Girl bullied & assaulted on video leads to parent’s outrage at Montwood High School administrators

A Socorro Independent School District parent wants significant change after her daughter was physically assaulted by a bully.

Lisa Sander’s daughter is a 15-year-old freshman at Montwood High school. She said the bullying started on Aug. 26 with a confrontation with her friends and another group of girls.

The next day, Sander said the girl and her friends followed her daughter to class, “She’s like ‘I don’t know what to do’ so she turns around and tells them “I don’t want to fight. I’m in a program at school. If I fight, I get tossed out.”

Sander said her daughter was pushed against the wall by that student. The student received a two days of in-school suspension, and both students signed anti-bullying contracts that prohibit any contact between the two.

When the student got out of In-School Suspension, Sander told ABC-7 the student continued to verbally harass her daughter.

Then the bullying escalated. On Sept. 9, Sander said her daughter was pulled by her hair and punched by the student several times during lunchtime.

“The girls just starts hitting her, slinging her around any way she can, and there’s people pushing her back in, there’s people cheering the girl on,” said Sander.
Sander’s doctor diagnosed her daughter with whiplash and a concussion as a result of the assault.

The other students received three days suspension, and in-school suspension.

Sander said she asked the school to have the other student removed from campus, but the school denied her request. Sander went to a judge and got an emergency protection order signed which prevents the student from going near the campus. The student is now at Keys Academy which serves as the District Alternative Education Program.

Carmen Crosse, Assistant Superintendent of High Schools, told ABC-7, the assistant principal will investigate the incident. After the investigation, the school informs the parent, and there could be a mediation for both students, students could be placed on contracts and the school makes sure to safe guard the student by changing their classes or lunch break.

Sander said SISD’s code of conduct requires the school to notify the parents of the incident within three days. Sander said she wasn’t notified of the first incident until after the fight, which was two weeks later.

“So when an administrator makes a mistake in regard to communication, then that’s addressed,” said Crosse.

Sander said her daughter hasn’t been the same since the fight.

“She’s always loved school, always bubbly. And now she’s like so depressed. We don’t even know what to do,” said Sander.

Sander said her daughter’s teachers and councilors have offered their classrooms as a safe place.

Now, Sander wants, “change, and I think it needs to start from the top.”

The parents have pressed assault charges against the student, but it’s not clear if she has been charged yet.