Mom says son's safety at stake due to repeated bullying at school

<p>An East Meadow mother says her teen is repeatedly being bullied, and that the school isn't doing anything to stop it.</p>

News 12 Staff

Dec 26, 2017, 12:25 AM

Updated 2,480 days ago

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An East Meadow mother says her son's safety is at stake because he is repeatedly being bullied at school and nothing is being done to stop it. 
Andrea Petersen says her 14-year-old son, Christopher, is being bullied at East Meadow High School.
She says at least one of the incidents was caught on cellphone video.
"I don't know if it's because my son is a little different than the other kids. He does have ADHD.  He looks a little different, he likes different things," she says.
Cellphone video of an incident that Petersen says happened last week in the school cafeteria allegedly shows Christopher sitting down at a table when another student comes up to him and calls him nasty names. Peterson says the student spat on her son's neck as he was sitting down, and her son got up and spat back. She says at that point, the other student punched him several times while students are laughing and cheering in the background.
Petersen says she is not happy that both boys got a three-day suspension.
"We shouldn't have a one size fits all policy on discipline," she says. "My son was defending himself. He was instigated."
Petersen says she's made several attempts to contact the school and the district through emails and phone calls.  She says she's gotten little to no response.
The East Meadow school district issued a statement saying, "The district is aware of two altercations that occurred between two students, which resulted in the appropriate disciplinary actions in accordance to the district’s code of conduct...The district does not tolerate any behaviors such as bullying, harassment or other inappropriate behaviors and takes any related allegations very seriously."
Petersen says if that were true, the district would do something to better protect her son.