AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — Three Texas sixth-graders threw a rope around a black classmate's neck and jerked her to the ground, giving her rope burns so severe that police were called in, the girl's mother claims in court.
Sandy Rougely says she had heard good things about Live Oak Classical School — a private school in Waco with a $7,000 yearly tuition and a mostly white student body — and thought it would provide a "wholesome learning environment" for her daughter, K.P.
Rougely applied for scholarships for K.P. and saved money from her paychecks to enroll her daughter in the fifth grade in 2014, she says in her June 13 complaint in Travis County Court.
She says her daughter flourished during that school year, which made her feel that her sacrifice had set the child on the path to a bright, college-bound future.
But as sixth grade began, Rougely says, her daughter told her that her classmates were snubbing and bullying her.
"Specifically, on two of the most severe occasions, K.P. was physically bullied by one boy. In one incident, the boy pushed K.P. to the ground in the cubby room, and in the other, he kicked, pushed, and shoved her during a class assignment when the teacher was not looking," the complaint states.
Rougely says she contacted the principal about the bully and asked how the school would protect her daughter.
"The school's response was that the bullying had been an 'accident' and that the boy not meant to push K.P. to the ground," the complaint states.
"The school also responded that the incident when the same boy kicked, pushed, and shoved K.P. was just 'something kids sometimes do' and '[the boy] didn't remember pushing her or kicking her.'" (Brackets in complaint.)
Rather than deal with the bully, Rougely says, school administrators sent her several emails expressing concerns about K.B.'s social skills.
The school's sixth-grade class takes a camping trip at the end of end of each school year. Rougely says she asked to be one of the parent chaperones out of concern for her daughter, but the school chose four other parents to accompany the 22 students to the Germer Ranch in Blanco County.
"When K.P. and the other children reached Germer Ranch, they began to explore the property and found a rope swing hanging from a tree," the complaint states. "The swing was a single rope, with one end tied to a branch of the tree, and the other end holding a circular seat that a child would sit in."
A second, longer rope was tied to the chair that the children pulled on to swing their classmates, Rougely says.
As K.P. stood by the side of the rope swing, her mother says, three boys, including the classroom bully, stood behind her, plotting.
"She did not see what the boys behind her were doing, and the next thing K.P. knew, she felt the rope wrap around her neck and she was violently jerked to the ground with the pull-rope wrapped around her neck. The rope cut into her skin and left a severe and painful bum," the complaint states.
K.P. looked up from the ground and saw the three boys within arm's length of her, her mom says.
Follow @cam_langford
