"It seemed like the school district was doing more of the bullying than the student," the 5th grade student’s father, Robert Hughes, said.
TOMBALL, Texas — A Tomball family has decided to pull their son out of Northpointe Intermediate School after they said another student repeatedly bullied him and the school district refused to acknowledge what happened.
Robert Hughes said a fellow student started bullying his 10-year-old son Hunter toward the beginning of the school year, adding that the bullying lasted a few weeks. He claims the alleged bully called Hunter “fat” and other derogatory names, but then things escalated at the start of September.
“It got to the point where the same kid actually took his lunch one day, and aside from the name calling, taking the lunch, it got to the point where he did tell him to kill himself,” Robert said.
Hunter said he was extremely hurt by what happened and he immediately told his parents.
“It made me feel angry and sad, because I didn’t deserve to be called those things,” Hunter said. “It’s made me really scared to go to school. It’s made me uncomfortable to be in school. It’s made me fear school, and I can no longer even think of the idea of school without getting scared.”
Robert reported the issue to Northpointe Intermediate School’s assistant principal, who sent Robert a letter back stating they did not find enough evidence that the bullying occurred. Robert said he was shocked by how the administration responded.
“It seemed like the school district was doing more of the bullying than the student,” Robert said.
Robert said he filed several appeals and met with the school’s principal and an official with the Tomball Independent School District on separate occasions. While Robert said the in-person meetings were promising, he ultimately got the same response from the school and Tomball ISD, with officials saying the alleged bully denied telling Hunter to kill himself.
In documentation provided to KHOU 11 News, the school district wrote in response to Robert’s second appeal that the administration “properly investigated” the allegations.
“I’m starting to get frustrated because I’m knowing that my son is going through what he’s going through, and they’re not only not helping him, but they’re telling him it didn’t happen,” Robert said.
KHOU 11 News asked Robert Hughes what action he expected the school district to take if there was no evidence or witnesses to the alleged bullying, as the administration consistently said.
Robert responded by saying, “You question the bully, and the bully says, ‘No, I didn’t do it.’ I like to relate that to someone who robs a bank. If someone robs a bank and gets away with it and doesn’t get caught and you ask them, 'Did you rob the bank,' the answer is going to be, ‘No.’”
Robert said he and his wife decided to pull Hunter out of Northpointe Intermediate School. He said Hunter is dealing with extreme anxiety, and the family has had to go to doctors and counselors to help Hunter. Hunter begins online classes this week.
“It makes me feel upset that I can’t trust the school district to protect me or any other kids,” Hunter said.
KHOU 11 News has reached out to Tomball ISD multiple times since Thursday about this situation, but as of Sunday night, we have not heard back.
The most important thing a parent or guardian can do is talk to their kids to figure out if their child is being bullied – or even being a bully.
Here are some warning signs that a child could be getting bullied:
Here are some signs that indicate a child may be bullying others: