TACOMA, Wash. — A Tacoma parent has packed up her family and moved to avoid an elementary school where she said her son was physically abused and bullied by other kids.
Tina Pogue's son used to attend Mann Elementary School in Tacoma. According to Pogue, her son was bullied and targeted two years ago in ways that made her afraid for his safety.
Just last year, she said he went back to school and lasted only six weeks before she decided to pull him out and homeschool him.
Pogue said at the time, he was dealing with anxiety and even starting faking stomach aches so he wouldn't have to face bullies at school.
"He was physically abused on multiple occasions," said Pogue. "He was punched, kicked, tripped, and someone tried to do a purple nurple on him." Pogue also said he was pinned against a wall and choked at one point.
Dan Voelpel, a spokesperson for Tacoma Public Schools, said they have a strict no-bullying, intimidation and harassment policy that staff members receive training to implement annually.
"We know that school is supposed to be a safe place for kids to be, we want kids to feel safe so that they can learn," Voelpel said.
The policy also states "district staff who observe, overhear, or otherwise witness harassment, intimidation or bullying, or to whom such actions have been reported, must take prompt and appropriate action to stop the harassment and to prevent its reoccurrence."
According to Pogue, nothing was done to stop the bullying that her son was enduring.
She also said she has talked with many other parents who said their kids were also bullied at Mann Elementary and other schools across the school district.
"When you have repeated incidents at a single school, then there is a major problem," Pogue said.
Voelpel said the school district has not seen any radical change in the number of bullying, intimidation or harassment cases.
He did say over the years the school district has been implementing something called the "Whole Child Program." This means every morning staff members are checking in with students, asking them to identify their mood so they can see where kids are at and help them with any issues they may have.
"We are looking out for all kids and if we see something that is going on that is harmful to their child and causing them to feel bullied, we are going to follow up with those cases and with the parents and we hope to partner with them moving forward," Voelpel said.
However, Pogue said the school never let her know what was going on. She said she had to learn about the bullying from her son.
"That was a disturbing thing to hear because that is not part of our protocol, so that's why we had somebody independent come in and start investigating that case," said Voelpel.
Pogue said she was interviewed by the investigator but has not since heard back.
She has started a petition to hold the school district accountable.
"If they could just enforce their own policy that they have created in the [3207R], then a lot of the stuff wouldn't be happening," she said.