TRENTON, Ohio — Edgewood City Schools Superintendent Kelly Spivey addressed the district's school board Monday evening on bullying problems at the schools following the death of a high school student.
Several parents and some students spoke about their experience or their child’s experience.
Sarah Slaton has two daughters who go to Edgewood City Schools. She said her youngest daughter, Rileigh Combs, and her friends have been targets.
“She had a few kids bullying her in band telling her she wasn’t good enough, she doesn’t need to be in band. She wanted to quit band. She came to me crying,” Slaton said.
Slaton said she spoke to her daughter’s band director, who took care of it, and her daughter hasn’t had any issues since.
For the past week, Spivey said she has talked with a lot of families about bullying at Edgewood. She also told the school board she spoke with the Ohio School Safety Council.
She said the council thought the district's policies were strong, but more development training for staff was needed. Spivey said they will have anti-bullying training with staff on January 5.
“That doesn’t mean our staff isn’t doing anything. It just means that we need to be more consistent,” Spivey said.
She also said she would like to see harsher punishments for students caught bullying, including a three-day suspension as a minimum punishment, along with more consistency in discipline across all Edgewood schools.
Spivey said she learned from families that not every student involved in a bullying incident are being punished when they should be; she also said the district needs to do a better job at catching verbal hate speech.
Rileigh said words hurt.
“They can stick with you forever,” Rileigh said.
Rileigh said another student destroyed her phone at an eighth grade dance.
“I went into the school to get the principal … they told me that there was nothing they could do about it. After that the same kid continued to call her names and spread fake rumors about her,” Slaton said.
She was also called names on her eighth grade field trip to Washington, D.C by the same kid.
“Her older sister does stand up for her and it does scare me what’s going to happen when the oldest one leaves,” Slaton said.
Brooklynn graduates next year. Slaton is considering switching schools, so her daughter can go to class and not be harassed.
Brooklynn said the bullying at Edgewood is bad.
“Cyber bullying, in-class bullying, pencils being thrown, scissors being thrown, people cutting other people’s hair. I've seen that one, cutting clothes, ripping clothes, destroying phones,” she said.
Brooklynn was Zariah Thomas’s friend. Her mother, Paula, said Zariah died by suicide earlier this month because she was bullied.
“I absolutely loved Z. She had the best smile,” Brooklynn said. “I do want to find a way to give Z the memorial she does deserve within Edgewood whether it is a plaque for Z, a bench, tree, or hallway itself.”
Spivey said there’s a process to do that, but she said she will talk with Combs about it.
Paula was at the meeting Monday night and said she will continue to fight to get justice for her daughter.
“Suspensions don’t work. If you’re going to suspend, suspend them at school and make them stay here,” Paula said.
Brooklynn said she also doesn't believe a suspension is enough incentive to stop bullying.
“The one day suspension to a whole week isn’t going to do anything for these kids, like they need to sit down and actually understand what causes these problems,” Brooklyn said.
Spivey will host a small focus group of about 24 people at the high school on Tuesday with students to identify root causes and patterns when it comes to bullying.
