Video captured a violent middle school fight that prompted a mother to pull her son out of school and demand answers from school authorities in Palm Beach County.
It happened on Aug. 29, when Jairishiela Gomez said her son, a 7th grader at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Riviera Beach, was attacked by another student while walking down the stairwell.
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The footage shows the 7th grader being pulled down the staircase, and as he’s on the floor, the other student kicks him in the head. Gomez's son gets up and holds his head.
“He broke his braces. He punched him 15 plus times, kicked him in the head once, threw him down a flight of stairs into the concrete,” she said.
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She noticed her son was acting differently when he came home and was visibly hurt, NBC affiliate WPTV reported. Gomez got the video from another parent hours later.
“I saw the video and I was like, this is terrible,” she said through tears.
Her son told her he’d been beaten up by another student. But there was no word from the school for days, she said.
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It was on Sept. 3 that the assistant principal addressed the violence with Gomez, telling her the other student was suspended for a week.
And according to Gomez, her son and the other student had been fighting since the week before, when she was told also by the assistant principal that they would push for mediation. That never happened, she said.
WPTV spoke with Gomez’s son. He said the fight started after the other student pulled his school ID from his neck.
Gomez said her son has ADHD and this is not the first time he has been bullied.
“I just need answers because there’s no way that this can continue to happen," she said. "My son can’t even sleep.”
In a statement, the Palm Beach County School District said: “This matter is under investigation. The school district is committed to ensuring a safe learning and working environment for all students and staff, including having a school counselor and behavioral health professional available to students on every campus. Students who violate the district’s student code of conduct policy are subject to disciplinary action for any infraction that poses a threat to school safety.”
Gomez’s son no longer attends John F. Kennedy Middle School, and she has started a GoFundMe to seek therapy for him.
