INDIANAPOLIS — Parents in Shelbyville demanded changes during a meeting on Thursday. They say bullying is happening too often in schools and not enough is being done to stop it.
"Why are these children allowed to keep hitting each other and nothing is done," one parent told the school board.
Parents fed up with bullying behavior happening in Shelbyville schools appeared before the school board in a specially called meeting on Thursday to plead for intervention.
"It's getting bad, because when there are broken bones, bloody noses and children being put on probation. When is enough enough?" the parent continued.
"There's my fear I'm sending my kids into a war zone and there's nobody there to protect them," said parent Jenny Taylor.
Some of the speakers told the board the bullying in some cases has escalated way beyond taunts.
"I picked up my daughter from school and she reported immediately that someone had threatened to kill her in her class," said Heather Stark.
Some parents said the students aren't the only problem.
"I filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education over it. The next day I was receiving phone calls. My son has been suspended 13 times this year. The bullying is not just from other students, it's from the staff," said one parent.
"When a child finally has had enough and they have to fight back because they feel like they've done everything they can do than that child gets in trouble for defending themselves," said another parent.
Ultimately, the parents asked for a better way for students to report bullying anonymously, improved monitoring of blind spots where bullying happens like bathrooms and better communication between staff and parents when a bullying incident happens.
Superintendent Dr. Matt Vance said conversations like this one are important.
"We have to work together. We all have the same goal as family community school. We want to have a good environment for our students," he said.
The board says this is just the first step in the process. They plan to talk to teachers, administrators and staff to hopefully make some changes in the future. No word on how long the process will take.