Parents Of Bullied Student: IPS 'Failing To Protect' Their Child

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — A Friday during the school year typically brings excitement and satisfaction among students as another week of schoolwork is complete, and the weekend is here. Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 felt anything but exciting and satisfying for 10-year-old Sarah, a student at Indianapolis Public Schools' Cold Spring School who ended up in the emergency room with a separated shoulder as a result of bullying at the school, her mother told Patch. According to Sarah's mother, her daughter comes home at least once a week with marks left on her body from being physically assaulted by a group of students at Cold Spring. The group consists of four girls, according to Sarah's mother, with the occasional involvement of a male student.

Patch is not identifying the juveniles in this story. Sarah is not the victim's real name.

Over the past year, Patch has been investigating cases of bullying and cyberbullying, a national crisis that turns youths' lives upside down with unimaginable angst and dread, sometimes with deadly consequences. With each story, like the one you're about to read, we've heard personal experiences and demands for action from Patch readers in Indiana and other states who have been bullied and overcome it, but also many who continue to struggle with the damage done by bullies to their self-esteem and their lives.

'They All Failed And Changed A Child': Malden Bullying Detailed

That's one of the purposes of National Bullying Prevention Month, observed in October to bring attention to the problem and involve people in central Indiana and nationwide in a conversation on how to create a world safe from bullying. (Subscribe to the Indianapolis Patch daily newsletter which is delivered to your inbox once a day to keep you updated with breaking news and other updates, for free. Make sure to "Like" Indianapolis Patch on Facebook).

According to her mother, Sarah began the school year at the beginning of August as a new student at Cold Spring after a year of being victim to verbal bullying at IPS Butler University Lab School. But according to Sarah's parents, this second IPS school would lead to a second year of not just verbal bullying, but physical abuse as well.

"Indianapolis Public Schools has failed my family and most importantly failed my child," Sarah's mother told Patch. "Not just failed her, failed to protect her and failed to keep her safe while she is in their care. This is the second year at an IPS School where despite constant reports to teachers and administration the tormenting continues unchecked."

Although Sarah's mother said the constant verbal and physical bullying began at the beginning of the school year, she claimed that during a meeting last month, Cold Spring Principal Cody Stipes said he wasn't ready to call these incidents "bullying" because it's too early in the school year.

“They (bullies) call her an 'ugly little white girl' and then the physical bullying takes place,” the mother said. “She’s really smart and used to have this passion for learning. Now all she wants to do is talk about going to online school. It's hard.”

Page 15 of Cold Spring School's Student/Parent handbook states the following under "Bullying:"

"Cold Spring School is committed to a safe and civil educational environment for all students, employees,
volunteers and patrons free from bullying. Bullying can take many forms including: slurs, rumors, jokes,
innuendos, demeaning comments and actions, drawing cartoons, pranks, gestures, physical attacks,
threats, or written, oral, cyber, and physical actions. Bullying as defined in this handbook, are acts that are
intentional, repeated, and substantially disrupt the learning environment. For purposes of this policy and
per state law, bullying means overt repeated acts or gestures including but limited to:

1. Verbal or written communication
2. Physical acts committed; or
3. Any other behaviors committed by a student or group of students against another student with the
intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate, or harm the other student."

Patch reached out to Adam Baker, press secretary for the Indiana Department of Public Education, who confirmed that according to Indiana legislation, the definition of bullying includes the term "repeated acts."

Baker's response came less than two months after Sarah's mom contacted Dr. Jennifer McCormick, State Superintendent for Academic Instruction, requesting a meeting. According to emails forwarded to Patch from Sarah's mother, she instead received a response from Catherine Danyluk, Director of Student Services & State Attendance Officer for IDOE.

According to Danyluk's reply, the mother's email to McCormick was forwarded to her for response. "Bullying and discipline policies are determined locally," Danyluk wrote. The response included an IPS email address for the mother to send her concerns about bullying.

Sarah's mother replied, "I've been through all the local options and my child is being victim at a school publicly endorsed by Jennifer McCormick that's why I'm asking her for help." In an email response, Danyluck asked her if she's contacted the IPS School Police and recommended she meet with the school's principal to work on a safety plan, as authority is "given to local school districts and boards."

The email exchange continued with Danyluck telling Sarah's mother on Sept. 28 that they (IDOE) do not have authority over local discipline policies.

As of October, Sarah's mother claims the alleged repeated incidents involving her daughter are all "physical abuse at this point."

In an Oct. 5 email to Patch, Sarah's mother said, "It's not just name-calling. She (Sarah) was stabbed in the back with a sharpened pencil an inch from her spine last week. This table of girls use every opportunity to move in the classroom as an opportunity to abuse my child in some way; kicking her, hitting her on the head, 'accidentally' dropping books on her. The ring leader tried to hit her in the eye with a pencil."

