Parents withdraw kids from school over bullying, safety concerns

SHAMOKIN, NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY(WOLF) — Parents with students enrolled in the Shamokin Area School District are speaking out about issues they're experiencing with the school.

“It started about two years ago, I started to get bullied by some of my peers, and they have been smoking in school, assaulting me, and harassing me, for who knows how long,” said Robert Brabitz, Shamokin Area School District student.

“I want to learn, I want to help my friends learn, I want to be there for my friends but it’s hard, everyone is just terrible,” he added.

Between bullying and fights breaking out, parents are at a loss for words, and beginning to pull their children out of school.

“I don’t go to school because it's an unsafe environment for me, because of the people up there,” said Brian Torres, Shamokin Area School District student.

“What it is trickling down to is, we have a bunch of kids and families are pulling them all out of school, they are all being put to cyber, and these are kids that need the education, the exposure, and the healthy relationships but they have been failed,” said Patricia Torres, a mother.

Parents who we spoke to say these issues with Shamokin Area School District have been going on for far too long.

“We just had an incident, and he hasn’t been in school since last Wednesday. Another student assaulted him. I told him to go to the principal and explain what was going on. From what he told me, he said he wanted to call the police because he was in fear for his life,” said David Hines, a father.

“My high schooler was removed from the high school due to another student coming to me, saying your son is being bullied terribly by staff and by students and I’m seeing this. When that started happening, I had a conversation with my son, it was true. I did unenroll my daughter as well who was in 6th grade,” said Amber Johnson, a mother.

We spoke to Chris Venna, superintendent of Shamokin Area School District who says they are aware of parents' concerns.

“However, with all concerns brought to our attention, we take them seriously, and we investigate them thoroughly. Unfortunately, many of these people have resorted to social media to express their concerns, and in some instances posted things on social media that are not true,” said Chris Venna, superintendent of Shamokin Area School District.

“I don’t think we have a bullying problem in our school, I think we have bullying issues, much like every school district in Pennsylvania,” he added.

“I think sometimes these videos were not seeing the whole picture and not condoling you know anything inappropriate obviously, but sometimes there are pieces of video prior to that,” he said.

Venna says they want all their kids to come to school and to feel safe, and that both parties are part of the issue. He mentions counselors spend most of their day talking with students. Police say they are also aware of the issues, but there is no investigation.

Parents mentioned they will be attending the school board meeting tomorrow at 7:30 pm with hopes of getting answers.