04/01/2024
Trigger Warning!!!! PLEASE SHARE
NOT MY Black Son!!!
My name is Natasha Williams. I am the Mother of Kaden Williams, a fifth-grade student at Duval Charter School at Flagler Center. On February 29th, 2024, I was made aware that my son was being bullied and ridiculed by a classroom full of students. This has been taking place without my knowledge since October 2023. It appears that teachers and aftercare employees were present when some of these acts occurred, but they did not prevent the youngsters from using racist insults, harassing, and physically and mentally abusing my son. Kaden has identified three direct pupils as the apparent leaders of these attacks: Stella, Sophia, and Keslyn.
It should also be noted that another student, who happened to be the older 7th grade brother of Sophia, physically assaulted him on school grounds while school staff was there. What's more disturbing is that no incident report was submitted.Kaden is in constant panic, to the point where he refused to go to school on 3/1/2024 for fear of vengeance. My son profoundly saddened both myself and his father. Not only are the comments and verbal abuse offensive, but the fact that My Son is being attacked by these students is completely wrong.
So he, adding that in the school, kids are calling him monkey, orangutan, black, blackie, ni**er. And when the lights go out, they say, "Kaden, where are you?"
Inside his classroom, a student named Kelysn is hitting My Son across his head on repeated days to harass him.I spoke with the dean on Thursday February 29th at 5:40 pm, after I was informed by another student that my son had been bullied.Even after he was made aware by this student at 12pm that same day , I never received a phone call. So I go to the school and speak with him in person and he tells me that he had plans to speak with the class room regarding their behavior. I feel like if I wouldn't have spoken up that would have been the only action taken.
I have demanded that an action plan be put in place to prevent this type of bullying from happening again but even with video proof nothing has been done.
It needs to be mandatory for schools to address situations if they find that they have created a hostile environment that prevents the victim from fully participating in or benefiting from their education. Since he said at the beginning of the investigation that he didn't disclose because the administrators wouldn't take any action, my son is now afraid that nothing will be done in this issue going forward.I will not defend the actions of any child who went out of their way to mistreat a classmate without provocation. I, like many other Black parents, take seriously the dual responsibility of teaching my child to both understand racism and resist the urge to take out the pain that racism causes his own people who benefit most from it.
Teachers are informed that they are simply children even when they speak up and disclose that racism is a problem in this school. Children grow up to become cruel adults.
Even when other students are the source of the misbehavior, schools are legally required to look into reports of racial harassment, including verbal insults and violent acts motivated by race.But until I looked into the matter, that report was not even considered. Within the school system, this is becoming more typical. It should be noted that my African American son's consequences would have been more serious than an unfounded bullying probe had he done anything quite as drastic. I hold the school responsible for the issues that have arisen, and it saddens me to learn that administrators are attempting to dissuade you from suing them for your carelessness.
Additionally, I learned today that despite my request, I was not allowed to view the video footage of my son's assault, even though the other parent was able to access and view it. I suppose privilege endures.
I suppose it won't matter till one of the other kids uses your carelessness to wrap my son in a school mat and kills him.
Natasha WilIiams
