SULTAN, Wash. — Parents have been complaining about their own children being bullied at Sultan Middle School, and they are hoping to spur change.
Shaun and Melissa Carr told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Deborah Horne that their 15-year-old daughter has been bullied since she entered the Sultan School District.
Melissa Carr said her daughter, Hannah, is now a freshman at Sultan High School, and has the emotional maturity of a 9-year-old. Shaun and Melissa Carr said Hannah has endured years of bullying in the city’s schools, but none more than at Sultan Middle School.
“She would be tripped in the hallways. People would poke her with pencils. Always called her horrific names – slut, whore, cat lady, horseface,” said the Carr’s.
Shaun Carr has tried talking to the school superintendent.
“It tends to seem like he’s blowing you off,” said Shaun Carr. “Every time I talk to him.”
Other parents in the school district feel the same way.
“We feel like this school district has not done their part in keeping the students safe,” said Tiffany Bell.
Bell’s house is now for sale so her family can move. She told KIRO 7 that she blames the district’s handling of the bullying of her 13-year-old son culminated a fight.
Officials at the school suspended two students, which Bell said it was too lenient based on the district’s own student handbook.
“Then if they break these rules and these punishments don’t happen. What message are we sending to our children,” Bell said.
The Carr’s said they have also considered moving, but they believe the Sultan School District has a duty to make things rights.
“Their job is to ensure the safety of those children while they’re being educated,” said Shaun Carr.
The school superintendent told KIRO 7 that Sultan Middle School has issues, but that it is not a place where bullying is tolerated.
Watch the KIRO 7 special Bullying: Breaking the Cycle.