Meadow Hill Parents Demand Answers about Attack on an Eighth Grader

A group of concerned parents with students at Meadow Hill Middle School and other Missoula County Public Schools showed up at the most recent MCPS Board of Trustees meeting to demand answers about an attack on a student that led to hospitalization and reconstructive surgery. The attack, it seems, happened on the school playground in late April. Among other things, parents wanted to know why they found out about it through rumors and videos on their kids’ cell phones weeks after the attack.

What we’ve gleaned from the public comments is that the victim is a 14-year-old male who was hit in the head multiple times as other students watched and recorded it on their phones. One woman who spoke shared details from a letter written to Meadow Hill administrators by the victim's parents.  In it she described bone fragments forced into the child’s sinus cavity as a result of the crushing blows to his forehead. She said the victim had to have three metal plates implanted into his skull.

“His life has ground to a halt as he is no longer able to attend school, play on his hockey team, umpire baseball, work his job, play his trumpet, play with friends, take driver’s ed, or do anything a normal healthy 14-year-old should be doing. Between the concussion and the after-effects of the surgery, he barely has the strength to walk down the stairs…”

In an email to 406 Families, the parents of the victim say the attack was premeditated. Other parents at Meadow Hill want to know why they didn’t find out about it from the school. One father said he learned about the incident from his children, not the administration. The MCPS board was not officially informed about the assault by the school superintendent until 18 days afterwards.

“We are equally shocked by the lack of support the students who witnessed or learned of these events from their peers received. Their well-being has never been addressed after one of their own was violently assaulted on the playground.” Parents are asking for the school to provide resources for students to talk and process the trauma of witnessing the event.

As parents, we can’t expect schools to fix all of society’s ills, but we do hope they will be a partner in raising healthy, emotionally intelligent kids. But that can’t happen without proper communication and collaborative problem solving. We’ll be watching what happens and how the school responds to Meadow Hill parents.

To see more of the school board meeting, visit this link. The public comment portion begins at 12:19.