PAYSON, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A father says his complaints about bullying at Payson Junior High School did nothing to protect his daughter.
He says he transferred his 14-year-old daughter out of the School because its leaders failed to take action.
His daughter says some of the bullying took place in a classroom, "I raised my hand and asked what day it was and he said, 'The day I'm going to murder you.'"
The girl says the alleged bully continued with more threats, "He came up to me and he whispered in my ear, 'I have a knife in my backpack.' He told me he was going to follow me home and meet my parents," she continued.
This girl and her father say they told the principal and other school leaders.
"They acted like she was a liar. He (the principal) asked me if I thought she was lying to get out of the school and go to another school. She's not a liar," says the alleged victim's father.
This father says nothing was done and the school refused to move the alleged bully away from his daughter in one of her classes.
She says the bullying escalated, "After that he'd go up and like tackle me or strangle me or punch me and he'd throw my books to the ground and walk away and no one would say anything. I know people were watching me," said the girl.
This father said he feared for his daughter's safety. He pulled his daughter out of the School in December.
He places all the blame on the School's principal. "Every time I talked to him he said, 'We'll look into this, we'll look into this,'" says the girl's father.
ABC 4 contacted the Nebo School District at 11:00 a.m. Friday morning with a detailed message about the accusations made in this story. The District's side of the story will be posted when the call is returned.
