Huntsville mom takes to Facebook to call attention to elementary school bullying

A Huntsville mother has posted an emotional plea on Facebook, saying she hopes to call attention to what she believes is the bullying of her 10-year-old daughter at Huntsville ISD.

Tracey Murphy said her daughter, who is in fourth grade at Stewart Elementary, is being relentlessly teased about her weight, and sometimes the teasing turns to pushing or punching.

"I'm scared because I see in the paper that these kids are killing themselves because of bullies," Murphy said Friday.

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Tracey Murphy posted a Facebook video describing what she believes is the bullying of her 10-year-old daughter at a Huntsville elementary school. PHOTOS: See more recent examples where school bullying made headlines ... less Tracey Murphy posted a Facebook video describing what she believes is the bullying of her 10-year-old daughter at a Huntsville elementary school. PHOTOS: See more recent examples where school bullying made ... more Photo: Tracey Murphy/Facebook Photo: Tracey Murphy/Facebook Image 1 of / 63 Caption Close Huntsville mom takes to Facebook to call attention to elementary school bullying 1 / 63 Back to Gallery

She said the bullying has been going on since her daughter was in first grade at Sam Houston Elementary. Murphy transferred her daughter to Stewart this school year in an attempt to help her, but said the problem continues.

"They tell my daughter to ignore it and she does, but they keep on."

Murphy said she has filed complaints with teachers and school district administrators and would like the school district to take more steps to address bullying as a whole.

"This is a very big issue here in Huntsville," Murphy said.

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Hunstville ISD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Gregory Rodriguez declined to discuss specifics of any individual student or incident, but said the school district received a complaint from a Stewart Elementary parent on Wednesday. He said the district conducted an investigation and reported the results of the investigation to the parent.

"As a district, we are always going to be sure to provide a safe and secure environment for our kids," Rodriguez said.

The school district has an incident reporting website, where parents or students can file complaints about harassment, violence, discrimination or bullying in the school system. The district also tracks incidents and reports them to the State of Texas, Rodriguez said.

"This is not a widespread problem," he said.

Maria Olguin, another Huntsville resident, said she moved her 9-year-old daughter from Scott Johnson Elementary to Stewart Elementary last school year to help her daughter get away from bullying over her weight.

Olguin said the bullying continued at Stewart until Olguin paid several visits to the teacher and administrators at the school.

Things have now calmed down for Olguin's daughter, and she now feels comfortable attending school, Olguin said. However, she still feels it's a problem that needs more attention.

"For every kid, it's getting worse and worse," Olguin said.

The Huntsville ISD Student Code of Conduct defines bullying as the following:

Bullying is when a student or group of students engages in written or verbal expression,

expression through electronic means, or physical conduct that occurs on school property, at a school-sponsored or school-related activity, or in a vehicle operated by the district and a school district's board of trustees or the board's designee determines that the behavior:

1. Has the effect or will have the effect of physically harming a student, damaging a student's property, or placing a student in reasonable fear of harm to the student's person

or of damage to the student's property; or

2. Is sufficiently severe, persistent, and pervasive enough that the action or threat creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for a student.

This conduct is considered bullying if it:

1. Exploits an imbalance of power between the student perpetrator who is engaging in

bullying and the student victim through written or verbal expression or physical conduct;

and

2. Interferes with a student's education or substantially disrupts the operation of a school.