An act of bullying on a school bus has a mother questioning the safety of her son aboard Port Saint Lucie School buses. Her 10-year-old son's hair was cut by another child who brought a scissors on the bus.
It doesn't bother the fourth grader, who we are not identifying, that other kids have been teasing him about his long hair.
"Says you look like a girl, you need to cut your hair," said the child describing the way other children have been teasing him.
Last week a 9-year-old boy on his bus took the bullying to another level. The fourth grader remembers hearing a snipping sound by the back of his head.
"First I did this [grabs the back of his head] and there was a whole chunk of hair and I looked back and somebody had the scissors in their hand," said the child. "I felt shocked cause they don't know what I was going to do with my hair."
The child has been growing his hair to donate it to cancer patients. He said he told a school staff member what happened, but his mother Pamela said she never received a call from the school the day of the incident.
"So he apparently came back on the bus with this kid who still had the same scissor on him because the school didn’t do anything," said Pamela, the child's mother who is also not being physically identified to protect her son's identity.
The next morning Pamela went to the school to get answers. She had her child point out the accused student to another staff member, then she learned there is proof of the bulling on the bus.
"The security officer viewed the video of the bus and found it was alarming enough to call Port St. Lucie Police Department," she said.
A police report says the video showed several students misbehaving and a child clearly cutting the boy's hair. The child involved told the officer a girl dared him to do it. Pamela says this isn't the only child who has bullied her son.
"He comes home 90 percent of the time crying, runs to the car and breaks down," said Pamela.
The 10-year-old boy plans to continue growing his hair and has a message for the bullies.
"Don’t ruin people's dreams because if they had a dream and I ruined it for them they would be upset," said the child.
WPTV has requested the school bus video from the Port St. Lucie School District. The School District released this statement following the bus incident:
"St. Lucie Public Schools investigated a reported incident on a school bus in which a student was alleged to have cut another student’s hair. The District followed through with a thorough investigation, parent contact, and appropriate discipline as per standard procedure."
Pamela says another child was also disciplined for another bullying incident against her son last month. The school sent her a letter stating the administration is following up by checking in with her son to make sure the bullying incidents have stopped. Pamela also says her son was moved to another school bus.
