Freshman tells Springfield board bullying persists; board offers follow-up meeting

Luna Rossi, a freshman at Springfield High School, told the Springfield School District board during the public-comment period on Aug. 28 that she has experienced repeated racial bullying and harassment at district schools.

Rossi said she spent three years at E.T. Richardson and described ongoing name-calling tied to her Hispanic heritage. “My father moved here from Puerto Rico, so I am half Hispanic,” Rossi said. She told the board that bullying and harassment “is serious” and criticized the district’s discipline rules, saying they focus more on cell phones than on bullying.

Board members and district staff thanked Rossi for speaking and offered to meet with her to discuss the concerns. A board member encouraged her to meet and said the district had recently discussed similar topics, indicating officials would follow up. One audience member who identified themselves as having been bullied as a student praised Rossi’s courage and said adults should be proud.

Rossi said she would welcome a meeting and accepted the board’s offer to discuss the issue further. The public-comment period ended without formal board action on the matter; board members framed the statements as a prompt for follow-up conversation between district staff and the student.

The district did not discuss specific disciplinary policy changes at the Aug. 28 meeting. The board's public-comment guidelines require speakers to state their name and address and limit remarks to three minutes.