Sarah's mother stresses this is not a case of kids having a disagreement or "kids being kids," adding that although the teacher saw one of the pencil stabbings and an investigation was opened, the mother claims the school won't tell her about the investigations even though they involve her daughter.

Sarah's class was given a substitute teacher at the beginning of the year who has repeatedly sided with the bullies, in addition to claiming they were never notified that Sarah was being bullied, according to the child's mother.

“I showed up to school one morning after (Sarah) was in hysterics, and asked the teacher to explain to me what is going on in this class, and if she doesn't see these four girls bullying my daughter,” Sarah's mother told Patch, also claiming that the teacher said she had no idea what Sarah was talking about.

According to Sarah's mother, she and her husband now have to call the IPS School Police Department, specifically IPS Police Detective Saunders, every time an assault takes place because the school refuses to act.

"Even though we have given the police permission to speak to our child at school, the school refuses to allow them to speak to her," Sarah's mother said. "Cody Stipes, the principal, said he had no idea IPS Police were trying to speak to her."

Sarah's mother reached out to Patch claiming the following additional incidents have taken place under the supervision of Cold Spring staff since the beginning of the 2018 school year:

• A male student was reported to have grabbed Sarah's hooded sweatshirt at 9 a.m. the day of a field trip to Lucas Oil Stadium. Sarah's parents didn't find out about the incident until 4:30 p.m., as there was a red mark on the child's neck from the bullying.
• IPS police delivered Sarah's parents a note, alerting them that they're banned from school property for a year. (According to IPS, this claim isn't true. Further background on Cold Spring School's protocol for related claims and situations can be found on page six of this school year's Student/Parent Handbook).
• On Oct. 9, the group of students allegedly shoved Sarah into a wall and the boy grabbed her bottom. The teacher told Sarah to be quiet and go sit down.
• On Oct. 24, one of the girls pulled Sarah out of line and punched her in the face and neck. This reportedly took place while the students were busy seeing up for an event taking place the following day at the school. Sarah's mother said this happened at 10:23 a.m. and her daughter asked to call her parents. The principal refused to call and wouldn't Sarah call her parents, but called at 4:30 p.m. after the young girl was home from school just as Sarah's father was on the phone with the police reporting the assault. The message he left said Sarah was in a conflict with another child at school. The mother claims Sarah has never hit anyone back because she's afraid she'd get into trouble, though she has her parents' permission to defend herself.
• On Oct. 25, Sarah, an "A student," received her first "F" grade on her report card.
• Oct. 25: Sarah's mother said she and Sarah's father asked for permission to attend an event at the school scheduled for that night, and the school refused to allow them, in addition to wanting the child to change classrooms. However, this was a few days after the classroom got a new teacher, who the mother said Sarah likes, as the new teacher isn't turning a blind eye to the bullying and has better control of the classroom. The former substitute teacher is still in the building.
• The school refused to move Sarah's desk near her friend, after Sarah's parents hoped sitting near a friend would help their daughter's situation.
• Dr. Lewis Ferebee, Superintendent of IPS, allegedly won't take phone calls from Sarah's parents. The mother said they've called the superintendent after following appropriate, district-wide steps, which include reporting concerns to a teacher, followed by reporting to a principal if you aren't satisfied with the outcome, and then report to superintendent.

"Each incident has been reported to the teacher and when it became clear that wasn’t making a difference, we went to the principal. Each time we reported it we were told they would open an investigation. What became of the investigations we don’t know, the school cannot tell us because it would violate the bullies' privacy," Sarah's mother said.

Sarah's mother said documents from her daughter's visits to Riley Children's Hospital were sent to the school since the parents had the hospital bill the school.

“The hospital was gonna call the police," Sarah's mother said. "They couldn’t believe the school didn’t do anything.”

According to Sarah's mother, a meeting between herself, Sarah's father, and several other school and district officials, including a lawyer for IPS, Cold Spring School CIO Carrie Bruns, Principal Cody Stipes, and IPS Portfolio Officer Jamie Vandewalle took place on Sept. 17, during which following allegedly took place:

• The principal agreed to call Sarah's parents every time the child was hurt, which the mother claims as of the beginning of October they have not followed through on.
• By Sept. 24, the setup in Sarah's classroom would be rearranged. It wasn't rearranged until the new teacher took over this month.
• Social worker leads "lunch bunch" on Thursdays with Sarah, a friend of Sarah's and one of the students bullying Sarah. The mother said the student "bully" that attends the lunch group isn't one who has put their hands on Sarah. According to Sarah's mother, the other bullies tell their friend who attends "lunch bunch" that they're not going to be friends with her, if she's friends with Sarah.

According to Sarah's mother, the parents met with an education lawyer who told them their daughter had to be a special needs student for anything to go further, and they should "maybe try" a personal injury lawyer. Sarah's mother said another lawyer told the parents they can't do anything, "not until she's dead."

"I'm not letting it get that far," Sarah's mom told Patch, just a couple weeks after the child reportedly told her mother before she went to bed that if she didn't wake up, then the bullying would stop.

