MORTON, Ill. – Some Morton residents are divided over the upcoming school board election, especially when it comes to addressing bullying in the district.
Some parents say bullying has been happening in the district for years, mainly targeting minority students.
Morton School Board candidate Ashley Fischer tells 25 News, she is especially concerned about bullying.
“Bullying’s been a decades-long issue in this town,” Fischer said. “It’s one of Morton’s worst-kept secrets.”
Fischer says she decided to run for the school board after hearing of incidents of bullying at Morton’s schools from concerned parents. She says she also reached out to the board and suggested forming an anti-bullying committee and an anonymous reporting system, but says its members were not responsive.
“At the top levels of administration, there is this very deep mindset that it’s fine the way it is, and I’ve had teachers tell me that’s exactly what they’ve been told,” Fischer says.
One parent who wished to remain anonymous says she received a similar reaction from the school board. She says her children have been called racial and homophobic slurs at school and that addressing the board with these issues hasn’t helped.
“I wrote to them and said ‘hey, let’s do something to address this, you’ve got a culture problem,’ and did not get much of a response,” the mother said. “I think they have done less than nothing [to address the bullying].”
The mom says the bullying has impacted her kids’ daily lives attending school. She also claims school administrators recommended one of her kids attend a different school.
“[One of my children] would come home in tears, and this is a kid who was so excited to go to school,” she said. “Ultimately, if the situation doesn’t change soon, and I have my doubts that it will, I probably will try and find a home for us outside of this school district.”
School board member and candidate Diane Krall says in a statement to 25 News that the district is focused on addressing the bullying issue.
“All of the Morton school board candidates are committed to strengthening Morton schools’ anti-bullying policies,” Krall said. “No discrimination will be tolerated.”
Morton School Board President David Cross says the board is committed to all school district students, and that all known bullying is looked into by administrators. Cross also says if bullying is not reported, which he says it is often not, the district can’t address it.
Election day is April 1.
