SACRAMENTO, CA - Heather Harris, the mother of a McClatchy High School student, said she moved to Sacramento to put her daughter in a good school, but instead of focusing on grades she's now worried about bullies.
"A lot of this happens at a lot of different schools and I don't feel that the school system takes responsibility for what's happening to our children while they're at school and they end up making the victim of this seem like the problem," Harris said.
Harris' daughter has not returned to school in four days.
"I want the school to take responsibility for what happened to my daughter while she was in their care," Harris said. "A lot of the times this is something that gets overlooked or they treat the student, the victim, like it was their fault. They don't own up to it. They don't take care of it the way they should."
"I thought I was friends with some of the girls that started to bully me," said the teen, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.
The teen, who is a freshman, said the bullying started at school a few weeks ago. According to the teen, the ongoing problems are with girls and boys. She said one boy pushed her to the floor at school.
"I get up and then he pushes me back down. When he body-slammed me, my knees hit the floor. He stopped and apologized to me," the teen said.
She thought the incident was a joke until her alleged attacker made a comment as he walked away. She said he told her "that's what you get" and called her a profanity.
The teen said the same boy continued to bully her off-campus.
One incident was caught on video, on a Sacramento light rail train, that was later posted on YouTube. In the video, a boy is seen punching another male repeatedly on the train, even after the victim fell to the ground. According to the teen, the victim in the video is her boyfriend.
"When it had happened, I freaked out and panicked and did what I could," the teen said.
The teen's boyfriend was hospitalized with jaw damage and suffered short term memory loss.
"I think it needs to be something that is a priority in our schools," Harris said.
Harris said she won't let her daughter return to McClatchy High School because administrators can't guarantee her daughter's safety.
"They couldn't protect her the first time, how are they going to do it now when they're allowing these kids to go back to school like it was nothing?" said Harris.
Harris said she spoke with one of McClatchy's assistant principals after the first incident, but her recent calls went unanswered.
News10 contacted school officials about the issue with Harris' daughter. Principal Peter Lambert referred all questions to district spokesman Gabe Ross. In a statement emailed to News10, Ross said the following:
"The safety and security of our students and staff is our No. 1 priority. Sacramento City Unified School District is the first district in the area to develop and enact a sweeping anti-bullying policy. All school employees are trained to recognize bullying and report incidents to administration immediately. Allegations of employees failing in this responsibility are thoroughly investigated and appropriate disciplinary action taken."
Harris said a different assistant principal, Jim Hays, returned her phone call and told her he would get her daughter enrolled at another school and get her up-to-date on her school work.
However, Harris said the bullies need to be removed from the classroom and need stiffer penalties.
"(School officials) need to set a more distinctive example of these students - kick them out of the school," Harris said. "Why do they deserve to come back to school after bullying somebody, hurting somebody, physically harming someone, threatening someone. If an adult did that to another adult, we would be arrested, it wouldn't be tolerated."
News10/KXTV