Classmates, Parents Say School Failed To Stop Bullying

February 24, 2012 9:57 PM

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Education, Local, News, Syndicated Local

THE COLONY (CBSDFW.COM) - The Lewisville Independent School District, to this day, maintains there is no link between bullying and the death of 9-year-old Montana Lance. But video interviews conducted by attorneys representing Montana’s family say otherwise.

“Did you ever see him get physically bullied at Stewart’s Creek,” asked attorney, Ryan Johnson. “Yes, mostly at the playground or in the lunch line,” replied a classmate of Montana’s. Johnson then followed with, “on the day of his death, was Montana Lance bullied?” To which the student responded, “Yes, he was.”

The classmate is one of at least three former students at Stewart’s Creek Elementary that say Montana was bullied repeatedly and that nothing was done to stop it.

Read The Transcripts Below:

The same student says the physical abuse pushed Montana to bring a pocketknife to school. “Me and my friend were walking home from school and we went behind this house for a shortcut and he [Montana] was being beat up,” explained the now 12-year-old. “He told me he was thinking of bringing a pocketknife to school, but I told him he should not, because he could get in trouble. But he did it anyways,” the boy added.

Classmates, Parents Say School Failed To Stop Bullying

Montana Lance

The classmate goes on to say that he was in the nurse’s office when Montana locked himself in the nurse’s bathroom and then hanged himself. “After about five minutes, there was kicking, there was kicking, there was activity,” recalled the student.

The student says Montana was locked in the bathroom for at least 45 minutes, because no one at Stewart’s Creek Elementary School could find the key to open the door.

The mother of the student says her two sons were also bullied, and when she complained to school officials, the mother says she felt like they were “sweeping it under the carpet.”

The woman goes on to say that she heard stories of Montana’s abuse from her two sons, and when the 4th grader took his own life; that was enough for her. “I think the straw that broke the camel’s back, that made me decide to pull them [my sons] out of school, was the issue with Montana,” the mother added.

CBS 11 attempted, once again, to interview the Lewisville School District, and once again, district spokeswoman Karen Permetti says the district is unable to comment on pending litigation.

Also Check Out:

http://fortworthinsight.com/news/classmates-parents-say-l-i-s-d-school-failed-to-stop-bullying/ Classmates, Parents Say L.I.S.D. School Failed To Stop Bullying « Fort Worth News Feeds

[...] Go to News Source [...]
http://fortworthinsight.com/news/classmates-parents-say-school-failed-to-stop-bullying/ Classmates, Parents Say School Failed To Stop Bullying « Fort Worth News Feeds

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Michael

Sounds like this particular school has a lot to answer to. At one time or another both of my children were bullied, but after speaking with the teacher(s) and principals of the schools involved we were able to get things straightened out and the bullying stopped pronto. Sounds like they actually DID sweep this one under the rug. There ARE better schools in the LISD, I promise. No child should suffer bullying from another. Poor Montana didn’t get the attention he deserved and now he’s gone. That’s a tragedy that should NEVER have to happen again. And you idiot parents who allow your children to bully others? You’re pathetic.
NiteNurse

Again I feel BOTH the parents and the school hold responsibility for this child’s death. I simply can’t believe this boy came home everyday happy and care free from school. The mother had to have noticed something was going on. If you are a good parent you can stop this. You can’t expect a school with hundreds of kids to monitor to be able to do everything and be everything when they are stretched to the limit. Check in on your kids.

Elizabeth

As the article states the mother did complain to school officials, to what extent she complained it does not say. I feel that it is very unfair of you to throw out the accusation that this woman was a bad mother simply because she could not stop her son from being bullied.

http://darlingbabyjake08.wordpress.com juliannasmith08

It is really a must to focus on bullying particularly in school where it normally happens. I would like to introduced the safety solution that I have learned in one of my office mates. I registered my son to SafeKidZone for they offered something to used during emergency. It has an application called panic button and by just pressing it the alert will go to a list of safety network and to the nearest 911 if help is needed the most. Check out their site http://safekidzone.com/
mike

How utterly heartbreaking. There is no reason on earth a child should have to fear going to school. Wake up people ,these are your children crying out for help. The schools are not doing anything to help. RIP Montana. A agreater power has your back now

NiteNurse

You know Mike it’s not easy watching hundreds of kids but it’s far less difficult for a parent to check on what’s going on with their kid. If you think your kid is a victim of bullying don’t hope it will go away be proactive and DO SOMETHING! People whine when schools do too much and they whine when schools do too little. I guess it’s easy now to check on why your kid is dead when lawyers are seeking some money from the school system. My advice is be a parent don’t expect the school to be your kid’s parent.

Allie

Really? So you know these people? You know they did nothing? If your answer is yes, your a liar. They were trying to stop it. Know how? By going through the system. They tried to get him help at school. Nothing happened. They tried to get him help outside of school. That may have worked but we may never know. Hind sight being so clear, if they had it to do over again I am sure they would have been more forceful. Probably removed him. All that can happen now is others can learn from this. This lawsuit is why this story is still in the public eye. Unfortunately money talks and that gets attention. If someone can learn from this and keep another kid from dieing than THANK GOD!
Michael

At both of my children’s schools, the educators and principles are involved. They know my kids by name. We’re lucky to have had a great relationship with them from the word “GO”. Of course it’s easier for a parent to do something, PROVIDED WE KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON. Sometimes children aren’t forthcoming with their problems because they’re scared or intimidated. Sounds like you have all the answers but no questions to put them to. We don’t EXPECT educators to be parents, quite the contrary. What I DO expect is that my children are in a SAFE learning environment and I will do EVERYTHING to ensure that that happens, and I have. Shut up already.

norulers

Remember, these are GOVERNMENT schools, which means they are operated by confirmed pedophiles, child abusers, sociopaths and psychopaths. To them, a child hanging himself in desperation is just part of the “education experience.”

NiteNurse

WOW what planet are you from?

Matthew

People still don’t understand how bad it was at that school. Not only did the staff not protect students from bullying, they participated in it. The victims had no place to turn. The administration knew, the ISD knew, and they must be held accountable.

My kids went to that school. We tried to work through the system but there was no help. We had to pull our kids out and send them to a different school. (My kids also started to show self-destructive behaviors. This was two years before Montana died.) Even though the new school was only a couple of miles away, the difference was night-and-day. It took us off guard when we were suddenly dealing with a staff that actually cared about the students.

What happened to Montana should NEVER happen to any student.

Michael

Matthew I”m so sorry your children had to experience that. That is an administration fail, and there’s no excuse for it.

Kim

Wow some really strong comments out there. No school should feel like a prison. No kid should have to deal with being bullied, but unfortuanly like others have said teachers cant monitor them that closely! Bullying happens all the time, with kids and adults. Some people are just mean!! it is unfortunate that there has to be people like that. Kids should be happy while they are in school and if they are not the parents need to figure out what is going on. My child actually attends stewarts creek, and his teachers have always been kind and understanding. We have only had one situation where he was being bullied and it was handled immediatly. Dont really understand how he came up with the idea of hanging himself. I know my kids would never be able to think of something like that as a resolution to a problem. Maybe there are more issues then we know about.
L. Cherry

@ Kim and NiteNurse – both of you sound very ill hearted. The FACT that it took them 45 minutes to open the door says something to me. Seems like to me someone could have kicked the door in.

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Classmates, Parents Say School Failed To Stop Bullying

February 24, 2012 9:57 PM

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