SAN ANGELO, Texas — Over the weekend, a video went viral on Facebook of a student punching another student in the face in a bathroom at Glenn Middle School while others stood around and watched.
Jamie Munoz has a daughter in the sixth grade at Glenn and said her daughter has also dealt with bullying at the school.
“The entire bus that my daughter was on was threatened by a young lady that she was going to slit their throats if she didn’t find her phones and it was handled that night by the school and the police,” Munoz said.
Munoz said she does not feel that Glenn is a safe place for students and believes it has room to improve, but doesn’t think it’s an administrative issue.
“I’ll be honest and say I don’t feel safe, but I won’t say it’s the administration's fault. There’s a ratio of 30-to-five of students to teachers. That’s why I say it’s our responsibly to teach our kids how to behave outside the home,” Munoz said.
At the San Angelo Independent School District board meeting Tuesday, Munoz and others voiced their opinions on what the district should do about the bullying issue at hand; reiterating that it starts with holding parents accountable for their children’s actions.
“My issues is that there isn’t a policy that pushes more parental accountability. I was surprised of the comments on Facebook blaming the school for not doing enough, but I feel us as parents could be doing the most,” Munoz said.
School board president Lanny Layman read a response stating that the board is listening to the community’s concerns and is responding to the recent events by taking steps to address the problem.
“Director of counseling and director of social emotional learning are meeting with middle school principal this week. Director of safe environment and student services will meet with middle school principals this week to review safety procedures,” Layman said.
Munoz said she does believe the school district is doing everything they can, but adjusting the policy is the way to truly make a change.
Layman said the schools will also have a director of counseling who will communicate resources to help principals highlight character counts traits listed on the SAISD learner profile.
