Colby Barker, a 17-year-old Black high school student from Missouri, was suspended for seven days for standing up against a known bully who was threatening to rape one of his female friends.
But he said the bully was not disciplined despite having called him an “ugly n—er” – not to mention having sexually harassed girls for years. However, a district spokeswoman said the other boy had been disciplined as well and is no longer at the school. But that only happened after Barker began a social media campaign about the incident.
Barker, who is a senior at Park High School in Kansas City and plays on the school football team, said the suspension is affecting his potential to earn football scholarships to college.
“My suspension is overshadowing my senior year because no scouts want to come and see me play,” Barker said in a telephone interview with Atlanta Black Star.
“It has really put me at a disadvantage compared to other kids on the team.”
Barker would like to hire an attorney, but it would have to be under a pro bono agreement since he is currently homeless and living among friends because of a dysfunctional family environment.
However, he has launched three petitions on change.org to draw attention to the suspension and hold school administrators accountable, and to expel the other student, whom he identifies as Nicholas Cianflone, writing the following on the petitions:
I am Colby Barker—a student at Park Hill High School. I am standing up for all victims of another student named Nicholas Cianflone. He has been known to be racist towards African Americans. He uses racial slurs for every ethnic group. That is not the biggest problem sadly. I spoke out because Nicholas aka Nicky has sexually assaulted many girls. He has had a power struggle with them and he harasses them. It has come to a point where the school isn’t even safe. Nicky has threatened to rape a girl in his quote, “I will make sure I have my way with her if I catch her going to the bathroom.” Nicholas has not received any disciplinary action. The school refuses to do anything and we all need to stand up to Nicholas. Sign this form for Nicholas Cianflone to be expelled from Park Hill Senior High School, in Kansas City, MO. Stop him before he can do it to anyone else.
And he has made several posts on his Instagram page regarding his suspension and accusing the school of protecting the other student.
Barker also said that Cianflone is part of a group chat with other males who collect nude photos of female students, which he uses against them.
“He distributes girls’ nudes. He sends nudes. And if girls get mad, he leaks the nudes to the school,” he said.
“They have an entire gallery of girls’ nudes, and they blackmail them into doing whatever they want.”
Chief Communications Officer for the Park Hill School District, Kelly Wachel, confirmed that Colby was suspended because he assaulted the other student but added that the district has “been connecting with him to ensure that we can support him through this suspension.”
She also said the district has been investigating the allegations against Cianflone, which has resulted in disciplinary action but would not go into details because of confidential policies.
“This student right now is in a process that is confidential, but we’ve worked through the discipline process in regards to this, and right now, the student is not at school,” she said in a telephone interview with Atlanta Black Star.
So, it appears as if Barker’s petitions and Instagram posts have paid off.
Accusations Against the Other Student
Barker said the incident that led to his suspension took place on Aug. 29 after a female friend informed him that Cianflone had been sexually harassing her since the sixth grade.
“It got so bad in seventh grade that she had to be homeschooled for eighth grade,” he said.
The harassment continued in high school, where he started spreading rumors about the girl, claiming he had sex with her and that she masturbated in the girl’s bathroom during school hours.
“So I walked up to him on the second day of school and told him politely to stay away from her,” he said.
He said the female friend texted him more than a week later, informing him that Cianflone had referred to him as an “ugly n—er.”
He said when he confronted Cianflone in the hallway about that comment, Cianflone said it to his face without any shame.
“I was kind of stunned that he called me an ugly N-word with the ER,” Barker said.
He said that Cianflone then walked away, telling him, “I’m going to take your friend to the bathroom and make sure I get my way with her.”
That was when he ran up to Cianflone and pinned him against the wall before one of his football teammates pulled him off, walking him away to keep him out of trouble.
But he ended up getting pulled out of class and marched to the principal’s office, where he was told a teacher had witnessed the incident. The principal also informed him there was not enough evidence against Cianflone to suspend him. Barker, meanwhile, is suspended until Sept. 9.
But judging by the comments on his Instagram page, school administrators should have long been aware of Cianflone’s behavior.
“He’s assaulted me from 7th too 8th grade and I was too scared to ever stand up,” said a commenter named Kate_Kramer26.
“No one deserves this treatment he gives to others and time and time again he gets away with it. In 7th grade, I reported my assaults from him to the principal and he didn’t get in trouble, I got in trouble after i was verbally and physically being assaulted by him. Thank you for standing up.”
And there are many more comments from people familiar with his actions, including one from spam4.jazzyy, who said, “Bro, he has been a problem since 6th grade.”
“He targets people and I am here to stop it,” Barker promised in a reply to one of the comments. “Park Hill isn’t a bad place. We aren’t the ghetto kids everyone thinks we are. It’s the staff that won’t take action. It’s sad, but a white boy with a rich daddy wins 99% of the time. But I’m not going to stop fighting.”
Now, the school district is aware of those comments.
“We have seen those comments as well, and we’ve encouraged anyone who’s had that experience to come to report them to us,” said Wachel. “And then if those reports are received by us, we would refer them to law enforcement.”
