INDIANAPOLIS — Tears rolled down the face of one of the first speakers to address Indianapolis Public Schools board members about the culture of School 87.
"We are in crisis, and we are reeling, and our families are so disappointed at the lack of communication, and we're so hurt that the abuse of a child happened in our building," said the president of the PTA at George Washington Carver School 87.
The concerns, along with the outrage from school staff and parents, stem from the video that family of a 7-year-old student with special needs says shows the boy being attacked by a classmate. The family filed a lawsuit that claims the incident was orchestrated and recorded by the boy's teacher.
For Kiya Isom, she said this wasn't the first time violence happened in the teacher's classroom because she says it happened to her daughter.
"She was a witness to this abuse. The little boy in the video was the same little boy that bullied my daughter every day, and nothing was done about it," Isom said.
One of the nearly 30 parents who spoke Thursday night hopes the video is a wakeup call to administrators and the board.
"In the past 18 months, at least 23 staff have left our school. I stand here with the same sinking feeling in my stomach that the shock value of that disturbing video sparks the change 87 has been yearning for," a School 87 parent said.
Some of the changes parents and staff are calling for include better communication from the district to parents and proper investigations into alleged abuse.
"My concerns expressed here tonight have to do with district policy in the administration of School 87, who seem to utilize such policy as means to keep parents at arm's length, and as we heard from other parents here tonight, dismissive nature of complaints and things brought before her," said Rev. Adam Pierce, who has three kids attending School 87. "The administration seems enabled by this policy to adopt a strategy of wait and see in response to allegations of child abuse and teacher misconduct."
In a prerecorded message, IPS Superintendent Dr. Aleesia Johnson stated that the district, along with School 87's policies and protocols, will undergo an external review.
"In that address, you acknowledged a failure to protect our children and falling short on communicating with parents and families. However, the failures go beyond this. You fell short on remediating the situation immediately, you fell short of providing care and counseling to the students in that classroom, you fell short of listening to and following up of the concerns of parents who sensed something was wrong," said Thu Suong Nguyen, who has kids that attend School 87.
Along with the district's external review of the policies and protocols, the board says it has created a student safety task force.
According to the board, it will have an update on the student safety task force by the end of May.