Parents urge Punxsutawney Area SD to address repeated bullying; district schedules roundtable

Two parents described repeated bullying of a Punxsutawney student at a board work session and urged the Punxsutawney Area School District to take action to improve student safety.

In public comment, Jessica, a parent, said her son Bentley has faced bullying “over the past couple of years,” including incidents she said began in kindergarten and escalated in high school. “The bullying began in kindergarten when a teacher made a thoughtless comment about his epilepsy medicine,” she said, and added that Bentley had been physically assaulted: “he has been stabbed with a pencil, had his thumb bent back until it cracked, and had been punched in the head by 2 students.” Jessica said she created a Facebook page to collect other parents’ reports and “urge[d] you to take some action to address this issue and ensure that our children feel safe and supported in school.”

Later, Mike Harmon, who identified himself as attending because of the bullying issue, described what he called failures of existing disciplinary responses and proposed graduated penalties. “So what I’m thinking is if you go with the first offense, you get, like, 4, 4 hours of community service… Third offense, you give their parents a fine and you double it again,” Harmon said. He also argued teachers who engage in bullying should face immediate dismissal: “Teachers should be fired on the spot.”

Board members and administrators said the work session was not the forum for extended back-and-forth on individual incidents, and they pointed parents to an upcoming district meeting intended for a broader, more informal discussion. A board member noted a superintendent-led roundtable on April 15 at 4:00 p.m. for parents and school leaders to discuss concerns and protocols; administrators also reiterated the district’s standard complaint path: talk first to a classroom teacher, then to building administration.

District officials who spoke during the meeting acknowledged there are established policies and procedures for reporting bullying and for responding to incidents, and they encouraged parents to use those channels so staff can investigate and document concerns. The board did not take formal action at the meeting on the subject.

The board chair and administration encouraged concerned parents to attend the April 15 meeting for a fuller discussion and to follow the district’s reporting process so the district can document incidents and take appropriate steps.