During Thursday evening's North Callaway R-1 Board of Education meeting, two moms urged the board to address what they see as a bullying problem at the school.
School board members and Superintendent Bryan Thomsen are promising to look into the claims.
"My son has a plan to murder himself," Jaclyn Summitt said.
According to Summitt, one of her sons was hospitalized after admitting suicidal thoughts due to bullying. Another son - who has special needs - came home with bruises on his stomach which Summitt was told were self-inflicted.
She doesn't buy it.
"My son doesn't do that," Summitt said.
Another mother, Christen Haley, said her son has faced verbal threats from another student. As far as she knows, no punishment was dealt out, she said. In another incident, she said, another student hit her son with a school-issued laptop.
"He broke the screen," Haley said. "I was sent a bill for half of the repair costs."
School policy (found online at bit.ly/2s1dFcp) requires employees who witness bullying to report it to the building principal within two days. Then, the principal is required to initiate an investigation to be completed within 10 days. Consequences range from loss of privileges all the way up to expulsion and law enforcement being contacted.
However, Haley fears the policy isn't always followed.
"I've heard of teachers seeing this happening in their classrooms and doing nothing," she said.
According to school board member Sandy Lavy, this is the first time a parent has raised these issues before the board.
"All I'm asking is for you to trust us as a board and let the process take its course," Lavy said.
Board president Regan Love promised to discuss the issue further with the board and send a letter with their findings to the mothers. "It's not something we're going to take lightly at all," Love said.
After the meeting, Thomsen said he was glad the parents came and spoke up.
"The last thing we want is any kids hurting themselves or being bullied or even not wanting to come to school," Thomsen said.
He said every year the district does face some instances of bullying - perhaps unavoidably. He said policies are in place to investigate and follow up consistently when those situations arise. He promised to take a deep look into the issue and follow up with Haley and Summitt.
Both Summitt and Haley wished they had a better way of communicating with district administration.
"We need an open line of communication so that we know that when we send our kids to school they're safe," Haley said.
Overall, she believes the district does well in addressing student needs.
"My son gets a good education here," she said.
