West Allis-West Milwaukee School District found in violation of bullying policy after 6th grader attacked by classmates

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District has been found to be in violation of its own policy on how to handle bullying.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction ruling comes after a case involving a 6th grader with disabilities.

The complaint lists numerous bullying incidents over the 2021-22 school year at Lane Intermediate in West Allis, but it all came to an end on May 4 when three 6th grade boys physically attacked the child outside the school.

Shocking incidents of bullying were laid out in the pages of the complaint, including when bullies grabbed the 6th grade boy's chest, saying he "had man boobs." Another time, choking him in the hallway.

"The district should've done more. Maybe they could've stopped this from happening," said Devon Ray, mom.

Devon Ray's son has epilepsy and a rare condition known as PMG. He walks with a limp. 

"Every time that I complained, they would just tell me blanket statements. 'It's handled. We've taken care of it,'" said Ray.

Ray believes her son was targeted for his disability. She's now home schooling him and his sister.

"It's not ideal. I mean they miss the setting. They miss the school setting," said Ray.

Last May, West Allis police got involved, citing three 12-year-old boys with battery and a 12-year-old girl with disorderly conduct after the group chased the 6th grader out of Lincoln Intermediate after school.

"It seems like, like there's no repercussion, and when there's not repercussion you have no control over what's going on," Ray said. "It's just a madhouse over there."

After the outside attack, Ray kept her son home, waiting for the district to issue a safety plan, and was told he needed to return or be held as truant. DPI has now ruled in her favor.

"I was scared at first, to open that email, thinking that they again wouldn't listen to me. It just was a great relief to find out that they were finally gonna be held accountable for what they were doing to me and my son," said Ray.

DPI said West Allis-West Milwaukee "failed to comply with its own policies in handling a discrimination and harassment complaint." They ordered the district to come up with a corrective action plan within 30 days to include additional staff training.

"My kids are done there. My kids will not go back to that district. I'm not doing this for them. I'm doing this for the kids that are gonna fall into the same issue that we have, for the next kid who's gonna get bullied for being disabled," said Ray.

DPI could not rule on all aspects of the complaint, so the boy's mom plans to open a federal complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. 

We made several attempts to contact the school district Tuesday and got no reply.