School district responds to bullying video
Mar. 27—The words "fight, fight" overheard as two Gainesville Independent School District students get ready to duke it out on a school bus this week surfaced on video shared on social media, prompting the district to issue a statement today, Friday, March 26.
District officials said they were made aware of the Thursday afternoon, March 25, physical altercation between two students-one without a mask and one with his mask pulled down to his chin- this morning.
"District authorities immediately investigated the incident, reviewed bus video footage and attempted to contact the parents of the students involved," according to a press release from Gainesville ISD.
"Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken in accordance with the GISD Student Code of Conduct. As always, student safety is our top priority on all GISD buses and campuses," the release read.
Gainesville ISD spokeswoman Leslie Crutsinger said the district runs 19 regular bus routes and four special education routes. All four special education buses have monitors. The regular bus routes do not have monitors. The fight was on a regular route, she said.
When asked how many bullying reports the district had received this past year, Crutsinger replied that officials need some time to be able to obtain an accurate number for bullying incidents for the year.
"However, as a district we have not noticed an increase in reported bullying," Crutsinger said.
In 2018, Crutsinger told the Register that there was an estimated 20 bullying reports made district-wide each year.
When asked Friday if the number had increased, decreased or stayed the same, Crutsinger replied "we do not have the number of reports, so therefore I cannot compare to previous years at this time."
She also said the district hasn't had any recent changes to its bullying policy. Bullying information, Crutsinger said, can be found online at https://www.gainesvilleisd.org/domain/792.
