Parents of students at Niles Community Schools demand change in how district handles bullying

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NILES, Mich -- For the first time, we heard from the father of a Niles boy who was assaulted on his school bus.

The attack caught on a viral video, shows an older girl repeatedly punching the 7-year-old in the head.

It was an emotional morning for parents of students at Niles Community Schools, now demanding a change in how the district handles bullying.

Those there Wednesday, allege bullying has been happening in Niles' schools for years and it needs to end.

After a video showing a 5th grade girl repeatedly hitting a 7-year-old boy went viral, that boy's father is now speaking out.

Niles Community Schools say two adults were on the bus focused on navigating the bus route and did not hear the fight happen.

Camp alleges the statements released by the administration were simply not true. 

“I was horrified by what I saw, the school told me there were two adults on the bus, a driver, and a monitor. As you can see in the video, nothing was done to stop the attack on my child," said Camp.

Camp says his kids won't be returning to Ballard Elementary and that his family is considering legal options.

Parents rallied around Camp Wednesday, sharing stories of their kids' experiences of bullying in the district.

They want to see a change in how officials handle incidents both on and off school buses. 

Kathryn Greer's son, Kai, took his own life while a senior at Niles New Tech in 2015.

Greer doesn't want any other parent to experience what she went through. 

“It's not that it is happening, it's that we're doing nothing to prevent it from happening. Do we have control over every student, over every action that the students take? No. But we can be pre-active instead of post-active and if we were pre-active none of us would be here," said Greer.

The father of the girl in the video says his daughter has been expelled for the rest of the year.

 


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