Mentor students protest after they experience bullying and racist remarks from other students

MENTOR, Ohio (WOIO) - Students gathered outside Mentor High School to protest against the district. They say the district isn’t doing enough to stop the bullying and racist remarks inside the walls of their school.

“As a Hispanic American, I’ve been through a lot at Mentor Schools. It’s tough, you know, going to the school and having to fight every day when you got to class,” said Chance Colon, a Mentor High School student demonstrator.

“We have constantly reported these incidents for years on years now, and nothing has ever been done,” said Halle Goodrum, a Mentor High School student demonstrator. “If I were to go push someone into a locker, I’d get a detention for one hour, and that would be it,” said Goodrum.

Parents are also fed up. One who wanted to remain anonymous shared his son’s painful experience with bullying.

“We moved to Mentor from another state six years ago, and I haven’t seen anything; we haven’t seen anything like it. When he reported it, the school told him to stay away. Don’t bother him, stay away, don’t talk to him. The bullying didn’t stop, it ended up with a fight at Shore Middle School, and my son defended himself; he was suspended for three days,” said the anonymous parent.

The district released a statement insisting they are taking the proper actions to discipline students when incidents happen. It went on to say they understood the students’ right to protest peacefully but took exception to the idea of students missing school to do so.

“I think maybe some new administrators would help. Some new people in the board of education would help,” said Tia Crews, a student demonstrator.

Crews’ grandma, Patricia Crews, told 19 News, she got a call on Monday saying Tia had been dismissed from school.

“She called and said that they don’t want Tia at school anymore. Tia is no longer a student at Mentor High because the principal is done; he wants her out of the school. My husband asked does this have anything to do with what’s going on today, and she said it could,” said Patricia Crews.

However, Mentor Public Schools told 19 News, no student was removed from school or asked to leave because of today’s walkout.

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