been brought up to speed on the situation and that district administration is reviewing the information and would be in contact with Edwards.
Superintendent Justin Ufferman said while officials had only been made aware of the incident in the last week or so, he said the district is taking swift action.
“We have processes in place to handle situations like this and look at possible code of conduct violations,” he said. “In cases like this, we look over everything and make a determination. We want to do whatever we can to help our students and families.”
While the handbook doesn’t outline exact disciplinary actions, it does say that “hazing, bullying and/or dating violence incidents are reported immediately to the superintendent/designee and appropriate discipline is administered.”