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Video incidents show students bullying special needs Woodhaven girl on school bus
Robert Garcia‘s daughter is a 14-year-old sophomore at Woodhaven High School, and says she’s being bullied on the bus with two of the incidents caught on video.
WOODHAVEN, Mich. (FOX 2) - Robert Garcia shared phone video of a bullying incident from November last year involving students at Woodhaven High School, where he said his daughter was targeted on a school bus.
The backstory:
"Your dad’s dirty, your mom‘s dirty, your family‘s dirty," says a boy on the video.
Video of a second incident was recorded in an incident that happened last Friday also on the bus, involving most of the same students at Woodhaven.
The school district confirmed that five students were disciplined in someway because of Friday’s incident.
Garcia says he and his family are upset over the treatment his special needs daughter has received.
"It's just two boys on the bus that were screaming and yelling, cussing, threatening the other girls on the bus that was special needs," Garcia said. "And when the bus driver stopped to tell him to knock it off and move to the front of the bus. Then they confronted the bus driver.
Garcia‘s daughter is a 14-year-old sophomore at Woodhaven high school.
FOX 2: "Do you think your daughter is being bullied on the bus because she has special needs?"
"Absolutely I do," he said. "Let alone, they're girls and the boys should not be doing this to them."
What they're saying:
Police responded in the second incident, said Brownstown Deputy Police Chief Andrew Starzec.
"When we got out there, we saw that there was really no fight that happened," Starzec said.
No criminal charges were filed in connection to the incident.
The Woodhaven Schools Superintendent released this statement:
"The safety, especially the safe transport of all of our students, is a top priority. If anyone feels unsafe, or the target of bullying, please let us know. We are here to help."
FOX 2: How has the bullying affected your daughter?
"She’s afraid to go to school. She can’t sleep. She’s barely eating," Garcia said.
His daughter was in the choir but doesn’t even want to do that anymore, he said.
FOX 2: "If a student thinks that he or she is being bullied, what can they do?"
"Our resource officers are located at the high school and middle school, and I know many other jurisdictions have similar resources, but reach out to that school resource officer," Starzec said.
And finally, some advice from a dad.
"Treat the people in in the world the way you want to be treated," Garcia said. "And that’s the best way to teach anybody."
The Source: This story uses information from a Woodhaven student's family, Brownstown Township police and Woodhaven Schools.