Fallon parents concerned about aggressive bullying, Churchill school district making changes

FALLON, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — Bullying happens in almost every school district. But parents in the Churchill School District, in the small town of Fallon, say it has a rippling effect.

News 4 heard from nearly a dozen parents of middle school students who were afraid to talk on camera for fear of retaliation in the community. They all tell similar stories.

"It's group A of kids targets group B and they just beat the crap out of them where ever they can, whenever they can," Rei Guevada said. She has twins in sixth grade at the middle school.

Parents said the bullying and assaults are common and the effects are devastating. They say one child took their own life earlier this year.

Jessica Chapman's 13-year-old son attempted to take his life a few weeks ago. His suicide note read "I give up. Before you say 'you could've gotten help,' I tried, with so many people... but I failed."

"He told me 'mom, I'd rather die than go to school because they won't leave me alone," Chapman said.

Another student did take their life earlier this year.

Chapman said kids bully her 7th grade son often.

"He was threatened by a student in class who explained the layout of the inside of our house, that he had a gun, that he was going to get him" she said.

Chapman's son has come home with bruises and weekly stories of harassment. She's filed several police reports. Fallon Police Capt. Daniel Babiarz said investigators forwarded that case to the district attorney's office on November 9.

A group of parents recently met with Superintendent Derild Parsons who admits there's a problem.

"We do look at all our data all the time and this year we do have an increase over last year of our violence to students," he said.

Parsons says staff monitor the halls and areas outside before and after school for bad behavior of their 3,400 students. This year they're also watching the halls at lunch too.

He said the district has two mental health professionals in place and other counselors on staff. Parsons said he's also taking a community approach to help.

"I have met with out local judge about it, with juvenile probation and we're working on a plan to bring together some agencies and have a community group look at all these things," he said.

By the end of the school year staff will be using a program called Hope Squad at all the Churchill schools. It's a research based program used in Washoe County and at schools nation-wide.

"Part of Hope Squad is a focus on helping to teach students how to deal with bullying, how to stop bullying," Parsons said.

The parents say until they see change, they're going to put pressure on the school district.

Sara Sodders pulled her daughter from school to protect her and is now home-schooling her in seventh grade.

"She thinks it's unfair that she had to be pulled from school because of it instead of the bullies. and these same group of girls and boys are still bullying," she said.

The parents say not enough is being done to combat the bullying, assaults, and other incidents. And they said that not enough is being done to punish the bullies.

Superintendent Parsons said whenever there's a fight, administrators call police and students have been arrested.

"With (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) laws in place, I can't tell you discipline that we've taken with a student. I can tell you we've done something and taken care of the situation but I can't give you the details and unfortunately without being able to give the details, sometimes that's taken as something didn't happen but I can guarantee you, something happened." Parsons said.

Parents just want the incidents to stop. Even though they feel there might be retaliation for speaking out, they say they have to -- their kids' safety is at stake.

The Crisis Support Services of Nevada offers help for crisis situations. Call or text 988 for free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.