Brandywine School District: Bully Attack Caught on Video
A mother of a Forwood Elementary School child complained that her daughter was being bullied and she said nothing happened. And then there is this brutal attack caught on video from Friday.
Caught On Video: Attack On A School Bus: MyFoxPHILLY.com
A cell phone video of the scene that will forever be engraved in Aisha Williams-Gray’s mind. She fights to hold back tears watching an 11 year old girl relentlessly beat her youngest daughter who is just seven years old.
The attack happened on the school bus on the way home from Forwood elementary school Friday afternoon.
You see the 7 year old stand on the seat to come face to face with her attacker in a bold attempt to defend her. Then the beating begins and ends with this tiny child on the floor, tossed around like a rag doll.
As anyone knows with children in the Brandywine School District as well as in the State of Delaware, much is being done about bullying. Well, it seems a lot more needs to be done and that the bus driver had absolutely no control over the students.
Of note, apparently it is not easy to expel a kid from school who has been diagnosed with special needs. Can anyone verify this? If so, then parents of victims would always need to file criminal charges agains the bully.
Oh wow… 🙁
Against the bully? I dont think so. That girl is 11 years old… she needs help. That level of viciousness leaves one wondering how badly she gets beaten at home. I see 2 victims in that video. The people responsible are the parents of that girl and the Forwood administration/faculty.
“Of note, apparently it is not easy to expel a kid from school who has been diagnosed with special needs. ”
It is already easy enough to expel any student if you follow due process. But if you are looking for a short cut to expulsion, yes you will find it difficult, as it should be. Why would you want expelling students to be easier?
If the due process says “No, this student doesn’t qualify for expulsion” then that’s a good thing – that is the control against administrators shooting from the hip and making rash decisions. At any rate, the school has actions it can take short of expulsion. Normally a student must be suspended several times before being expelled.
But what does special needs have to do with it? I didn’t see special needs mentioned in the report.
“If so, then parents of victims would always need to file criminal charges agains the bully.”
I’m pretty sure the school is required to report something like this to police, especially with injuries. It does make you wonder how many incidents like this happen every day that are NOT captured on video. I already know many lesser bullying incidents are absorbed by children every day and go unreported.
The BSD Code of Conduct requires reporting assault to police, and does permit referral for expulsion on a first offense (p. 8).
Even if she was reported to the police ben, she wouldn’t got to jail or anything. She’ll 11. She’d probably get counseling.
of course… I wasn’t saying she shouldn’t be reported… I’m talking about filing charges. I guess my point is that punishing the child shouldn’t be the main focus of this.
So Ben, how does the mother of the victim protect her kid at school?
that’s the million dollar question, isnt it?
Parents should be able to know that their children are safe at school. Obviously parents cant go to school with their children, so the trust is that the school will make sure the kids are safe. Forwood has obviously failed in that duty. It makes it especially tragic because this is an elementary school.
What they can do is ban the attacker from the bus. That requires a Board hearing, but given the video the outcome shouldn’t be in doubt. The attacker is presumably graduating and will be out of the school in a few months anyway. And I’m sure there is plenty of counseling in her future.
“how does the mother of the victim protect her kid at school?”
A lawsuit might capture their attention.
Banning her from a bus wont change what has likely been a sad and violent upbringing. It wont stop other bullies … now they will just smash camera phones. This is a snapshot of a much bigger problem than i think anyone wants to admit. I lawsuit may capture attention for a few weeks, then back to business as usual.
Expulsion of a special needs student does have a special sprocedure and some federal rules.
Procedure: A manifest determination hearing is held with the student’s teachers/admin/psych/OT/SLP/ etc. to determine if the offending behavior is a manifestation of his/her disability and if the behavior is being addressed in a BIP (Behavior intervention plan).
If yes, punishment is commensurate with allowances for the disability. If no, the student is processed for the offense as if no disability is present.
Rules: A Special Ed student with an IEP cannot be removed from educational services for an aggregate of 10 days for disciplinary reasons without educational services being provided (can include services in a different setting) If education is denied more than 10 days the school is in violation of federal IDEA statues.
John, as I recall the manifestation hearing isn’t held until after 10 days of suspension have accumulated.
