A South Florida mother is demanding action after she says her son was beaten up by multiple students at a high school in Lauderdale Lakes.
Jennifer — who did not want to share her last name or her son’s name in fear of retaliation — says the group of students from Boyd Anderson High School had been posting videos to Instagram showing them beating other students.
She says she saw a video that showed her 16-year-old son on the ground, getting relentlessly punched and kicked by the same group of students.
Jennifer says her son received threats for two weeks.
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"He was so worried he had to cut class and actually hide in the bathroom or jump the gate and actually leave," she told NBC 6. "He wouldn't go to lunch, and he took it more seriously because he knew there were kids beaten up by the same group."
The mom says she reported those threats to the school administration multiple times before the attack.
She says the school's response was that they'd take care of it, but she claims they never did.
On March 9, Jennifer got a call from her son’s friend, who told her her son had been attacked. She shared a screenshot that showed her son laying on the ground.
"It hurt me so much because I tried to prevent it, because I tried to stop it, I tried to prevent it," she said. "I did everything I could as a mother so this wouldn't happen to my son."
Jennifer took her son to the hospital, where he was treated for his injuries.
According to Broward County Public Schools, there have been over 2,000 incidents of weapons possession, fighting, and battery in the district this school year.
At Boyd Anderson High School, the district reported 34 fighting incidents and eight physical attack incidents at the school during the same time period.
Jennifer isn't sure why her son was targeted.
The family’s attorney, Adam Trop, says there were concerning comments posted from the group on Instagram.
"There were social media racist, ethnic comments slurs lobbied at them," he said.
The mom says she wants the school to take responsibility and add additional security, so another child is not hurt.
"You will notice there is not a single adult anywhere in the whole vicinity," Trop said. "How can that be? I bet if you look at the payroll at the high school … None of them even in the yard, even though they have been warned there is going to be an attack."
In a statement, a spokesperson from Broward Schools told NBC 6 that the district takes "all incidents involving students’ safety seriously ... Students involved in fighting or other negative behaviors face appropriate school disciplinary measures in accordance with the code of student conduct."
"The school’s leadership remains in communication with (the) those families involved," the statement continued.
Due to student privacy laws, the district is unable to provide additional information.
NBC 6 has not been able to independently verify the posts on social media because the account is no longer active.
It’s unclear if the students in the videos were disciplined.
Jennifer says her son has not gone back to school, and that she is considering homeschooling him.
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