An 11-year-old boy suffered a cracked skull and other injuries after being assaulted by another student at Eastland Performance Academy in Columbus, Ohio. The mother of the victim, Katt Johnson, expressed outrage over the school's handling of the incident. According to WBNS, the assault occurred last Tuesday, and the boy had only been attending the school for a week and a half before the attack.
Johnson told NBC4i that she had to twice say to the school to call an ambulance and that the school never contacted the police. This failure to quickly seek medical help and notify law enforcement has been a central point in her criticisms of the school's response. Johnson said the school's actions—or lack thereof—appeared suspicious to her, given the severity of her son's injuries, which included a fractured skull and a ruptured eardrum, along with multiple bruises.
The teacher in the classroom at the time of the incident claimed to have not noticed the violence until it was too late. "She didn't notice my son being picked up by his throat and punched in the head repeatedly, she didn't notice my son being thrown into a window repeatedly, she didn't notice my son's head being slammed off of a desk repeatedly," Johnson said in a statement obtained by WBNS. She has subsequently decided to homeschool her son as he recovers from the trauma of the assault.
Superintendent Jeff Luelleman released a statement explaining that the school was addressing the incident and is cooperating with law enforcement's requests. However, details regarding the school's actions during and immediately after the attack have concerned the mother. "The school has conducted an investigation regarding the allegations, and administrators will move forward in accordance with its disciplinary code of conduct to the extent appropriate," Luelleman said, as reported by NBC4i.