Up to ten days, Federal law offers no particular protection to special ed students for suspension or any disciplinary procedures. Suspension or other discipline measures are applied to special ed the same way as everybody else (although I assume schools may exercise more discretion on their own).
The hearing is within the 10 day window and includes a manifest determination report from that meeting which takes place before the actual disciplinary hearing.
Why weren’t charges filed against the girl so that she can get help and be monitored because she shouldn’t be around other children by herself. And for her to be so violent what is she experiencing at home. Child protective services need to investigate her home life and see what’s going on with her. And she should not have been able to come back to school because she’s a danger to others. The police and the courts should have been involved on this one because she could have killed that little girl. There was another case with a older girl who wschoolas beaten in the head like that and she died. This could have turned out differently where she could have been locked up for murder. Because she gave the little girl a concussion so a few more blows would have been fatel.
Correct, sub-10 day suspensions are not controlled by IDEA, however, in the case of special ed, you canot circumvent the law with successive 9 day suspensions interrupted by a day as the calculation is an aggregate of days within a given school year.
This video sickens me. I would bet my bank that there were already issues on the bus. The drivers need to be trained better. If he/she hears a kid smart mouthing, that kid should be moved to the front seat of the bus, for a month. Bus drivers should keep K, 1st and maybe even 2nd graders in the front of the bus. (they don’t know how to ‘debate’ with older kids and probably say things they shouldn’t) Bus drivers should tell the school when they see issues. Cameras should be turned on and checked a couple times a month because hopefully the driver is paying attention to the road so I’m sure makes it hard to notice growing issues among kids.
Obviously this girl needs counseling. I would think any kid who gets in a fist fight, whether they started the fight or not, should have at least a couple sessions with the guidance counselor or a therapist. (because even if they are the victim, they might have first been a bully and someone got sick of it, or have been bullied verbally in the past, most fist fights don’t arise out of thin air). Then there are those who need a social worker to step in ASAP. First instinct is that I agree with Ben, something could be happening in her home.. or has she been bullied herself for a long time, not by this 7 yr old but by whoever.. I would imagine that could take a toll over time and eventually the person lets loose on whoever is available, even on a 7 yr old. Banning her from the bus won’t help her, she needs bigger help. But it will potentially keep others safe while they sort this out. What kind of message is she getting by being allowed on the bus right now? Beat the shit out of someone and you can come right back on the bus tomorrow? Insane! Will anyone ever even know, besides the girls, what really happened, or the outcome, or will this, like too many other things, just go away when the next act of violence happens? So sick of it.
A male student stabbed a female student through the hand last week at A.I. Somehow this didn’t make the news…
…because it wasn’t Dover High.
@Ben, Others here can probably speak better to this, but Delaware is doing A LOT regarding education regarding bullying, face-to-face and cyber bullying. From my son’s experience bullying is being covered extensively.
@anon40, I know people who work at AI. This is barely a blip there. Sadly so. Also this video shows a 7 yr old being beaten. Video always wins in the media.
So special Ed students can ride the bus with kids who don’t have special needs? I thought special needs children had a bus designated for them only?
@Sam, special needs covers a wide-variety of special education needs.
Nice to lay out the details on special ed, but have we established that anyone in this BSD story is special ed?
I choiced my son to his school in large part because at the open house, they made such a big impression on me about their anti-bullying culture. Now my son tells me this is a joke, with facts and personal experiences to back up his opinion. It is all low-level stuff that flies under adult radar (some I suspect willingly look away), and fortunately hasn’t yet caused (physical) injuries.
Nemski,
There sure is a lot of “stuff” being done in DE from AG Biden to Lt. Gov Denn…but is it the “right” stuff?
One of the problems is this notion of accurate reporting. If you incentivize accuracy with a reward of being labeled a persistently dangerous school which hurts your “choice” profile, then it works completely unintended. Hence you get William Penn HS with ZERO reported bullying incidents last year, ZERO in amost 2K kids?!?!?! Really?
The legislation, almost always a bad way to solve school problems, needs to be focuses on REWARDING accurate reporting with actual REWARDS. Then hold accountable for improving the climate of bullying. There are too many holes in the current and proposed (at this time) laws around bullying to see a viable solution.
