Bullying is a big problem in many schools across the country.
When most people think of bullies they think of kids in middle school and high school. Sadly, one 6-year-old girl was recently the subject of an attack from a girl twice her age in her school’s bathroom. Her family may be suing the school as a result.
Lanira Tackett was attacked by a fifth-grade student in the bathroom of her McDonough, Georgia, elementary school.
The older student shoved Lanira’s head in a toilet several times and refused to let her escape. Lanira suffered bruises, cuts, and scratches from the altercation. It was only stopped when a teacher happened to hear strange noises coming from the bathroom and caught the older student attacking Lanira.
Lanira’s parents say that she is physically OK, but she is struggling to understand why it happened. They are angry that the school couldn’t have prevented something like this and are considering a lawsuit as a result.
Lanira’s father, Jeremy, said after the May attack:
“There’s been no sleep in last 72 hours for anybody because she’s scared to go to the bathroom by herself. She’s had some nightmares.”
He went on to talk about how hard the ordeal has been for the family.
Even Lanira’s little sister is upset about what happened. He explained that his younger child is now afraid to go to school because she thinks she could get beat up.
The family wants justice for their daughter, and they feel like the school should be held accountable for failing to protect her from the attack. He explained that the family plans to sue the school to help get justice and to help them be able to afford the counseling that they will all need.
He explained:
“It’s just justice for Lanira. It’s going to cost us a lot of money, counseling, family counseling. It’s going to be a lot of expenses. This isn’t something that’s going to be over in a month or two. This is going to be something my family has to deal with probably for a while.”
The school did take disciplinary actions against the older student.
She was removed from the school and has been charged with false imprisonment and aggravated assault and battery. Still, Lanira’s family thinks that more needs to be done. They don’t want something like this to happen to another student.
“You send your kids to school to get an education; they should not have to worry about getting pulled into the bathroom and getting pummeled by somebody almost twice their age.”
The family says that they are not sure what made the older student want to attack his daughter, but he knows that the school could have done more to prevent it. He claims that there were other incidents before the actual attack. He did not say if these incidents were between his daughter and the same student.
The family has not yet filed a lawsuit, and the school officials say that they have not received any notice of a lawsuit.
They also said that if the school is sued, they will not be commenting on it, because it is school policy not to share information about pending litigation.
Lanira seems to be doing well in spite of her injuries.
Hopefully, she and her family can get the counseling they need so she can return to school and live a normal life. This attack should be a wakeup call to parents and schools. Bullying is very real, and it happens at all ages. More needs to be done to protect these young kids.
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