Mother: School Did Little After Daughter Was Attacked, Harassed

NEW LONDON, CT —The mother of a 13-year-old Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Middle School 8th grade student, seen on video allegedly being assaulted by another student, said that her daughter was also attacked again the next day and, has since been harassed and threatened.

And, Adriana Davis said that Monday, she and her daughter were threatened by the same student with a baseball bat and that she'd called police. Davis said that the school, and the district, have not done enough to protect her daughter.

New London Public Schools officials did not respond to Patch requests for comment.

The first time her daughter was assaulted, Davis said, was Sept. 15. She described the attack as her child being “grabbed her from behind by her hair, (had her) ripped her hair out of her head” as the other student was attacking to “get her on the ground while punching her in the head.”

Patch has a copy of, and reviewed, video of the assault, which appears to depict the incident as she described.

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Davis and her daughter went to the New London Police Department to file a report about the first assault. (Davis provided Patch with the complaint numbers to demonstrate that reports were filed. Juvenile police and court cases are not public record.)

The following day, Davis said, a friend of the student that allegedly assaulted her daughter “attacked my daughter again from behind. She slapped her across the face, utilizing a deodorant as a weapon.” Davis said this incident was captured on school surveillance video.

Davis called police. She said that school administrators set up a “safety meeting” for the following Monday. When she arrived, she said she was “surprised to hear the both girls were back in school.”

At the meeting, Davis said she and her daughter were provided a copy of the school handbook and policies, where, she said, it reads that “for assault that police will be called.”

Davis said that in both cases, the school did not summon police rather, “They called me to tell me my daughter was ‘assaulted’ they did not follow their policy.”

“They said if you want to pursue this legally, you can,” she said.

In the weeks that followed, her daughter, who Davis said suffered headaches and pain after being attacked, has also been the victim of continued harassment.

“They run through the hallways in and out of classes in and out of an after school program where they are not enrolled,” she said.

On Monday, Davis said that she and her daughter were threatened with a baseball bat by the student who allegedly committed the first assault. Davis said the student made a second attempt to “attack us with the bat,” so she called police as she “did not feel safe walking out of the school with my daughter.”

She said when police arrived, the student “ran off.”

Davis claimed that other school staff members have told her that, “their hands are tied."

Patch reached out to BDJ Multi-Magnet Campus principal Chris Vamvakides for comment Tuesday just after noon and, by 4:30 p.m., did not receive a response.

Davis said shortly after she made a Facebook post about the incidents, she was contacted by the school to meet with New London Public Schools Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie and BDJ Multi-Magnet Campus assistant principal Alicia Ross. The message to Vamvakides was then forwarded to both Ritchie and Ross. If Patch receives a response, this story will be updated.

Davis said that the school, in the case of assaults and harassment, is defying "its own policy.”

The school’s policy notes that an assault is a Level V incident and in addition to multiple days’ suspension for the aggressor and other interventions, police should be called.

And, as per district policy for discipline, which falls under state law, “physical aggression” where someone received a minor injury or assault/battery and/or where a student strikes another student with the “intent to cause serious bodily harm,” are Level 5 discipline codes, the most serious, and described what disciplinary actions should be taken again the student. Additionally, there are specific rules for Connecticut public schools to follow related to bullying and harassment per state law.

“They did not follow their own policy,” Davis said. “I have reported these incidents to the school and attempted to address them at their level, which included informing the superintendent, but I have seen almost no action on the school’s part.”

Davis repeated that her child has felt unsafe and has had to miss school because of both verbal and physical threats, something she said “no student, or parent, should have to endure.”

After her meeting with school officials Tuesday afternoon, she said "another safety meeting" is set for Wednesday morning.

"They tried to say they were adhering to the safety plan from before, but I gave them examples of how they are not and now they want to do another meeting."