“I don't want money, I want my kid to go to school and be safe," Sarah's mother said. "There's enough that can happen to her outside of school. I want school to be a safe place."

A week before school started, Sarah's mother told a school administrator her daughter would be coming to the school this year because she was bullied at her old school and people told the family what a great school Cold Spring was. According to Sarah's mother, the administrator said they didn't have that problem (bullying) at Cold Spring.

According to the Indiana Department of Education's Bullying Data 2017-2018 School Year, there were six instances reported at the school during the 2017-2018 school year.

Patch reached out to Baker at IDOE to get some insight into these numbers, and the report as a whole.

"If you look at the increase (in the last few years) it’s due to more accurate reporting, than due to an increase in actual situations,” Baker said, adding that during the first year data was reported, it was done with a paper and pencil-type mechanism. "But now that it’s an online reporting system, we've seen more of accuracy. We’re getting to that point where we’re 100 percent accurate with data."

According to Baker, communication between students, staff and all involved is key. Baker said schools across Indiana are advised to create a policy and process when it comes to the topics of safety and bullying, so everyone is aware and on the same page.

“Indiana is only one of two states where every district has a school safety specialist,” Baker said. “The school safety specialists are the ones that work with us (IDOE). They have to be trained every year to be recertified."

However, Sarah's mother believes the district and state officials have failed when it comes to being on the same page.

So what is a parent supposed to do when they believe their child's school district has "failed" their family?

To get some insight into the allegations, Patch reached out to Cold Spring Schools administration and IPS.

Cold Spring School responded with the following statement regarding the bullying allegations after Patch reached out to several school officials, including Cold Spring School CIO Carrie Bruns, Principal Cody Stipes, and IPS Portfolio Officer Jamie Vandewalle:

“We are aware of allegations involving this student. The school has thoroughly investigated each claim and handled according to the Cold Spring Student Code of Conduct and Handbook. Student safety is always our top priority and we will continue to be vigilant in these situations. - Cold Spring School"

In a publication on the IPS website, titled, "Indianapolis Public Schools Take on Bullying," a "district-wide process" is detailed, one of which IPS said is "swiftly put into motion once a report of bullying is made." The process' final step includes the following: "Consequences are issued by the dean and a recommendation for counseling is provided, if deemed necessary, for the victim or the instigator."

According to Sarah's mother, she's not aware whether any of the bullies have received consequences.

Because the situation involves other students, Sarah's family isn't authorized access to information, according to the district.

“I want the bullies to be punished instead of my kid having to change her life again,” Sarah's mother said. “If you cannot be a decent citizen you do not deserve to be in this school." She also told Patch the assault could get to a point where it impacts the rest of the bullies' lives if their parents don't know and don't put their foot down.

Sarah's mother said the school and district have done nothing for months but punish the parents and the victim, and that she went to the media because they refused to do anything.

So, Patch asked Baker if there is anything frustrated or concerned parents can do when it comes to involving the IDOE in a bullying situation.

“In this past legislation signed on June 1, one of the great things that happened and passed, are audits," Baker said. “The parent can now call and say 'hey my child is being bullied, I don’t think the school is being involved,' and IDOE kick-starts a process."

Baker said the process can include members of the department visiting the school, and starting "a paper trail."

“If you don’t think your district is doing enough to combat bullying, please reach out to the department and let us know,” Baker said.

The Indiana Department of Education reported on June 1 what was now going to take place due to the uptick in school bullying:

"During the 2018 legislative session two bills were passed and signed into law that require the Department of Education to survey school corporations. HB1421, which became Public Law 151 with the Governor's signature, requires the Department to conduct a survey "to determine the extent to which positive discipline and restorative practices are being utilized" in Indiana school corporations. In addition, HB 1356, which is now Public Law 83, requires a statewide survey concerning the school corporation's obligation to report incidents of bullying under IC 20-34-6-1(8)."

>> Full statement and IDOE's Bullying Data 2017-2018 School Year

For all the Patch readers who've commented and emailed saying schools need to do more to foster an anti-bullying culture, many said parents should talk more with their kids about bullying and keep closer track on their social media habits.

Sarah's mother, however, hopes no one else's children and family will have to go through this.

Take a look back at some of the stories in our series:

• America's Shameful Truth About School Shooters And Bullying
• They All Failed Changed Child: Malden Bullying Detailed
• Bullies, Their Targets The Same In A Surprising Number Of Cases
• 'Everyday, I Wear Your Words,' Teen Tells Bullies In Video
• Teen's 'I Wear Your Words' Video Inspires Nashville Songwriters
• Bullying Of Mallory Grossman, 12, Spelled Out In Wrongful Death Lawsuit
• Poetry Teacher Helps Bullied Kids Open Their Tortured Minds
• Why These Kindergartners Start Each Day With A Simple Handshake

If you have a question or want to share your story, please email [email protected] or [email protected].

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