A video posted by a Pennsylvania fourth-grader on social media detailing the bullying she has endured at school was taken down by Facebook and her account was suspended, but the girl’s mother has reposted it on her own page, saying, “I will be my daughter’s voice.”
In the original Facebook video, Cassidy Warner is silent. She holds up sheets of white paper that describe the different kinds of bullying she has endured at John Adams Elementary School in Scranton -- including being spit upon, having her hair pulled and having milk spilled on her jacket, the Times-Tribune reported.
Cassidy lives with her father and two older sisters. When James Warner saw the video last week, he said his heart broke.
“A million things went through my head,” Warner told the Times-Tribune. “The first thing was, I was failing (in) my job as a parent.”
Cassidy’s Facebook page was suspended Wednesday, Warner said, most likely because it was reported because Facebook requires its users to be 13 to have an account. Cassidy’s mother, Jennifer Slater, set up the page years ago to help Cassidy keep in touch with family, Warner said.
Slater reposted Cassidy’s video on her own page the day her daughter’s account was suspended.
“Her story reached 22k views before the Scranton School District contacted Facebook and her Facebook got shut down because she’s not 13,” Slater wrote in her post.
“We had no idea (the video) would get that kind of response,” Warner said, adding later, “There were so many supportive comments.”
Warner said he met with Adams Principal Mario Emiliani on Monday, the Times-Tribune reported.
The school changed Cassidy’s lunch period and her recess, Warner said, and offered to put her in a different fourth-grade class. Cassidy decided to stay in the same class, Warner told the newspaper.
Superintendent Alexis Kirijan said she was aware of the situation at John Adams.
“The principal has taken this very seriously,” she told the Times-Tribune. “He’s conducted an investigation, looked into everything and talked to the parents.”
Kirijan said the district also had a policy in place to combat bullying.
Since the video has been reposted, it has been shared more than 1,700 times and viewed by more than 28,000 people.
“I will be my daughter’s voice,” Slater wrote on Facebook. “I will share her story, and I hope others will share, too.”
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