I am happy there is a great deal of activity, but I don’t give a shit about the political posturing around it. We need to fix the problem.
Clemson U seems to have a research based solution: http://www.clemson.edu/olweus/
with research backing it here: http://www.clemson.edu/olweus/Research_OBPP.pdf
Lets do this the right way instead our typical Delaware make our legislators feel good about themselves bullshit way.
Also, let me add that my kid goes to Brandywine School District and has had Mr. Green as a principal before. I have been very happy with both Green and BSD.
This is horrible, the victims mom needs to press charges against the bully, she can be arrested (they just arrested a 6 yr old for flipping out in class last week!)is able to go to a juvinille detention center. Then the victims mom needs to file a law suit against the school and the bus company, especially since she has prior complaints regarding her children being picked on.
@Sam, there was no mention of anyone involved in this having special needs. The bully got mad because Aisha would not give her some jelly beans.
My son goes to school in Middletown, Appoquinimick District(spelling), and his school has a low tolerence for bullying. He had an issue last week and I took it to the principal and she immediately took care of the issue. I feel more schools need to stress the no bullying policy and actually FOLLOW THROUGH with what they are preaching!
It is unbelievable to me that the attacker is still in school. She should be suspended and arrested.
The punishment for this type of behavior needs to be swift. Suspending the attacker at a later time isn’t as effective as an immediate consequence.
maybe an at home suspension where she can be beaten all day by the parents who taught her to act like this is in order? She isnt a 28 year old neighborhood watch volunteer, folks. This is a product of a flawed system…. yes she should be dealt with, but im sensing a lot of blood lust and eagerness to pin blame on an easy target. Bullying is nearly everyone’s fault.. (nearly, the victim of bullying is usually the only one who ever gets hurt)
This is not a new issue at BSD. Years ago a guy ran for school board because his kid was repeatedly bullied. He choiced to differnent schools when no action was taken at the previous and eventually moved the kid to a private school. He did everything you could do…talk to principals, talk to administrators, talk to superintendents, talk to the board, nothing was done.
nothing gets done until someone gets hurt… or now it seems that nothing gets done until someone gets hurt on camera and it goes viral.
A crime was committed. The incident should be/have been reported to law enforcement. Assault and battery I suppose. The only way to bring everyone in authority to the table is to treat it like it was a crime. That doesn’t mean the offender gets arrested or led off in handcuffs, but it does mean that those in authority, including the school district leadership are forced to deal with the situation.
Teaching children to call 911 is not just for when they are offered candy bars by a passing motorist. We want them to be safe but let’s face it, the school district is ill equipped to deal with these kinds of things. They cannot be expected to be all things, including parent, physicians, cops, etc.
I witnessed a kid (5th or 6th grader) get arrested. He was home later that day. I asked a few days later why he was arrested, he said he was in a fight at school (a BSD school).
Just because the attacker isn’t 28, doesn’t mean they should not be dealt with and the suggestion that they should be allowed to stay at school, where they can easily harm another child, because they may be beaten at home is ridiculous. There are likely issues at home, the school or police should get the DCFS involved.
No one said they should be allowed to stay at school. I just cant support bringing the entire weight of the law down on an 11 year old. No child acts like that unless they are being abused.
Hence calling in the Division of children and Family Services to investigate.
KMurphy, Brandywine has its own buses, so there is no bus company to sue. The district should prepare for a lawsuit, particularly if it doesn’t act swiftly and publicly to this video.
If I’m the mom, I don’t care if the bully is special ed or not (although that hasn’t been determined despite all the commenting here about it). I don’t care what the district’s policies are or what it has done. Her kid was assaulted, and apparently it was not handled well so she went to the media. Can’t say I blame her.
I’ll be paying off the loans to send my kids to private school for 20 more years. I may never recover financially from the burden. I also pay for that thug to go to school through my school taxes, and I’m sure she appreciates it (sarcasm).
These incidents only increase my and others’ resolve.
bullying exists in private schools too…. they are actually more likely to sweep it under the rug to avoid the reputation.
