School officials do too little to stop bullying, says the mother of a 15-year-old victim.
Ashlee Merrill said her daughter, Aleeyah — a sophomore at Essex Street Academy on the Lower East Side — was ridiculed and taunted on Facebook by a classmate in late August, who also targeted her in a Snapchat video which threatened, “I’ll stab bitches and spit in their face.”
Merrill contacted Families for Excellent Schools, a pro-charter group that filed a federal class-action suit against the city Department of Education, charging a failure to address violence and bullying.
“There was serious violence before — this was just the worst we’ve seen,” said the group’s lawyer, Jim Walden, referring to Wednesday’s fatal high-school stabbing over alleged bullying in The Bronx.
The lawsuit demands that the DOE enforce a protocol to investigate complaints, and take actions such as removing bullies or letting victims change schools upon request.
The two sides are close to a settlement, court papers say.
In Aleeyah’s case, the menacing video wasn’t sent to her alone, but it was posted minutes after the girl insulted Aleeyah on Facebook, the mom said.
“This girl was calling my daughter a ‘cornball’ and a ‘follower’ for no reason, then posted that scary video right after,” said Merrill, who was inspired to speak out after last week’s bullying-related bloodshed. “It made her feel really unsafe.”
Merrill, 36, said she immediately informed the school principal and demanded the other girl be removed from her daughter’s homeroom class.
The principal “told me they were going to remove her from my daughter’s class a month ago and still hasn’t done anything,” Merrill said. The school assured Merrill a counselor attempted “mediation” with the alleged bully. The principal could not immediately be reached.
“They don’t take things seriously. I guess they have to wait until someone gets hurt for them to help,” the mom said.
DOE spokeswoman Toya Holness said in a statement: “We take any allegation of bullying seriously and provide schools with resources to ensure a safe and inclusive learning environment. This incident was reported and we’re working closely with the school to look into it and ensure appropriate follow-up action is swiftly taken.”