Harrowing footage showed a 12-year-old girl from Portland being beaten up by a school bully, forcing her to bring a panic alarm to class after her school ignored a judge’s restraining order
Jocelyn Karst was beaten up by the unnamed assailant in the apartment building where both live, but the infamous West Sylvan Middle School that both attend would have allowed further bullying on campus.
Karst and her mother, Heather Chick, said her daughter at one point tried to bring pepper spray to school to stop what the concerned mother calls “cruel” bullying, but it was confiscated.
Video from the October attack shows a student beating up Karst in the building where they both live and where Chick told DailyMail.com that they are unable to move due to financial problems.
“She pulled me, threw me on the ground and started hitting me several times,” Karst said COIN 6. “And all I remember is apologizing over and over. At that moment I didn’t really know what was real.’
Harrowing footage showed a 12-year-old girl from Portland being beaten up by a school bully, forcing her to bring a panic alarm to class after her school ignored a judge’s restraining order
West Sylvan Middle School, pictured here, is ranked the fifth best high school in Oregon according to US News & World Report
Chick said she had no idea what was going on, as she was cooking at home at the time.
She adds that she warned the school that she was issued a protection order against the bully shortly after it happened and it was eventually made permanent, but the school has done nothing to stop the abuse.
“The teachers and principal usually knew very well what was going on and still didn’t follow those rules,” Chick said.
“I mean, we could also have been… held responsible if something happened to her, you know, towards her. Anyway, it goes both ways. And no one has set rules or boundaries.’
She added that the video shared on campus led to further harassment towards her daughter.
There have been at least three other bullying incidents at West Sylvan Middle School in recent months, KOIN 6 reported.
According to US news and world report, West Sylvan is ranked as the fifth best high school in all of Oregon.
Chick and Karst sent an email to the school on March 9 stating: “I am aware of multiple acts of violence that appear to continue to take place at West Sylvan Middle School. While this pattern concerns me, I need to know specifically what steps you will take to protect my client while she is at your school, in accordance with the terms of the attached warrant.”
Dr. Jon Franco, the principal of Portland Public Schools, claims the identified student has not been on campus since March 8.
Jocelyn Karst was beaten up by the unnamed assailant in the apartment building where both live, but the infamous West Sylvan Middle School that both attend is said to have allowed further bullying on campus
Karst and her mother, Heather Chick (pictured right), said her daughter was forced to bring pepper spray and a panic button to school to stop what Chick calls “cruel” bullying, but they’ve let it down
Chick fought to get a restraining order against the bully, but claimed the school wouldn’t respect it the next day
“There is a national crisis around student disruption and we in Portland are not immune to this crisis,” Franco said in a statement.
“We have and will continue to prioritize social emotional learning (SEL) support for students through the SEL curriculum, increasing the number of quality mental health providers and professional development for faculty and staff.”
Chick, speaking to DailyMail.com, claimed she had not heard directly from the school about her complaints and does not believe they were ever heard as the student was allowed to attend school a day after the restraining order was finalized.
She said the school officials laughed when she confronted them about it and her daughter said they shook their heads.
“An hour later we learned that this girl had just assaulted another girl in the toilet, along with four others.”
Chick, speaking to DailyMail.com, claimed she had not heard directly from the school about her complaints and does not believe they were ever heard as the student was allowed to attend school a day after the restraining order was finalized
Dr. Jon Franco (pictured), principal of Portland Public Schools, claims the child has not been to school since March 8
Chick notes that she and her daughter live in low-income housing and cannot change where they live or where her child goes to school.
“We are not protected by anyone here in our housing, in the schools, the police will not respect the restraining order because they said they never knew what legal ways they could do it. The system sucks and they need help to help our youth.”
Portland Public School says they have added a “campus security officer” to stop these attacks, but Karst believes more needs to be done, including an investigation of the school district.
‘The rector and deputy director should gather knowledge about this,’ said Karst. “The violence has made me not want to be there anymore. It made me fear for my life.’
Chick just wants to go to school to show some sort of concern for her daughter’s well-being.
“They go to school for many hours and those kids depend on these adults to take care of them, keep an eye on them, keep them safe and teach them,” she said. “What they’re teaching them now is that nobody cares.”