@ben, right on. With one kid in private school and another in public school, I have been much happier with the public school than the private one.
A child gets out of school what he/she puts in to it.
Ben I’m sure it does exist somewhere, but almost 10 years into the private school system I can honestly say I’ve never seen or heard of anything even remotely resembling physical violence in my childrens’ school. Not once. And I should point out if my kids weren’t where they are they would be students of the Brandywine School District.
Most bullying is not physical. That’s my beef with the outrage over this. Nothing gets done until someone gets bloodied, but verbal abuse can be brutal…. think of all the child suicides lately.
Bullying exists in every school, but on what basis do you say private schools are more likely to sweep it under the rug? I’ve spent countless hours in private schools as a volunteer and parent and it always has been taken seriously and dealt with. I’ve seen a kid expelled from a school for bullying someone on Facebook.
These are the kinds of responses the schools are eager to share with prospective parents when selling their product. The reputation they want is one of being serious about bullying.
i am a 10th grader in the bsd. i went to forwood and i got beat up alot. but i would just to tell her mother that her baby was very lucky. me on the other hand i have got the very worse end of bulling. many times i have broke bones. all together i have broke my leg twice broke my ancal and also chiped it i have also broke my wrist three times broke my arm twice shaterd my elbow and broke two ribs and fracterd two other ribs i almost died the docter said if they hit me one more time where my rib was broked it would have perced my heart and they wouldnt have bin able to save me. also i have two cracks in my scull. and have had more then 10 concusions. but this girl that beat her but should be kicked out of forwood. the reason is when i was getting beat up so much in school the schools threatend to kick me out of school for getting beat up so much. so if there going to try to kick the victum out of school you better bet i would go to cort with this famly and do something brandywine school district wont do and stand up for the victum. i have had enuff of this school district trying to cover up these kind of things. enuff is enuff brandywnie school district should be ashemed that a 16 year old has had enuff of the shit they pull its time for to grow the ……. put and take responsabilty for what happens in there schools and on there school busses. it is recdilus that a first grader is being bullied at school and nothing is done. what is the world coming to this generation is the outmost disresprectfull. you should not have to worry as a parent is m child going to be safe when i send them off to school know lest first grade.
I seen this video on fox news in Georgia and was heartbroken, as a mother to a 7 year old in first grade I couldn’t help but think what if that was my child; that 11 year old in my opinion needs to be arrested, suspended, banned from the bus, and her irresponsible parents fined, and the school board should be ashamed of themselves, for them to take bullying seriously they did nothing regarding the mothers complaint of her child being bullied, and now with a video showing the bullying rather then act quickly, they are investigating, what is there to investigate the proof is in the video smh.
And @Ben as I read your comments it seems to me like you’re trying to justify the 11y/o actions, if she is being physically abused at home that is terrible but have you stopped to think that perhaps she isn’t being physically abused and is just a bully, the 7 year old is the victim here not this 11 year old, she has to live in constant fear of seeing this bully, (on the news with her face blocked, she said she sees her everyday) or the fear of wondering who may target her next, SHE’S 7 IN FIRST GRADE, unable to defend herself, and no one is acting to protect her. Sadly Bob it’s that kind of thinking that tells bullies their actions must have a reason, lets not be so harsh on them, yet when the victims of the bullies resort to drastic measures like suicide, murder, or murder-suicide then thats when it becomes what shoulda, coulda, woulda been done.
All of you who want to say theres 2 victims here arent seeing the bigger picture but your not my concern! My daughter is in this little girls class we were at this girls birthday party not a month ago so SHES BARELY 7!!!!! This vicious attack and its perpetrator have not been dealt with the district sends us a disgusting glossing over of the facts< they really led me to believe it was a minor event and let me tell you they have further victimize this sweet adorable little girl. I dont deny the older child may have family issues but we learn right from wrong starting at the age of 2 and it goes without saying IF A PERSON HAS TO STAND ON A SEAT TO BE EYE TO EYE WITH THEIR ATTACKER THEN THAT ATTACKER/PERPETRATOR KNOWS THEY ARE WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so far beyond disgusted I want to throw up when I think of a child surrounded by peers and NO ADULT THERE WOULD HELP!!! That scene didnt escalate so fast that the bus couldnt be stopped and driver intervene. I dont know where to go from here but I am not the type to let things go and I will find the next step and take it for that little girl so I dont have to look at my daughter and say I was too busy or afraid to be a voice when someone she loves needed it!
