Virginia mom Taylor Brock recently shared a horrifying video of her 12-year-old son being bullied on a school bus by a female classmate.
Brock, whose son is in the seventh grade at Walt Whitman Middle School in Alexandria, posted the video on a blog site and said that the student was responsible for leaving her son with red marks and bruises after choking him on the school bus on January 23.
Disclaimer: This video contains depictions of violence. Viewer discretion is advised.
The video showed a female student seated next to the boy hitting him multiple times before grabbing him by the mouth and neck and briefly choking him as she pushed him back to the seat.
Taylor Brock obtained a protection order for her son
In an interview with WUSA, Taylor Brock expressed her disappointment over the other students not stepping in to defend her son despite the latter being visibly in distress during the bullying incident.
Brock obtained the video after it was filmed by a student on the bus. She posted it on her blog, criticizing the school for failing to take adequate measures to protect her son.
She reportedly followed up with the school, who allegedly told her that they were disciplining the female student responsible for the incident. However, Taylor Brock later learned that the student in question was merely suspended for a few days before returning to classes. Recounting the experience, she wrote on her blog:
“I immediately went to the school to show them the video of the assault and pictures of my son’s neck. Upon seeing this I was sure that the school would take proper action and keep not only my son safe but the other children on the bus and school safe too by expelling her... I found out from my son that she had come back to school after being merely suspended for a criminal act such as strangulation. How is that fair?”
Shortly after the incident, Taylor Brock also obtained a protection order against the accused student. However, she claimed that her son had multiple close encounters with the latter, despite the protection order explicitly stating that the girl should stay at least 50 feet away from her son for two years.
After the protection order was issued, the school reportedly assured the mother that the girl and her son would be kept apart and would not have any classes together in the foreseeable future, but Brock said that her son had told her that they often crossed paths in hallways. She added:
“Not only did the girl not take this protection order seriously, but the school didn’t either.”
Meanwhile, the school has maintained that they have acted in adherence to the protocol of the Virginia Department of Education, noting that the institution is not responsible for enforcing a protection order. A Fairfax County Public Schools rep told WUSA in a statement:
“The school administration handled the situation in line with the student discipline manual (FCPS Student Rights and Responsibilities). We are unable to share further information due to federal privacy laws.”
Taylor Brock told WUSA that for the safety of her child, she plans on transferring him to another school.