Contradicting accounts regarding local kid attacked at school
The mother who says her son was bullied and stabbed at a local middle school because of his political views is speaking out, and so is the boys father; who has a different side to the story.
The story stems from an article posted by Clash Daily on Thursday. The article stated that the boy had expressed to his classmates at Centennial Middle School that he supported Donald Trump and that he was bullied because of it. The article then goes on to state another student stabbed him 10 times, drawing blood from some of the stabs.
The mother sent an update to Clash Daily Thursday night that said the following:
My son has been bullied since he began attending Centennial Middle School. He has been called ‘Gringo’, ‘white trash’… and since it became known he was pro-Trump (which happened in classrooms during students discussions) he was called a racist on several occasions. This all happened WEEKS leading up to the election. He would come home upset frequently due to this bullying.
On Nov 4th, two Fridays ago, my son was physically attacked. The student that attacked him was calling him Gringo, when my son retaliated by calling him “fatty”, having had enough. The next class period they had together, my son was sitting in his chair, when the other student began to jab my son with an ink pen repeatedly. My son tried to cover himself but was still stabbed. In my son’s next class, the teacher noticed the smeared blood on his shoulder, and ask him what had happened, sending him to the nurse to get cleaned up. The wounds that drew blood were two on his arm, one on his shoulder, and one on his chest.
Vice Principal, Neil Johnson was the first one to contact me, and told me he had been “poked about 10 times, 4 of which had in fact drew blood”. The school assured me the student would be punished in the highest degree, however my son reported he was only absent from school for one day. According to the students, this incident was not over Trump in particular, but more over the name calling. I hung up the phone, and contacted the police to file a report. The officer went to the school and filed the report. I was out of town on business so I was unable to meet him there.
Yesterday I spoke with a teacher regarding another incident, again my son being called white trash. I told her about the incident that had happened with the stabbing, she replied “Oh yeah I heard about that!! I didn’t realize that was your son!” So the teachers know what had happened.
I was also told by students that attend that school that the teachers were telling the students about the incident in their classrooms after that. So it was a very big deal, and now the school is playing it dumb. Today I followed up with the police, and they had submitted the claim to juvenile court for review. The officer also went back to the school to interview teachers. They all denied any conversations taking place in their classrooms about the election, regardless it was definitely among the students.
News 11 reached out to the boys father, Spencer Schultz, who has a different story:
On November 4th I received a text from my ex wife, the mother of my son who is the 13 year old boy mentioned in the story that was shared on social media today . The text said that the Centennial Middle School principle had called her and informed her that our son got into an argument with another student, and that the student had stabbed our son with a pen 5-6 times, 3 times enough to draw blood. It also stated that the school had “punished” the boy. She stated she would like to call the cops and file a report, and I agreed. I immediately headed to the school, Centennial Middle School, getting there about 45 minutes after receiving that text. On arrival I was met by a police officer/SRO, the vice principle of the school, and my son. I asked my son if he was ok and he said “yeah I’m good”. I asked to see all of the wounds caused by the other child. He showed my one small scratch on his upper right arm, one or two very small poke/scratch looking wounds near his right elbow, and a small scratch near his right nipple. None of the wounds were bleeding or looked to be much more than superficial, and did not look to need any more attention than to just let them be. I asked him what happened and what caused it to happen. He as close to verbatim as I can get he said “He told me to f*** off in class, and I told him to say that to my face. He reached over and hit at me with a pen in his hand. It scratched me a couple times and I just covered up and told him to stop it. Class ended right then so he left right away and then I left too for my next class. When I got to my next class I saw that the scratch on my arm was bleeding a little bit. The teacher saw me looking at at it, saw that it was bleeding a little, and told me to go to the nurse. I went to the nurse and they asked me what happened, and I told them what happened.” I asked him how many times the kid hit or “stabbed” at him, he said “I don’t know, maybe ten.” I asked him what the deal was between him and the other kid and he said they don’t know eachother very well, just through a mutual friend or two, and for some reason they just don’t get along. He said “He sometimes calls me gringo and I call him fatty”. I asked him if he realized he was part of the problem by calling him names too and telling him “say that to my face”, that he had kind of instigated the other kid, and he said yes he realized that. My ex-wife had called the police to have a report filed. The officer explained to me that cases like this (scuffles between boys) are usually handled by the school alone, but that he was writing up the report at the request of our child’s mother. He gave my son a good talking to about the entire situation and about better ways to deal with friction or confrontation with other kids. At that point the vice principal came into the room, introduced himself, explained the incident just as my son had, and assured me that the other child was being dealt with in accordance with their protocol and that they took the incident very seriously. From there I again asked my son if he was ok and he assured me he was, and we then headed home. Once home I texted my ex and explained everything to her. That was the end of this event until today when this story hit the internet. There WAS another incident this Monday, where my son came home with a warning sheet for getting involved with other kids involving racial slurs. It is true that my son is often called “gringo” at school. I’m talking to him he finds it more annoying than offensive. I was already planning on going to the school tomorrow , Friday the 18th, to address that with the school, as both my ex and I find this very unacceptable. These two events do not involve the same “other kid”. The physical incident, loosely referred to in the clashdaily article being passed around, did not involve a “STABBING”, and was not racially or politically motivated in any way in the eyes of anyone there or involved in the followup to the incident, including myself.
News 11 spoke to the Yuma Police Department and to Crane Middle School regarding the incident. YPD said the 13-year-old student was scratched with a pen.
Trina Siegfried, community relations director for Centennial Middle School, said the teacher in the classroom confirmed that there was not a political discussion happening at the time. Siegfried said that the incident did not stem from a political argument.
In a statement released to News 11 Siegfried said the following:
“Yes, there was an incident between two students, with the assailant scratching their classmate with the tip of an ink pen, but no stabbing occurred. The victim did not report the incident to the school officials, but later, a teacher did recognize that the student had abrasions on his hand, and directed them to the nurse’s office for treatment. School authorities took the appropriate steps to ensure that the school maintained a safe and orderly environment. Parents of the victim contacted the police who are currently conducting an investigation. Parents of all parties were immediately contacted within minutes of the school’s investigation beginning. Upon completion of the investigation by school officials, the school administration took appropriate disciplinary action warranted by the situation. The teacher of the classroom where the incident occurred said that no political discussions were being conducted, and no political affiliation, protest or stance was identified when the students were interviewed by school officials.”
YPD said the student had very minor injuries and was not taken to the hospital.
Officers did confirm that the parents of the victim did file a police report on November 4, but no where on the report does it state that there was any type of political discussion or argument between the two students.
Clash Daily article stated the boy was stabbed last week. The time line doesn’t match with the date of the incident, November 4. Thursday night the Clash Daily said the general timeline of ‘last week’ was an editorial error.
We have reached out to Clash Daily to get their response on this article. We have yet to hear back. We are also in contact with the boys parents.
The original article from ClashDaily.com can be found HERE.
