A viral video of a Santa Clara boy being bullied by two middle school boys has triggered an investigation by the Santa Clara Police Department (SCPD) and new action from the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD).
The video was posted on Instagram by a woman who says she’s the boy’s sister. She says her brother was walking her dog over the Oct. 7 weekend when the two middle school boys chased him.
“These 2 boys have been bothering my brother for little over a year now and I just found out last night when I asked him to tell me who hurt him and if he knew them,” wrote the woman.
She also posted video from a Ring doorbell camera, which shows one of the boys hitting her younger brother at least twice. The woman reported the incident to SCPD and filed charges. The department says it took the report but cannot comment because the incident involved minors.
Meanwhile, SCUSD is also taking steps after the video surfaced since all three boys involved are students within the District.
“SCUSD prioritizes safe, harassment and bullying-free learning environments,” said interim SCUSD Superintendent Dr. Gary Waddell in a statement. “We take any such incidents seriously. While this assault between students happened outside of school, we appreciate that it was brought to our attention so that we could ensure that bullying or aggressive behaviors do not carry over into the school.
Dr. Waddell says school administrators have met with all three boys and their families. District administrators are also cooperating with SCPD investigators.
He says the District is using this incident to reinforce its core values and student expectations.
“We prioritize using such difficult situations as opportunities to reinforce our core values and expectations across the district,” said Dr. Waddell. “We very much appreciate the SCUSD community for partnering with us in engaging children and youth in ongoing conversations around safety and bullying prevention.”
The video also caught the attention of retired Mixed Martial Artist (MMA) Cung Le. Le says an incident like this hits close to home.
“Of course I will help because when I came here as a refugee I was bullied a lot,” said Le. “So, I reached out to my old student, Jose Palacios, who runs Smash Gym in Sunnyvale and ask him to become this kid’s kickboxing coach. So, we will get that going ASAP for him.”
For details on how to spot bullying and resources to help you deal with bullying, please read this previous post.
Wow, this news story started out as a bad thing for the young kid being bullied and ended up being a great thing for the young kid who got bullied. I am so happy that the kid is going to be being coached at kickboxing, which I know will help his confidence. So wonderful!
I agree. I’m glad he’s getting help. As a youngster, I also experience “bullying”. Being part Caucasian, part Indian, part Vietnamese, I was often mistaken as Hispanic; but I don’t know any Spanish. However, with the help of my many others, I’ve turned out fine now. Except I’m still hoping Becker gets elected. Ha, ha!
“We prioritize using such difficult situations as opportunities to reinforce our core values and expectations across the district,” said Dr. Waddell.
REALLY? How? As a parent my child said the school did NOT talk about the incident as a learning opportunity.
When I asked multiple teachers, they also were wondering what Dr. Waddell’s words mean. NOTHING has been shared with parents or students or teachers on this “opportunity to reinforce our core values.” Does this mean a CYA meeting was held with district administrators that did not include Union members, parents, or students?
I read somewhere that the school district originally said they couldn’t do anything about it because it was not on campus and after school was out. That didn’t sound right to me, but I am not a parent so not familiar with rules.