Two Louisiana students are accused of threatening to kill their African-American classmate, but the victim’s mother says school leaders aren’t taking the matter seriously.
Crystal Alexander of the village of Baskin in northeastern Louisiana said her 12-year-old daughter was the target of bullying after two white girls at Baskin Elementary School penned a note describing their plans to get a gun and use it to kill her. Alexander said she was shocked when her daughter came home and told her her life had been threatened.
Crystal Alexander says school officials aren’t doing enough to protect her daughter. (NBC 10 /video screenshot)
“They were saying that she was the biggest ‘b’ in the world, and they were ‘p’d’ off at her,” the concerned mother told NBC 10. “[Then] the other girl said, well I’ll help you kill her.”
Alexander said she’s outraged at the fact that school officials didn’t follow the rules laid out in the student handbook, ultimately leaving her daughter to walk the same hallways and sit the same classroom as the students who threatened her. Citing the student handbook, she noted that Baskin Elementary has a zero-tolerance policy for students who threaten to kill.
Per procedure, students who make threats receive nine days of out-of-school suspension with the recommendation of expulsion, the station reported. School officials are also supposed to notify the parents of the students involved and refer the incident to police, which Alexander said the school did not do.
Franklin Parish Superintendent Lanny Johnson addressed the incident in a statement.
“We’ve followed the policy to the ‘t’ and we feel like we’ve done everything we can do,” said Johnson. “The students received nine day suspensions, and we have had no previous issues from these girls.”
Still, Alexander said she fears for the safety of her child and feels the school isn’t doing enough.
“If they catch her in the bathroom or if they catch her in the gym they can do something to her. … And [my] biggest fear is losing my daughter,” she said. “If it were your child, you would feel the same way I felt — it’s not OK.”
Alexander said she’s gone to police to report the incident herself but hit a dead end. The mother wants to see the girls expelled and said she’s now considering filing a grievance against the school.
Watch more in the clip below.
