SACRAMENTO-
It’s been seven days since an 11-year-old Sacramento girl, who we’ll call Rachel, has gone to school.
That’s because Rachel’s mother believes her daughter isn’t safe there.
“It crosses the line when you tell another child to perform sexual acts on school grounds,” her mother said.
In a group chat on Kik Messenger, among fifth-graders at Mark Twain Elementary School, one student asked Rachel to kiss a boy at school. Rachel said she is afraid to go back.
“Things would get worse. I still have to kiss that boy,” Rachel said. “[If not] she will kill me and tell my secret.”
“I’m going to kill u” one of the messages reads. Another is a meme, which reads: “Do you like tapes and CDs? Cus imma tape my **** to your forehead so you can’t CDs ***”
“My immediate response was to protect my child by all means,” Rachel’s mom said.
She said she took the texts to the principal at her daughter’s school but said her concerns were dismissed.
A spokesperson for Sacramento City Unified School District told FOX0 differently Tuesday, stating:
“The district’s top priority is to maintain a safe and healthy learning environment for children at Mark Twain Elementary and all of SCUSD’s 75 campuses. Any accusation of bullying or threatening behavior triggers an immediate and thorough response.”
Thomas Dodson, who founded Above the Fray, a nonprofit program educating parents and teachers on cyber-bullying, said he isn’t surprised.
“It’s the wild West,” Dodson said. “The state hasn’t set a strict guideline yet on what rules are in place for schools.”
Right now, there is an anti-bullying and cyber-bullying policy at Mark Twain Elementary School, but the district has no blanket rules for students using social media or phones.
Policies are all over the map, Dodson said, and therefore they should start at home.
“Christmas morning, parents slide the device across the table,” Dodson said. “Parents say two things: ‘Don’t go over the data plan’ and ‘don’t do anything stupid.”
A district spokesperson told FOX40 Tuesday an investigation has been underway since last week, and officials will take the appropriate action if necessary.
