DANVILLE — Still reeling over a controversial “terror” video, school district officials now are being blamed for doing next to nothing when a 16-year-old was recorded on video with her pants down in the girls bathroom, and the cell phone video was posted on Instagram.
The perpetrator, who confessed, was suspended for three days, a punishment that doesn’t sit well with the victim’s parents.
The alleged bully, a 17-year-old girl and star athlete at San Ramon Valley High School, was allowed to remain on her team and participate in a championship game.
This week, the victim’s mom, Denise Lynch, pleaded before the San Ramon Valley Unified School District to do something after her daughter’s grades dropped, and her eating patterns changed. The daughter continues to see her bully nearly every day at school, Lynch said.
“My daughter is suffering,” Lynch said in an emotional speech to the school district board on Tuesday. “I don’t know how much more I need to tell you, that the sheer presence of this individual who committed this unspeakable crime towards her… every single day she’s on campus brings up unnecessary feelings for her that she’s reliving this over and over and over again.”
The girl’s father, Sean Lynch, a former police lieutenant, said that if this crime had occurred in a public place, the perpetrator would be behind bars, and could even have to register as a sex offender if convicted. The two are asking the school district to “do their job.”
“Had my daughter not told us… or, God forbid, killed herself, everyone would be asking themselves, ‘What more could have been done?’ Now is the time to do something,” Sean Lynch said.
It is the second controversy to surface this week at the school. Earlier this week, district officials were under fire over a video made by a student for a campaign for school president that was viewed as anti-Muslim and hateful. The teen boy who made the video won the election and will serve as student body president.
About 200 students on Friday walked out of class in protest of the handling of the video.
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The Lynches say school district officials failed to respond properly in both the case of the video as well as their daughter.
“This is a school district and school administration doing the exact opposite of what school leaders should be doing,” Sean Lynch said. “Our anti-bullying policies, are they window dressing or supposed to mean something?”
District spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich, citing student privacy, refused to offer details of the incident and the district’s response. She said Danville police reported the bathroom incident to school officials who followed protocol, investigated it and took disciplinary action.
“The San Ramon Valley Unified School District is committed to protecting students and has a policy in place that prohibits bullying of any student or employee,” she said.
In general, “the district uses progressive discipline, meaning that the type of discipline may in part depend on a student’s past behavioral history. We are also increasingly using restorative practices when possible,” she said.
In the case with the campaign video, the district has also remained mostly silent, citing student privacy in not providing details on the events that occurred.
The Lynches found out about the video of their daughter when it was posted on social media in April, months after it was taken in November. Their home had been “Skittled” — pounds of Skittles candies were scattered on their front lawn as a prank. The Lynches turned to their two children to ask if they knew who might have done the prank.
Soon, the daughter’s friends discovered a video of her while she was urinating at a school bathroom stall, filmed by a cellphone from under the stall, Sean Lynch said. It was posted on Instagram.
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In screenshots of the video, the girl’s face can clearly be seen as she pulls down her pants.
“Don’t you dare say s**t about me and my friend’s back again,” the post said. “Hope you enjoy the skittles c**k waffle.”
Another Instagram user comments on the post, saying, “oh my god did you actually do this.”
The Lynches also reported the incident to the school resources officer.
The girl eventually admitted to posting the video, and was arrested, but was allowed to return to school the next day, the Lynches said.
Although she missed some of her sports team practices, she was allowed to play in the games, including a championship, and remain at the school, the Lynches said.
School principals decide whether students are suspended, the district said.
