Mother, others advocate for changes after bullying incidents in Madison County schools
Braden Horn was left with extensive facial injuries after allegedly being attacked at school during a bullying incident
RICHMOND, Ky (WTVQ)- March 16th is a a day parent Courtney Horn will never forget. That was the day she received a call that her 15 year old son Braden got into a fight at school- Madison Central in Richmond, after months of being bullied.
“He tried to just take the high road, walk away, ignore it,” said Horn. “And it all kind of came crumbling down that morning.”
Braden was left with extensive facial injuries.
“At that point, we learned he had a permanent eye injury, he had three fractures to the nose, and he had a lot dental work done,” said Horn.
After posting to Fcebook while Braden was in the hospital, Horn received numerous messages from others experiencing the same issues.
“You realize that this is happening so much,” said Horn. “And you just don’t hear about it. It’s been pushed under the rug or people are afraid to speak out.”
On Saturday, those parents meeting at the Madison County public library for a “Stop Bullying” meeting, all looking for answers and speaking about what they’ve gone through.
“We wanted to bring these people together and say ‘what can we do as a community, we can we do as parents and educators, get on the same page and say this is not right. We need some change. We have got to do something.”
The group is now petitioning a new parent-led board, aimed at bringing issues before the Madison County school board in hopes of improving the school environment for the students.
“It’s not ‘us against them’. We are not going to be a board of parents that are just against the school board. We want to work with them. We want to help, we want to bring them ideas and say ‘this might work’ because somebody on the outside may have a different suggestion that works for you and that helps with bullying, and it helps with whatever situation they have there,” said Horn.
ABC 36 reached out to Madison county Superintendent and the Madison Central principal, and so far we have not heard back.
Horn says she is pressing charges against the bully.
She says Braden is still going through complications.
“He has suffered tremendously, emotionally, just trying every day to kind of work through it. He’s in counseling now, trying to get the best that he can so he can kind of get to where he was before,” said Horn.
