{"id":58376,"date":"2023-07-19T16:43:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T20:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=58376"},"modified":"2023-07-19T16:43:51","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T20:43:51","slug":"family-speaks-out-after-student-attacked-fight-videos-spread-throughout-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2023\/07\/family-speaks-out-after-student-attacked-fight-videos-spread-throughout-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Family speaks out after student attacked fight videos spread throughout social media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Trouble in the classroom and violence in the halls in Lehigh Acres. An investigation has discovered serious issues in the schools in Lehigh Acres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Whether she\u2019s showing off artwork or describing her personality, Danielle Kicker gets a big smile on her face when asked to describe her daughter Patricia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe loves everybody, she has the biggest heart,\u201d Kicker beams. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t like it when people are upset around her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Madonna Lewis, Patricia\u2019s grandmother, does the same when she thinks about Patricia starting school in Lehigh Acres barely two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cShe was so excited,\u201d Lewis remembers. \u201cOf course it\u2019s scary at a new school, but she was so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patricia was a sixth grade student at Veteran\u2019s Park Academy earlier this year when she started to try to avoid going to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center><iframe src='\/\/players.brightcove.net\/6314425702001\/default_default\/index.html?videoId=6331417491112' allowfullscreen frameborder=0><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Her family realized she was being bullied and began to fear for her safety. Eventually, at her breaking point, Kicker says she went to the school herself, and spoke with an administrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI said this bullying has to stop,\u201d Kicker explains \u201cThis little girl doesn\u2019t want to come to school\u2026 She promised me she was in good hands. And then that day, this all happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>12 year old Patricia was not in good hands. Shortly after her mother dropped her off, she was assaulted in a bathroom in front of a crowd of other students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center><iframe src='\/\/players.brightcove.net\/6314425702001\/default_default\/index.html?videoId=6331417201112' allowfullscreen frameborder=0><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNobody protected her. No one did. How can you hear all that noise and see all those children running,\u201d Lewis asks. \u201cWhere are the adults? Where are all the adults here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The district school board member for Lehigh Acres \u2013 Armor Persons \u2013 knows about the attack on Patricia.<\/strong> While he couldn\u2019t explain why she wasn\u2019t protected that day, he says school employees are going through new training this summer, to identify and handle disruptive situations.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"201\" height=\"251\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Armor-Persons.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58377\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Armor Persons<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll the administration is taking courses to make sure everything is reported, from bullying to everything else,\u201d Persons assured. \u201cIt could be more faculty toward the issue or more training or whatever, then that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the new training doesn\u2019t help with damage that has already been done. Patricia came home battered, and her family is heartbroken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is absolutely the worst thing that I\u2019ve ever had to go through,\u201d Kicker admits through tears. \u201cIt was horrible! You didn\u2019t know what to do. You didn\u2019t know how to take the pain away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patricia left Veteran\u2019s after the January attack, but students at her new school had seen the viral video and began bullying her too. Eventually, she left Florida to live with extended family in Missouri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey turned their backs on her,\u201d Kicker says.<br>She had no one! Lee County School District failed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Patricia\u2019s attack is one of dozens of fights we observed on social media in recent months. Nearly all of them from schools located in Lehigh Acres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>We even found several social media pages dedicated solely to posting fights. Persons has seen the fight videos and the pages. He wants to stop the problem at its source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI personally think there should be no cell phones at school,\u201d Persons explains. \u201cIt is a problem, and parents seem to be very reluctant to give up the cell phones. I think they should be taken when the kids arrive at school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The videos from this past year seem to show Lehigh schools that struggle with disciplinary issues, where violent incidents are common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCrime, violence and disruptive behaviors\u201d in public schools are tracked using \u201cthe School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting system\u201d or SESIR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are 26 types of incidents graded from Level 1 \u2013 the most serious\u2013 to Level 4 \u2013 the least serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Offenses range from battery and sexual assault to simple harassment, but all \u201crepresent serious breaches of the student code of conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The media has sorted through the most recent available data from the 2021-2022 school year and found that \u2013 on average \u2013 Lehigh Acres schools dealt with double the SESIR incidents that other Lee County schools did. Of the Lehigh incidents, 170 were physical attacks making up 18 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe east zone in general has kind of become the stepchild,\u201d admits former Lee County School board member Gwyn Gittens. \u201cAnd people have said that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gittens represented the Lehigh Area during her time on the board. She taught there for years and still lives there. She\u2019s seen the rise in disciplinary issues, and has ideas about what\u2019s fueling them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf Johnny can\u2019t read, he\u2019s going to act out. Because if he doesn\u2019t understand, he doesn\u2019t want to be embarrassed or called out,\u201d Gittens says. \u201cDiscipline and achievement, academic, is hand in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Persons agrees, and says the district is trying to correct Lehigh\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are differences in the amount of money that was spent in the Lehigh area by the district over the years, it\u2019s been lacking to say the least,\u201d Persons admits. \u201cLehigh is probably the fastest growing area in Lee County. So, you\u2019re playing catch up. Once that stops, I think we\u2019re on the road to that, I think we\u2019ll even out much better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If behavioral issues are fueled by struggles in the classroom, data could help explain some issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The media went through the numbers for four standardized tests from the most recent data available. Out of every school located in Lehigh Acres, only one scored above Lee Schools average in mean scale score, or Level 3 achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe impression that the east zone is the bottom of the barrel for educators has got to be fixed,\u201d Gittens insists. \u201cThat\u2019s the part that the district needs to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Patricia is supposed to start 7th grade in the fall. Her family is still not sure where she\u2019ll go to school.<br>\u201cI have to ensure her that I can find a safe place for her to actually feel safe every day,\u201d Kicker says. \u201cI just want her to come home. I want her to have a safe place to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Something no young child should ever have to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee County is not the only school district that struggles with student bullying. Click the links below to access anti-bullying resources around southwest Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee Schools bullying:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.leeschools.net\/student_support\/prevention\/reporting_bullying\">https:\/\/www.leeschools.net\/student_support\/prevention\/reporting_bullying<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charlotte Schools bullying:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yourcharlotteschools.net\/bullying\">https:\/\/www.yourcharlotteschools.net\/bullying<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collier Schools bullying:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.collierschools.com\/bullying\">https:\/\/www.collierschools.com\/bullying<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trouble in the classroom and violence in the halls in Lehigh Acres. An investigation has discovered serious issues in the schools in Lehigh Acres. Whether she\u2019s showing off artwork or&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":58377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[2451],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58376"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58378,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58376\/revisions\/58378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}