Bullying incident triggers petition drive, comments

COEUR d’ALENE — The Snapchat photo was of a girl’s shoes.

The strip across the image read, "f*****g snitch got your a** beat for a reason."

By Monday evening, the image had inspired 987 people to sign an online petition started Sept. 5 calling for school officials to effectively address bullying within the Coeur d’Alene School District, particularly at Woodland Middle School.

According to Nichole Miller, who started the petition on change.org, her daughter was assaulted Aug. 26 at a high school football game. The 13-year-old continued to get threats from the aggressor and that person’s friends.

“She planned the attack, and bragged about it all over social media (Snapchat),” the petition reads. “The girl who did this, and her friends are bullies! They won't stop unless the school district makes it clear that assaulting someone even once is enough.”

After a week, the petition had almost reached its goal of 1,000 signatures.

A Coeur d’Alene School District spokesperson said officials became aware of the bullying incident before the school year began Sept. 6 and addressed the issue.

“We did what we always do in bullying situations,” said Laura Rumpler, the school district’s communications director. “We established communication with the parents of both parties, we met with both parties separately and together and took disciplinary action.”

Rumpler said the district has implemented a monitoring safety plan for this particular situation. The plan, she said, involves teachers, administrators and the school’s safety resource officer all watching the situation at school.

“To my knowledge, nothing has happened at school so far,” Rumpler said. “Hopefully this will shed light on the opportunity for parents to get involved and learn what their kids are doing online and on social media. We rely on and encourage the participation of parents.”

Due to the Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the school district cannot disclose who was involved, their academic records or their disciplinary records.

Accompanying the petition were more than 400 comments from community members and people who grew up in the area, many who have seen their kids be bullied at school or had been bullied themselves.

A few talked about thoughts of suicide because of bullying and feeling helpless. And the comments weren’t just about the Coeur d’Alene School District; they were about schools nationwide.

“We’ve spent a long time on and around issues of bullying,” said Superintendent Matt Handelman. “We are making sure we correctly identify it and respond appropriately. It’s not only our jobs, but our duty to do that.”

The Coeur d’Alene School District has a Stand Up, Speak Out program focused on students creating an emotionally and physically safe learning environment. On top of that, the district has a committee of educators, administration and school counselors who address school culture.

“We are very focused on creating a safe and supportive learning environment,” Rumpler said.

Woodland Middle School Principal David Serwat was not available at press time.