MCLOUTH, KS (KCTV) -
A girl was attacked in a high school parking lot and her parents are unhappy with how one area school district is handling the bullying of their daughter.
Sixteen-year-old Faith Crouse was attacked in the parking lot at McLouth high school. The junior went to the hospital suffering from a broken nose. She will need surgery.
Another student filmed the attack.
Within an hour, video was being circulated of the beating. Her parents, Heather and Shannon Crouse, were horrified by the attack and the school district's response both before and after.
"You watch it on the computer and you can hear your baby screaming and it's the most pitiful thing in the world," Shannon Crouse said.
The girl's mother concurs.
"She had blood all over her clothes," Heather Crouse said. "School is supposed to be a safe haven and we had to file restraining orders."
The girl in the video was also a McLouth High School student. She will be in court Monday on battery charges. She has also changed schools because turns out she didn't live in the district.
In addition to those charges, Faith's parents want the girl who shot the video prosecuted.
"It's just as much as their fault for letting it happen as it is each individual who stood in the parking lot," Heather Crouse said.
The school district superintendent said the incident is under investigation and that proper school procedures were followed. He would not comment on the family's criticism of district personnel's handling of the bullying.
Heather Crouse said district officials and teachers knew "something was going to happen after school" to Faith Crouse. While Faith Crouse was on field trip, derogatory messages were posted on her locker, which is near the school office.
Still the attack, the family said Faith Crouse's situation at school has only worsened.
"She's still taunted in the classroom with teachers present and she's still pushed in the halls," Heather Crouse said.
They said their daughter is an emotional wreck.
"She doesn't want to be alone. She cries herself to sleep. It's pitiful, it's miserable," Shannon Crouse said.