Chantell, Im not trying to justify the actions of anyone. I can assure you i have had lots of life experience with bullies. Ive seen 7 year old bullies, 11 year old bullies ..18, 24 you name it, they’ve picked on me, or kids i’ve counseled (full disclosure, i was a counselor at a summer camp, not a professional therapist). At a young age, (pre-teen) the child shouldn’t be the focus of the rage…. that’s all I’m saying. Before we throw the book at a child, maybe find out what her home-life is like. If she has loving parents who dont hit her and keep her well fed, then she is just a little monster who should see what juvi is like for a couple weeks so her script cna be flipped……
but what if SHE is beaten like that every night? are you still so outraged at HER and not the school who should have recognized her behavior long ago? School, esspecially elementary schools should be able to identify troubled kids and get them help before this happens. Maybe her PARENTS should be arrested and she should be moved to a better place.
I of course feel for her victim, because chances are id have been the one getting beaten up at the back of the bus. Im not trying to defend the beating of a 7 year old girl, that’s just silly to jump to that conclusion.
Ben & Nemski – if you had kids that went to private schools and had bullying issues then you didnt take care of it correctly. My kids go to private school and i went through private school. There was an issue with a kid bullying in my kids third grade class. After 6 sets of parents went to the principal to complain and 4 sets of us followed up a week later about it the only thing swept under the rug was how quietly they bully left the school.
@Arthur, no problem like that.
All I was trying to say is that with two kids – one in public and the other in private school – the difference in the education is negligible. Writing seems to be done more in private school. But as far as the core subjects as well as teaching criticial thinking, I’m not seeing a difference. Another big plus for public schools is that these kids have a more dynamic social life than those in private school.
Private school is not the greatest thing since sliced bread which is what some were saying in the thread.
@Ben, I too was a victim of bullying from elementary school, middle, to high school, and it does affect me in my adult life, though I am an adult I am weary of a lot of people. And no I have no sympathy for this 11 year old predator, she preyed on an innocent victim smaller than her because she knew she could beat her bullies need to be taught a lesson NO MATTER WHAT,jailtime, fined, their parents arrested whatever needs to be done to get these bullies and their parent to see that this won’t be tolerated any longer, too many innocent young lives have been takened and are still being takened because of the effects of bullying, I am not so outraged at just this case, it is bullying that I am outraged over, and the fact that excuses are continually be made for these bullies,what about their victims? If she is a victim of abuse at home again that is terrible, but why should this innocent 7 year old now live a life with this trauma, this is something that this little girl would never get over no matter how old, she will get older, wiser, but this will forever be embedded in her mind. And the sad thing is still no one has even stepped forth to apologize to her or her mother, the school bus driver is still driving, the bully wasn’t even reprimended, she just didn’t come to school,and to add insult to injury letters went home to parents calling it an alleged assualt, where is the justice for this 7 year old little girl.
Nemski- how do they have a more dynamic social life?
@Arthur, by not hanging out with only rich white kids.
Is anyone going to address the 10th grader from BSD who can’t write with correct grammar or spell yet? I’m not trying to pick on them but in two years this person will be looking for a job. Will they even be able to adequately fill out a job application to even be taken seriously? Hopefully this was just text shorthand used by teens and not how she would usually write.
And then a few comments later Nemski implies that a private school education is no better in terms of core subjects and critical thinking? Are you kidding me? No one would pay tuition, on top of school taxes, for their child to be that far behind in the 10th grade!
The bullying is horrific and has been an escalating problem since even before I went through CSD (I graduated in 1991). But when I read (attempted to understand) that comment from the 10th grader I literally became sick to my stomach. How did this child make it through to the 10th grade? So very sad. I wish her luck.
