BY Maritza Plata – WOAI TV freelance citizen reporter
texasnewsgirl@gmail.com

In the past years bullying in schools has become a big concern and issue for many of us that have kids.  Yet, we trust that when they are dropped of in front of that big building they will be safe and even feel as if they were amongst family. But what happens when your child’s teacher or school administrator becomes the aggressor?

This is the issue that my child is going through and although I will not release my child’s name or the administrator’s name I will point out that this happened at one of the Judson ISD Middle Schools near Converse TX.

I don’t normally write stories about something or someone close to me. For years I have concentrated my news writing and reporting on helping others. Though this story involves my own child and my own issue I feel that it is in my best interest to let all of the parents know that sometimes the people you trust the most with your children are the ones who will be the first to harm them. Here is my story:

My daughter is a sixth grader at the school and last week she and two of her other friends were pinched hard (as they described) by one of the school administrators in the library because they were talking. 
I’ve contacted Judson ISD Police and have filed a report; The Judson ISD Police officer asked me if the girls had taken pictures after it happened to have proof. Do they think my daughter walks around with a camera? As my daughter told me, she was scared after it happened. She didn’t even know whether to tell me or not. Kids may act grown up but their mentality is not yet that of a grown up – they are not going to think about taking pictures or writing down details. 
I’ve contacted school office administrators (social worker, vice-principal) and filed a report.  Their response, “we have spoken to the faculty member that did this and we advised her never to do it again”.  So that’s it? The administrator remained on campus and none of the girls or any of the parents received anything – not even an apology.
Days later, after arguing back and forth with the vice principal she promised she would look more into the incident and would even file a report with the district itself. The administrator that did this was then off campus four days pending the investigation but on the fifth day she was back at work and still no call from the school to the parents and no apology to the students. 

I’m not one to side with my children when they do wrong. I believe in consequences. I don’t however believe that the consequence from another adult to my child should involve any type of touching or corporal punishment.
So parent’s I now ask you, at what point do we just let this go?
I have contacted other agencies and have been told I could go as far as pursuing other types of charges because it is considered assault on a minor. 
My daughter now feels uncomfortable in the school and we have brought this issue up to the social worker but they seem more focused to protect their employee than to think about what the kids may be feeling.
Yes, as adults we will all work with people we don’t get along with and we need to learn to interact with everyone even in tough situations. But as adults we can also defend ourselves, even physically if we need to – these kids cannot turn around and hit her, they cannot turn around and pinch her because then they will be in trouble.

So when teachers become the bullies what do parents do? I will keep you all up to date in the weeks to come on the outcome of this situation.