Mom of Odessa Student injured speaks out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought there was more to the story. I heard that the boy was actually harassing the girl on purpose and had done so on previous occasions. Of course that does not justify the girl hitting him on the head, she should know better but I don’t think she’s the monster they are trying to make her out to be.

There is no excuse for her to retaliate like she did as it had to be pretty brutal to cause a life long injury, a few major surgeries and life long care. This child probably isn't fully recovering from this. MCPS is to blame as they failed ot supervise the kids or handle the issues.

There's no justification for violence but I agree with PP that it's more complicated if the boy had been harassing her on multiple occasions. It doesn't make what she did okay, but it changes how I think the school should have handled it and actually increases the culpability of the school. These are children. If the school allowed a conflict between two students to escalate to the point where one of them wound up with irreparable brain damage, without (for instance) addressing the conflict, notifying parents, or taking steps to separate these two children, then the school has more responsibility for the incident than if this girl just attacked this boy out of nowhere with no provocation.

That doesn't mean I don't think there should be consequences for the girl -- there should be. But yes it matters if her actions were provoked by ongoing harassment because it turns this from a freak occurrence no one could have anticipated into a totally preventable injury the school should have anticipated and headed off.

[Anonymous]

This thread is absolutely full of biased speculation on both sides.

MCPS needs better supervision, intervention, transparency, and encourage parent opt-outs for uncivilized sports like football.

Violence in public must not be protected by "educational privacy"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought there was more to the story. I heard that the boy was actually harassing the girl on purpose and had done so on previous occasions. Of course that does not justify the girl hitting him on the head, she should know better but I don’t think she’s the monster they are trying to make her out to be.

There is no excuse for her to retaliate like she did as it had to be pretty brutal to cause a life long injury, a few major surgeries and life long care. This child probably isn't fully recovering from this. MCPS is to blame as they failed ot supervise the kids or handle the issues.

Not really, and that underscores the dangerousness of the situation. People can and do die from punches to the face and other hits to the head that in other patients don't result in similar or even significant injury. Bottom line: it doesn't take the strongest, most evil child imaginable to cause another child a catastrophic injury.

[Anonymous]

After being called stupid, fat, and ugly and having a football thrown in her face, a girl grabs the first thing she sees and hits the boy. Is he a victim? Absolutely. She should not have done that, but he is not innocent either. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After being called stupid, fat, and ugly and having a football thrown in her face, a girl grabs the first thing she sees and hits the boy. Is he a victim? Absolutely. She should not have done that, but he is not innocent either. Period.

He might not be innocent of bullying, but she is guilty of physical assault with serious injury.

Guess which one carries a sentence and can include incarceration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought there was more to the story. I heard that the boy was actually harassing the girl on purpose and had done so on previous occasions. Of course that does not justify the girl hitting him on the head, she should know better but I don’t think she’s the monster they are trying to make her out to be.

There is no excuse for her to retaliate like she did as it had to be pretty brutal to cause a life long injury, a few major surgeries and life long care. This child probably isn't fully recovering from this. MCPS is to blame as they failed ot supervise the kids or handle the issues.

There's no justification for violence but I agree with PP that it's more complicated if the boy had been harassing her on multiple occasions. It doesn't make what she did okay, but it changes how I think the school should have handled it and actually increases the culpability of the school. These are children. If the school allowed a conflict between two students to escalate to the point where one of them wound up with irreparable brain damage, without (for instance) addressing the conflict, notifying parents, or taking steps to separate these two children, then the school has more responsibility for the incident than if this girl just attacked this boy out of nowhere with no provocation.

That doesn't mean I don't think there should be consequences for the girl -- there should be. But yes it matters if her actions were provoked by ongoing harassment because it turns this from a freak occurrence no one could have anticipated into a totally preventable injury the school should have anticipated and headed off.

This sounds deliberate not a freak accident. This child has life long injuries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After being called stupid, fat, and ugly and having a football thrown in her face, a girl grabs the first thing she sees and hits the boy. Is he a victim? Absolutely. She should not have done that, but he is not innocent either. Period.

He threw a ball. It’s unclear if it was on purpose. He has special needs and probably bad aim. She hit him hard with a weapon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought there was more to the story. I heard that the boy was actually harassing the girl on purpose and had done so on previous occasions. Of course that does not justify the girl hitting him on the head, she should know better but I don’t think she’s the monster they are trying to make her out to be.

There is no excuse for her to retaliate like she did as it had to be pretty brutal to cause a life long injury, a few major surgeries and life long care. This child probably isn't fully recovering from this. MCPS is to blame as they failed ot supervise the kids or handle the issues.

Not really, and that underscores the dangerousness of the situation. People can and do die from punches to the face and other hits to the head that in other patients don't result in similar or even significant injury. Bottom line: it doesn't take the strongest, most evil child imaginable to cause another child a catastrophic injury.

All of those things are deliberate and should have accountability.

[Anonymous]

I think the mom does have an attorney. I read on a FB group that she is really upset that the girl is back in school. She found out that MCPS did call the police, only Fire and Rescue. She also said that there was a long gap of time before they were called.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the mom does have an attorney. I read on a FB group that she is really upset that the girl is back in school. She found out that MCPS did call the police, only Fire and Rescue. She also said that there was a long gap of time before they were called.

...she's not back in school sooo...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the mom does have an attorney. I read on a FB group that she is really upset that the girl is back in school. She found out that MCPS did call the police, only Fire and Rescue. She also said that there was a long gap of time before they were called.

It sounds like the teachers/staff ignored the injury and told him to sit down. Thankfully he had a phone and called his mom, which is when they took action. The girl should be suspended for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Bullying is becoming rampant in MCPS— including teachers and even school admins against the so called “unpopular” teachers regardless of their quality as educators.
Students are copying what they’re seeing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After being called stupid, fat, and ugly and having a football thrown in her face, a girl grabs the first thing she sees and hits the boy. Is he a victim? Absolutely. She should not have done that, but he is not innocent either. Period.

He threw a ball. It’s unclear if it was on purpose. He has special needs and probably bad aim. She hit him hard with a weapon.

Enough with using special needs as an excuse! How do you know the girl doesn't have some sort of special needs herself?

Was she really called stupid, fat and ugly?

The story is definitely more complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the mom does have an attorney. I read on a FB group that she is really upset that the girl is back in school. She found out that MCPS did call the police, only Fire and Rescue. She also said that there was a long gap of time before they were called.

It sounds like the teachers/staff ignored the injury and told him to sit down. Thankfully he had a phone and called his mom, which is when they took action. The girl should be suspended for a long time.

The mom posted pics of Lenny from when he was brought into the hospital. He was wearing a white t shirt. You can see the blood on the shirt. I don't know of any adult who sees blood on a kids shirt and doesn't try to get or offer medical assistance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bullying is becoming rampant in MCPS— including teachers and even school admins against the so called “unpopular” teachers regardless of their quality as educators.
Students are copying what they’re seeing.

Keep blaming anyone but the parents. See how that is working out?