Grammar and spelling in one of our comments has never been a requirement. Also, kids use the internet differently than adults. @NosyNeighbor, you should worry about other things, really.
youre right nemski my kids hang out with rich black kids, rich hispanic kids and rich asian kids. oh yea, they also hang out with poor white kids, poor black kids and poor hispanic kids. we dont know any poor asians 🙂
Arthur: Guess what? One experience does not equal “evidence.” There are plenty of bullies in private schools, your cluelessness notwithstanding.
im sorry i cant spell i have a spelling disorder and many other problums. i have ADHD, im altistic, i also have a hand writeing disability. so why dont you try to find out the truth before you juge me or anyone in fact
Morgan multiple people in my family have dyslexia and can’t spell either. They’ve been picked on by people (including teachers!) who weren’t aware of their disability. They ALL graduated from college and have great careers. You keep working as hard as you can, and don’t pay attention to some idiot online who makes fun of your grammar.
thank you i wish there where more people like you in the world
I wonder why has the mother of the 7 year old not pressed charges???
I can’t believe I just heard about this!!! this happens in every school district!!! I use to have the red clay bus service on speed dial last year, but I didn’t bother this year cause they never did anything… funny thing is, they have an aid on the bus in the morning, but it’s not the morning bus that needs the aid, it never is!!! these people are so concerned about their image that they don’t tell you everything that is going on… I’m telling you… when something happens to my 7 yr old son, those kids on the bus are scared cause they know I am going to scream and yell at them and I don’t care who says what… oh yeah, and I taught my son how to fight and told him it was ok to hit someone back!!!!!! I’m tired of being lied to by the bus system and the school system cause they only care about their reputation not our kids!!!!!!
I am crying now after reading all these comments!!!
YOU ALL ARE BULLYING EACH OTHER ON HERE!!!!!!
so sorry for your experiences MORGAN!!! why hadn’t anything been done thru the years?!?!?! there had to be records from hospitals…
the mother did press charges…
we were told by our principal not to call the police and the bus driver said how can you arrest a 2nd grader… WE WERE BULLIED BY HERITAGE ELEMENTARY AND RED CLAY BUS TRANSPORTATION!!!!!!
and the more they talk about it the worse it gets… you punish a child they come back even meaner… they are not learning!!!
I think the only way to fix these kids is to scare them…
this is so sad and only adds to my depression and anxiety that I already deal with everyday when I put my son on that bus!!! I wish we were rich so I could drive him… but then that’s not really the answer either, cause it doesn’t just happen on buses!!! it happens right in school, right in front of teachers who turn away!!!
I have to say as a Brandywine School district parent and former student this type of behavior is not allowed by the schools in my experience. The transportation department, that operates independently, needs upgrading in my opinion. I have an 8 year old in and all of our problems are on the bus. My child has absolutely no problems in school and in my experience the teachers she has had do not allow any disrespect in their classrooms, however the bus ride to and from school is a different experience. I have resorted to taking my child to school in the morning because she cried so much about riding the bus. She was being bullied by 2 boys on the bus. I tried to talk to the driver and he practically layed me out and told me my daughter was a big problem on the bus because she cries and screams a lot. I decided that talking to him was not going to resolve the problem so I contacted the transportation department which in turn was a path of “we’ll investigate and call you back”. Finally I went to the school and filed a complaint. The school requested the tapes on the bus be pulled and reviewed. (All BSD school buses have cameras). Upon review it was found that there was a problem with her being bullied and that is why she cried and hollered a lot on the bus and something was done about it. These buses have children on them from the ages of 5-12. The bus driver can not focus on the road and the children at the same time. These buses should have a bus aid. The bus aids are not consistent on the bus. They may be there one day then not another. These buses are over crowed. These buses originally accomodated grades k-3 then 4 and 5 were added without accomodations for the added students. What has happened to this little girl is definitely horrible however if those buses were adequately supervised then incidents like this would not happen or at least be reduced. My daughters school made the bus driver reassign all the childrens seats to put the younger children in the front and the older children in the back and enlisted their “leader corp” members to be open eyes for them. That has been helpful. I just want to say to any parent who has had similar problems, be a thorn in their side. The schools do have a zero tolerance policy and the children are taught to respect each other. The buses, however is another world if you ask me.