WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Father: School slow to act after son bullied on the bus

Father: School slow to act after son bullied on the bus

By Jordan Sandler - bio | email

LEXINGTON, SC (WIS) - A concerned father said his child was being hurt on the school bus by another kid, but no one doing anything about it. He was worried to put his child back on the bus.

"My son got off the school bus and he was pretty shook up," said Tobie Williamson.

Williamson's son Dylan had a worried look in his eye when he stepped off the school bus Wednesday afternoon.

"He was pretty much scared to even tell me about it," said Williamson.

Dylan said a sixth grader who sits next to him on the bus punched him and his friend.

"He put the keys through his fist and punched me and my friend in the arm," said Dylan, who says he was also threatened. "He said if we didn't bring five dollars he was gonna bring a pocket knife and cut us up."

"We called Thursday to Transportation," said Williamson. "Transportation said once the bus got back there, they were gonna get the video and review the video and see what was going on and they would give us a call back. When I talked to the bus driver Friday morning, she had no knowledge of anything that happened."

Reluctantly, Williamson let his son ride the bus again Friday morning, but he requested that his son sit at the front. He was still upset the school hadn't made any changes.

"So my last resort was to call WIS," Williamson said. "And you know finally, I'm getting some results."

At 4:00pm Friday, a spokesperson for Lexington District Four told us they interviewed the kids involved, but did not see any evidence to take any action. Then at 5:30pm, the spokesperson confirmed video from the bus shows Dylan being punched. Now they plan to talk to the sixth grader's parents.

Williamson feels the school's response is about 48 hours too late.

"My son could have been stabbed, could have been killed," said Williamson.

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