Several speakers used the board’s public‑comment period to press Roanoke County School Board members to strengthen anti‑bullying enforcement and disciplinary follow‑through.

Karen Looney, identified in the meeting as a Roanoke County teacher and a parent, thanked the board for past outreach while urging broader attention to student well‑being. “Each day I go home thinking what I can do to make things better,” she said, calling for common‑ground steps that benefit as many students as possible.

Two student speakers described more acute concerns. Keeley Meadows said she has self‑harmed repeatedly and tied much of the behavior to bullying, telling the board, “Bullying primed me to accept things that I wouldn't have otherwise accepted in order to fit in.” Emma Wrench, who identified herself as 17, urged the board to implement “stricter 0 tolerance policies against bullying,” saying the current approach reads as tolerant in practice. Wrench cited specific passages of the division’s policy as she urged enforcement: “In section 7.11, a level 5 offense of student conduct is instructed to be met with 10 days of OSS and a recommendation of expulsion,” she said, and argued similar consequences should be applied to severe bullying.

Both students and the teacher called out bystander behavior and alleged staff failure to act. Meadows criticized what she described as repeated bystander inaction in Roanoke County schools and said prior policy drafters had not prevented harms she detailed. Wrench said she had raised concerns at earlier meetings and asked the board to “take us seriously” and to stop treating the matter as a disruption when grieving families speak.

The transcript records that the board chair and members listened but did not take immediate policy votes or issue new directives during that meeting’s public‑comment section. The speakers requested concrete enforcement of existing policy sections they cited, and they asked for policy review and accountability for adults who tolerate or fail to address student harassment.

The meeting record shows no immediate board action on the requests in the transcripted public comments. Board members later continued with agenda business, including budget and curriculum items, and the public‑comment concerns were entered into the record for possible follow‑up.