MANCHESTER – A Manchester mom fighting against bullying has heard from many other parents since she shared her son’s story with FOX 61.
Now, Candy Lopez is raising her voice again. This time she’s speaking up at a public Manchester Board of Education meeting.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of horrible stories with their kids, some that also go to Washington Elementary. It’s big. It’s beyond me,” said Candy Lopez.
During public comment at the meeting, Lopez took the podium to address the Board and to see if they could work together to find a way to minimize or stop bullying in Manchester’s public schools.
“I want the Board of Education to understand that when a kid doesn’t feel safe in school that’s a problem,” said Lopez during her public comments.
Other parents followed her remarks, and so did one Manchester student who said he’s experienced bullying first hand.
He said, “I can tell you from personal experience that [the board’s policy on bullying] simply does not work and I hope you take that into consideration.”
After their comments, Board Chairman Christopher Pattacini responded directly, saying the Board and the administration do take bullying seriously.
“Reach out to your teacher to report that bullying because the only way that the policy will be effective is if it’s reported as bullying at the time it occurs. If that doesn’t work, then reach out to your principal or ultimately your superintendent. We do have a policy, the administration does follow up on those, and we do take it seriously,” Pattacini said.
Parents continue to say the policy isn’t strong enough, because they have reported these issues and the bullying keeps happening.
“In their eyes it’s done, but in actuality it’s not. So what do we do as parents? What more can we do?” said Wendy Smith, another Manchester parent struggling with bullying issues at Washington Elementary.
Lopez plans to get a parent group together to discuss these problems on Friday. If you’d like to reach out to Lopez, you can message her on Facebook by clicking here. If you'd like more information about Manchester Public School's bullying policy, click here.
And for more information on bullying, click here to read about the federal government's efforts, and how to put a stop to it.