One week into the school year and one Lafayette Parish family is dealing with a bully issue.
A mother says her daughter has dealt with bullying over the past two years.
She thought the issue was resolved but when school started last week, they learned otherwise
The mother took to Facebook after she says her child had been picked on by the same group students for two years, only now— things got physical.
In her post, which has now been shared over 320 times and drawn more than 500 comments, she says the fight happened on Monday, day four of the new school year when her daughter was ambushed.
Her post reads:
“She had been to school for 10 minutes. The bell had not even rang yet. So as my child is getting beat a teacher has to sit back and watch because it’s against the law for her to separate them.”
She feels the system is flawed because teachers didn’t stop the fight.
LPSS Chief Administrative Officer Joe Craig says step one is prevent a brawl, but there are expectations for teachers when fights break out.
“The teachers loudly and repeatedly tell the students to stop. And they are not required to physically break up of the students and at that point, a lot of it becomes common sense and judgment calls for each different situation,” Craig explains.
Craig says teacher safety is a priority of the district, in addition to students.
There have been instances in the past where educators have been hurt breaking up fights.
The mother of the victim added, since her post, she has learned of several cases of bullying and would advise all victims to speak up.
Craig says if a teacher does not follow protocol and is negligent during a fight between students, disciplinary action will follow.