A young woman who fears her brother is being tormented at school says she needs help before the situation worsens.
Bullying allegations
Megan Smith, who took in her younger brother after their mother died, believes his school is not adequately protecting him. He only joined the new middle school in December 2024, and she claims the 12-year-old has been attacked twice.
“My younger brother is a timid little boy. We had to teach him how to defend himself. “The fact that he’s had two fights in the first two months of school is insane,” Harris tells FOX 26. “He stated the little guy approached him and started talking. He wasn’t sure if the small boy was playing, so he began talking back, and the little child hit him. So, he began punching him back. I wasn’t told anything until I picked him up, and they told me he’d been suspended for three days.”
“I believe the school district was not forthright with the guardian. Dr. Candice Matthews, a community activist, questions how you can send a child to a car and say the child is suspended without alerting the guardian, having incident reports, or even taking the child to the nurse’s office to be checked.
“The FERPA violation [came] in when I was at the front desk and the registrar – who I’ve had problems with since I enrolled my little brother – told the nurse that I wasn’t his parent,” remarks Harris.
“That is on his educational record. So why are you saying this aloud? That is a FERPA violation. You do not reveal children’s educational records in a public forum. This was another thing I found frightening. Dr. Matthews adds, “I’ve never heard of a school denying a parent the opportunity to watch the video.”
FOX 26 has contacted the school for comment and is waiting to hear back. The school’s name will not be revealed at this time.
What’s next: What does Harris want to happen from here?
“I want my little brother to feel safe. “I just want him to be okay,” she says.
Parents and guardians have the right under FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, to request to see films of their children.
Harris claims she has been informed she would be permitted to view the footage once the other children have been obscured.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ stopbullying.gov website provides a list of people to contact if you believe your concerns about bullying are not being addressed.
