ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – A Jacksonville mom said she felt forced to remove her son from Mayport Middle School after he became a target for bullies.
She said her son experienced the bullying over the school year with several incidents happening in April, including one in early April in which her son texted her that a bully stabbed him with a pencil.
“I wasn’t told by a teacher; I was told by him through texts. ‘Mom, I’m scared, can you come get me?’ So we had to race to the school,” Nicole Lynch said.
She said the second incident happened a few weeks later during gym class. Lynch told New4JAX the bullies hit her son multiple times. She was driven to press charges through the school resource officer against the students who assaulted her son.
“He said that they were sitting on the bleachers and the two kids behind him, one kept smacking him in the back of the head,” Lynch said.
His mother said her son told the kids to stop then they “grabbed his arms and held him still, while the other friend jumped in and started hitting him in the back of the head.”
Lynch had to take her son to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with a concussion after that incident. She also said he would have throbbing headaches.
“I took him back in a little over a week after the initial [visit] and the doctor that I saw at Wolfson’s said that he has a traumatic brain injury in the back and sides, so when he’s in there with his attackers, the anxiety level goes up as well,” Lynch said.
After she pulled her son out of the school for his safety, Lynch questioned why her son’s bullies were still in school.
“I just think that they need to just to really cut down on the way they handled this bullying situation, the way they punish the bullies themselves. Is it a slap on the wrist? There needs to be something else,” Lynch said.
Lynch said she has not heard from the school’s principal yet but has received emails about submitting a parent survey.
“So, if you can write those emails and send those emails out, then how come you’re not addressing the main things that you should be addressing?” She said.
Lynch said her goal is to protect her son, who will attend a different school next year.
News4JAX reached out to the Duval County Schools Strategic Communications Director Laureen Ricks to learn more about the charges pressed against the students involved in this case.
Ricks sent the following statement:
“We are sorry to hear of this report. Here is what we have been able to determine:
- The school is unaware of any reports of bullying regarding this student.
- The school has met extensively with this parent regarding various concerns including reported injuries to this child.
- While we can’t discuss specifics due to student confidentiality laws, we can share that matters of student discipline have resulted in consequences per the student code of conduct.
We will share this allegation with our district bullying prevention coordinator for further review.”