A brutal beating in the bathroom of a southwest Florida middle school ultimately led a sixth grader to flee the state.
The 12-year-old victim, “Patricia,” attended Veteran’s Park Academy for the Arts earlier this year when she became reluctant to attend school because she was being bullied, WINK reported. After noticing her daughter’s reluctance, Danielle Kicker set up a meeting with school administrators, expressing her concern for her daughter’s safety.
“I said this bullying has to stop,” Kicker told WINK. “This little girl doesn’t want to come to school… She promised me she was in good hands. And then that day, this all happened.”
The same day Kicker met with school officials in January, her daughter was brutally attacked by a classmate in the bathroom while another student recorded the incident on a cellphone. Footage shows Kicker’s daughter lying on her back and shielding her face with her hands while the attacker repeatedly hits her.
Kicker said seeing her daughter come home beaten after the January attack leaves her not only heartbroken but incredibly disappointed in school administrators.
Patricia’s grandmother questioned where the adults were and how the attack could go on for so long.
The district school board member for Lehigh Acres, Armor Persons, is aware of the attack and said faculty and staff will undergo new training for dealing with “disruptive situations.”
“All the administration is taking courses to make sure everything is reported, from bullying to everything else,” Persons said. “It could be more faculty toward the issue or more training or whatever, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Right after the incident, Kicker pulled her daughter out of the middle school and enrolled her in a neighboring school. However, the video of her daughter’s beatdown quickly spread around the new school, making Patricia the target of more bullying. Feeling absolutely helpless, Kicker sent her daughter to live with family in Missouri while she figured out a long-term plan.
During the 2021-2022 school year, schools within the Lehigh Acres area reported 170 physical attacks, according to the School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting system. Numerous social media accounts exist online dedicated to posting fight videos just in Lehigh Acres schools, with many educators deeming cell phones a serious issue encouraging school violence.
Other educators relate the outburst in violence to students struggling in schools and say the schools need more funding.
Since the end of the pandemic lockdowns, prompting the return of children to the classrooms, schools in all zip codes have struggled with a rise in violence. In North Carolina, data shows an overall increase in violent conduct and crime during the 2021-2022 school year when compared to 2018-2019, the period before Covid, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
“We know that the pandemic and its aftermath have created significant challenges for students, educators and their schools,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt said. “We’re taking aggressive steps to respond this year, and we’re seeking more resources for next year to provide students with the help that they need.”
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