LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On Sept. 6, a Kammerer Middle School student was beaten on the way home from the school. Video taken from inside the school bus showed much of the incident, which left the student with black eyes.
The student curled up in a ball to protect himself but was left with black eyes after the fight, which lasted for more than a minute.
"He still has a shoe print mark on the back of his neck and marks behind his ear," Whitney Davis, the student's mother, said days later. "... I couldn't watch it the first time. I burst into tears,"
After Davis and her son told their story, another mother came forward, detailing a similar incident 10 days later at Conway Middle School. Latiesa Kennedy said she got a call from the school saying her eighth-grader was injured Sept 16.
"They hazed my child," Kennedy said. "... I was was originally told my son was hit but I didn't know he was hit with a belt several times."
The 13-year-old middle school football player, who wants to go by initials R.W., was putting away gear in the locker room with other football players when he said one player bullied him.
"He just came up to me and started hitting me," R.W. said. "After he hit me with a belt, 10, 11 or 7, I don't know, he just left the locker room," R.W. said. "They all left the locker room. Some kids stayed back and said 'Are you OK?'"
"My son was in a corner in a locker room — where no adults are — with seven other students, one whipping him, one recording, and nobody felt like it was necessary to tell me that my son was whipped with a belt?" Kennedy said.
In the first 24 days of school, records show there were 546 fights on the bus and in school. That is actually an 8% decrease from last school year, which had 594 fights in same timeframe.
Below are the top five schools for total fights:
- Dr. J Blaine Hudson Middle School: 55
- Frederick Law Olmsted Academy North: 29
- Academy @ Shawnee: 27
- Stuart Academy: 26
- Conway Middle School: 14
Kennedy said for JCPS to get the fights under control, it starts with helping the victims.
"How can the victims move on when the suspects and perpetrators get to go on with their lives?" she said. "... I've talked to several other parents who have had issues with JCPS and their kids been assaulted or bullied. It's ridiculous how many of us it is."
Mark Hebert, a spokesman for JCPS, said the incident was investigated per the student behavior handbook. Federal law prohibits releasing any other information, he said in a written statement.
JCPS uses a number of strategies to limit or resolve conflicts between students and apply consequences to those who engage in unacceptable behavior," Hebert said. "Anti-bullying programs, peer-to-peer conflict resolution, and conferences with parents are among the tools listed in the Student Support and Behavior Intervention Handbook and employed by JCPS. However, it is inevitable that the mental health and behavioral issues facing students at home and in our community might also manifest themselves at school. JCPS will continue to support students and give them strategies they need to avoid conflicts."
And, this isn't the first time the family has had problems at Conway.
"My daughter graduated from Conway," Kennedy said. She had some bullying issues too and she attempted suicide twice. It's kind of rough to see another child go through the same situation with the same school."
Kennedy said she was told the students involved in her son's case have been disciplined but said they are all back at school. She's not happy with how she said the school staff is handling his case.
"That's abuse when somebody gets whipped with a belt, and she told me 'No, we don't tolerate that,'" Kennedy said. "My next question was. 'Can you guarantee my son's safety?' And she told me no, that she couldn't."
"Nothing has been done, and I'm going to keep trying my best to do what I can for him, because I refuse to let him go back to that school."
The family has started the process to enroll him in online school or find another school for him.
"I would like for Conway to take accountability of what happened to my child, and that other child shouldn't even be able to play on the football team," she said. "He shouldn't even be allowed at Conway."
In the first 24 days of the 2024-25 school year, records show there were 546 fights on the bus and in school. That is actually an 8% decrease from last school year, which had 594 fights in same timeframe.
JCPS Fight Coverage:
- Former JCPS student sues district over fight at Male High School
- Video shows 12-year-old violently attacked on JCPS bus
- Large amount of daily fights among students overwhelm JCPS high school staff
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