Mothers of Henry students: ‘This is abuse’
HENRY, S.D. (KELO) — The Henry School District and the Codington County Sheriff's Office are investigating hazing reports.
At least three seventh-grade boys have come forward, saying they've been beaten by older teammates repeatedly on their way to football practice.
Bobbie Jenner knew something was wrong when her son Tieson came home with a three-inch welt on his thigh. He eventually admitted he'd been whipped with a seatbelt.
"'Has anything else happened?' And he shut down again. And 'nope, that's it, I can't say any more. I'll get– they'll get me more. They'll, they'll come after me. What happens on the bus has to stay on the bus. They tell us what happens, stays on the bus.' And that's when I started texting other parents," Jenner said.
The mothers started piecing the story together, and when one boy opened up, the other boys also started to share.
Henry students speak out on hazing and bullying
"These 12 and 13-year-old boys looked up to these boys. They were their role models. And these boys are telling them to sit on the floor while their bus driver drives at a high rate of speed and plays chicken with other cars," mother of 7th-grade football player Rachel Livingston said.
"These role models tied seatbelts together and tripped my son, causing him to smash head on the emergency door where they then proceeded to stuff him in the corner of the bus and violently throw football equipment on top," Livingston said.
"My son was held down by a senior while an eighth grader, a teammate on his team, not even a varsity player, but a teammate on his junior high team repeatedly would hit him over and over and over on the back until he had bruises," Jenner said. "On another occasion, one held him down and whipped him with a seatbelt more than five times that night."
"There were threats made that if a child spoke, they would be in trouble. The words my son used was 'cooked' and he begged me not to tell," mother of 7th-grade football player Sarah Dukes said.
The boys say it had been happening for weeks.
"My son asked for over three weeks to quit football. I'm not a parent that makes my children participate, but I know football is what he loves. I know that is his thing," Jenner said.
"You have all of these people that are supposed to be his friends and claim to be his friends, and they're sitting there watching this happen, and they're not stopping it. And they're not telling anybody. And they're not they're not even protecting him," Livingston said.
In a release, Henry's superintendent says the district investigated the bullying and hazing reports and found multiple students violated district policy and appropriate disciplinary action has been taken.
"They want to call it bullying, is that what we call it? When a parent hits a child repetitively until that child can't walk or talk, do we call it bullying. That's abuse. This is abuse," Livingston said.
"We may have to switch schools, because if the other boys stay, that creates a problem for us," Dukes said.
Henry school addressing 'bullying' and 'hazing'
The mothers are sharing their sons' stories in hopes of protecting other kids.
"I'm angry because this happened and that no one spoke up. But I'm sad because I understand why nobody spoke up. My own child was so scared to say anything," Jenner said.
"It's uncomfortable to say something because you're afraid that you're going to they're going to retaliate. But your parents can protect you and they should. And if they won't find somebody, that will, because I will stop at nothing to protect my child or anybody else's," Livingston said.
The mothers said that while students from Florence and Henry are on the same football team, Florence students had nothing to do with the hazing, and the school has been helpful throughout the whole process.
