KIRKWOOD, Mo. — Upset parents in Kirkwood said a fifth grader is terrorizing their children.
They said they want the Kirkwood School District to step in before something worse happens at Robinson Elementary.
This week, several parents spoke at the Kirkwood School Board meeting, each one pleading for leaders to take action.
Whitney Rickard's stepdaughter is a fifth grader at Robinson Elementary.
"She messages us every day. She is scared to go to school and be in class with him. She begs not to go," Rickard said with tears in her eyes.
Rickard and other parents said a classmate harassed their children with physical attacks including punches, death threats and sexual harassment.
She said the child even hit her stepdaughter.
Speaking to other parents, Rickard has learned this repetitive behavior has been going on for years. They've also learned the accused student keeps getting moved to different classrooms.
They've compiled documents including inappropriate texts and images.
"We have it all, we can see it in black and white, in writing. This is a continued pattern of violent behavior," she said.
Rickard and other parents believe the school district has failed to uphold safety.
"Parents weren't notified that their children were threatened or sexually harassed. He attacked a little girl in the classroom. This was not properly handled according to the school policy," she said.
This week, more than a dozen parents spoke or submitted comments during the Kirkwood School Board meeting.
"After a month of not being heard and communicated with the school district, we decided to take action so a group of us parents spoke up so they couldn’t deny it anymore," Rickard said.
They're frustrated that they haven't received more information.
Education Plus, an organization that works with about 60 school districts in the area, said federal law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, can play a role.
"When something happens and people get upset about it, they want to know everything and the reality is school districts can't share everything because of the privacy rights of students. Schools just have a responsibility to not divulge the information," CEO Chris Gaines said.
Rickard said parents want to reduce risks and threats by having accountability and policy changes.
"The sexually explicit content being sent in text messages to these groups of girls in particular is shocking and it is not reflective in policy. It doesn't have exact repercussions for actions like this and it needs to be addressed," she said.
Rickard said she believes the boy was also failed by the school, but she wants to protect the students by being preventative.
"My fear is that this will eventually escalate and it's going to be another tragedy where people are asking questions and we had the answers," Rickard said.
The parents have reached out to the Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey for help.
This is a letter sent to families by Robinson Elementary Principal Dr. Angeline O'Neal-Hogrefe:
Good afternoon Robinson families,
We wanted to reach out this afternoon to address some anticipated media coverage of our school. As you may be aware, several families recently spoke during the public comment section of the Board of Education meeting. Their comments were specific to a 5th-grade student at our school. During the past few weeks, we have been engaged with these families and district administration to work through their concerns. We acknowledge it can be frustrating when we are unable to share specific, detailed information about individual students, but we must honor the dignity and privacy of all kids. Additionally, there are policies, as well as state and federal law, meant to protect student privacy, and we adhere to these strictly.
Providing a safe and secure learning environment for our students and staff is always top of mind. As you may likely be hearing more about this topic in the coming days, we thought it would be helpful to share some of our processes when it comes to student conduct and safety:
We adhere to KSD discipline policies and procedures in cases when students violate our code of conduct. Specifically, you can find the student discipline policy here.
If families, students or staff report concerns about student safety, we take it very seriously. We are sure to involve our counseling team, safety & security team, and student services team, as appropriate. While we cannot always share the details of an ongoing investigation, we can confirm that serious concerns are thoroughly investigated.
We fully cooperate with any law enforcement inquiries and partner with our SROs on any matters of concern. We are proud of our partnerships with law enforcement and know that this positive relationship is a key factor in our efforts to keep our school safe and secure.
We are committed to ensuring that all kids can learn in a supportive environment.
Kirkwood School District shared this statement with 5 On Your Side:
At Monday's Board meeting, there were several public comments related to a 5th-grade student. On multiple occasions, school and district administration have communicated on this matter with concerned families. We acknowledge it can be frustrating when we are unable to share specific, detailed information about specific students, but we must honor the dignity and privacy of all kids.
The Kirkwood School District is committed to ensuring that all kids can learn in a supportive environment. It would violate the policies meant to protect student privacy, as well as state and federal law, to directly address the information from the public comment period. However, we can confirm that the administration adheres to KSD discipline policies and procedures in cases when students violate our code of conduct. Additionally, if families or students report concerns about student safety, we take it very seriously and are sure to involve our counseling team, safety & security team, and student services team, as appropriate. Serious concerns are thoroughly investigated. We also fully cooperate with any law enforcement inquiries and partner with our SROs on any matters of concern.