My Fox Philly
January 24, 2014
“I don’t feel safe going back there,” said a 12-year old girl whose identity we aren’t releasing to protect her. She is filled with anxiety. She says two girls at her Vineland middle school sent a video to her cell phone.
We can’t show much of the video because of the language. It shows the girls accused of making the threats and is laced with racial slurs.
“I’m scared that they’ll come up to me and hurt me,” said the victim.
Her father chokes up talking about the first time he saw the video.
“It’s ripping my wife and my heart out,” he said.
“I didn’t want my daughter to see my reaction. The language used, the hate and the vulgarity was all uncalled for,” said the father.
The girl’s parents informed the school and district Superintendent. They say they were told the two girls who made the video had been disciplined but wouldn’t say how. The father says he believes they were suspended for three days. Fox 29 contacted the Superintendent Mary Gruccio for comment and received this email response: “I am aware of the situation and we are dealing with it.”
The victim’s parents feel school officials aren’t doing enough to protect their daughter. They claim the bullying continues even though they say the girl’s have been switched to another bus. The father says they are back at the school and he wants them transferred.
“The school feels we’re out to get these girls and we’re not. We actually think both girls need help. We’d like to seem them get the counseling and help they deserve,” said the father. He also believes the girls did this because they were mad they were not invited to his daughter’s birthday party a few weeks ago. He says his daughter was friends with one of the girls in the video.
The parents say Vineland police are also investigating the incident.