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Thursday, June 20, 2013 | 4:48 a.m.

Posted: 5:40 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Parents outraged over teen attacks caught on tape at Vallejo school

Vallejo middle school student attacked by bully
Vallejo middle school student attacked by bully

KTVU.com

VALLEJO, Calif. —

Two recent incidents of bullying at a Vallejo junior high school caught on tape left parents outraged, including one who is contemplating pressing criminal charges against her child's assailant.

Parents from Hogan Middle School have called KTVU with a number of stories about their children being bullied and beaten. In some cases, the abuse was captured on camera.

One brutal video shows an 11-year-old girl on her back with another student apparently pummeling her. Other students watch and can be heard cheering during the incident that happened in the middle of the Hogan Middle School campus more than a month ago.

The girl's mother Ladonna Williams told KTVU she is outraged.

"It sickens me that my daughter could not go to school and feel safe while she is being educated," said Williams.

Williams showed KTVU photographs of the injuries the sixth grader suffered that included bruises, a swollen eye, hair pulled out and numerous scrapes. She still hasn't returned to school.

"She is trying to hold down a good face," said Williams. "But it is very traumatic for her."

Being bullied has also been traumatic for victim Briana Kim, who said she was beaten up and harassed at Hogan last year. With her mother by her side, she told KTVU she got to a point where she couldn't take it anymore.

"I couldn't handle it no more," said Kim. "I just ended up shutting down and going to a mental hospital. I just wanted to kill myself."

Kim now receives her schooling at home through a special program.

School district officials would not go on camera to discuss the incidents. School administrator Alanna Shackelford told KTVU during a phone interview that the students responsible are suspended,  

Shackelford also said that Hogan has an anti-bullying positive intervention team at the school. She told KTVU that she "...wouldn't say Hogan has a problem with bullying."

"The bullying has to stop," said Briana Kim’s mother Barbara Kim. "It is not fair. Our children are suffering."

Ladonna Williams has posted the video of her daughter's attack on the website change.org, a platform for political and social issues. She did that after she saw it making the rounds on social websites.

"At first, I was so outraged," said Williams. "But you've already done this so, let's turn this around and show this and expose the bullies in the schools."

A third teen, Jaylene Schweizer, told KTVU she began attending Hogan in January. On her second day of class, she was beaten by a bully. That attack was also caught on camera, showing the mayhem Schweizer was subjected to.

"Everybody started jumping in. Everybody was jumping in at one time," remembered Schweizer. "I feel mad about it. It irritates me."

Ironically, just last September KTVU ran a story about an anti-bullying video produced by Vallejo teenagers.

Parents and students say more needs to be done.

For her part, Jaylene Schweizer refuses to set one foot on the Hogan campus again.

"They just want to fight somebody to prove they can beat somebody up," said Schweizer. "It doesn't matter if you can beat them up."

Ladonna Williams told KTVU she plans to meet with the district attorney to discuss pressing criminal charges against her daughter's attacker.

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