HOUSTON – Yana Hymel's classroom is now her home kitchen.
The 11 year old is being home-schooled by her mom, who pulled her out of La Marque Middle School because of bullies.
"I saw her getting quieter and quieter and normally she's loud and plays," Tanja said.
It started in gym class, after a scuffle between Yana and another student.
Tanja thought her daughter would be fine after the gym teacher told her in a meeting that she had brought the girls to a counselor.
"I went home and thought, 'OK," she sounds reasonable," Tanja said.
But as rumors continued to spread, so did the bullying.
So Tanja took her concerns to the principal and then to the Texas City Independent School District, and she wasn't happy with the response.
"I mean, no one helped me out in any shape or form," she said.
It reached the point at which she no longer felt comfortable sending Yana to school, so she took her out and asked if she could move to another school within the district, but the district refused.
A spokesperson says Texas City ISD was in the middle of investigating the family's complaint, but "prior to the completion of the investigation and related determinations and actions, the family elected to withdraw the student."
In a last-ditch effort, Tanja also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, but they dismissed it, basically saying it was irrelevant because Yana is no longer with the district.
Tanja says especially after the recent suicide of a bullied Texas City teen, they never should have even reached this point.
"If you come to them, if you take the time out of your day and you come to them and say, 'Please, we need help,' they should take you serious," she said.