'Violence in this district is bad': West Allis-West Milwaukee mom taking action after son attacked by classmates
WEST MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A West Allis-West Milwaukee mom is taking action after her son, who has disabilities, was violently thrown to the ground by his classmates.
He's a 12-year-old boy who did nothing to provoke the attack. It happened at Lane Intermediate School and has left lingering medical consequences.
We're blurring his face, but you can see he walks with a limp. This 6th grade Lane Intermediate student has epilepsy and a rare condition known as PMG.
"And I think he was targeted for his disability. These kids didn't pick on a 6-foot, 180-pound kid. They picked on a four-and-a-half-foot, 70-pound kid who doesn't have use of his left side," said Devon Ray, mom.
May 4 West Allis police cited three 12-year-old boys with battery and a 12-year-old girl with disorderly conduct after the group chased the 6th grader as school let out for the day.
"So there was one kid that grabbed one arm, another kid that grabbed another arm, and then the third kid grabbed him by the back and they lifted him up and slammed him into the ground," said Ray. "And then said it was a joke."
Devon Ray says the attack has left lingering effects on her epileptic son, who was already dealing with a lot. He's now having up to 15 auras per day. Prior to the attack that was less than five a month.
"It's taken more than a bump on his head to his wellbeing, that's for sure," said Ray.
Ray let her son return to school May 6, but that was a bad day because of what he heard.
"He thinks that everyone at the school hates him for getting the popular kids in trouble, which I don't blame him. Because that's how they made him feel," said Ray.
She kept him home after that, but administrators told her they'd file truancy against her, even though she told them she no longer felt he was safe at school.
"The violence in this district is bad, it's bad. And I feel like the reason it's bad is because the kids don't have punishments. If they're allowed to get away with it, they're going to continue to get away with it," said Ray.
Ray says administrators ultimately offered up a safe plan. It called for Ray's son to be taken out of class early each period so he could walk alone to his next class, away from his attackers. Unacceptable, says his mom.
"I immediately told them that I saw this as a punishment for my son. He didn't do anything wrong, so why was he the one that had to be taken from his friends?" said Ray.
She's filed an appeal with DPI and is awaiting their decision. For now, she's homeschooling him and says she'll never send him back.
Lane's principal has not returned this fall.
No one from the district responded to our inquiry about that, but when we asked about the attack, we got a reply saying, "The district does not comment on matters related to confidential student information."