TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A local mother has pulled her son out of the Leon County School District because of bullying, and she says school officials still aren't doing enough to help the students.
Sara Bennett says her 10-year-old son was being harassed for months at Woodville Elementary.
She finally decided to take action when she found an offensive note in her son's pocket about a month ago.
"I was stupid, stupid mad and I was heartbroken," said Bennett. "[The note shows] two people, one with a gun pointing at the other one. If that's not a death threat, I don't know what is."
10-year-old Eragon was in the 4th grade at Woodville Elementary School. He told his mother that another student left the note near his backpack.
Bennnett says she's been pushing school officials to deal with bullying issues for months.
"I had been up there 13 times before I met the principal," said Bennett. "This is when I found out my son was self-harming, three days after the caught him doing it."
Leon County Schools provided this statement:
"School administration and the School Resource Officer at Woodville Elementary were aware of a situation involving this student and were actively working with the family to get the student the help that they needed. However, the student has since been withdrawn from Woodville Elementary. Because of student privacy laws, there is limited information regarding this incident that can be released."
"They didn't try to get him help," said Bennett. "They wanted to Baker Act my son and put him in a mental facility."
Bennett told school officials, "You're not committing my son due to the fact that he has been bullied this hard and this long and this serious. What about the ones that have done this to him?"
Bennett withdrew her son from Woodville Elementary. Both her son and young daughter are now at a charter school. She says they're thriving.
Now, Bennett is sharing Eragon's story in the hope that other parents will have the courage to stand up and demand change.
"These kids are being tormented on a daily basis," said Bennett. "No one is hearing them."
