KATY, Texas – Parents of students who say they were bullied at two Katy ISD schools say the district is not taking their concerns seriously.
Tahir Charles says his daughter has been the subject of racial slurs and bullying at Katy High School for the past month.
"Two students decided to call my student a n-word; a slave girl. You look liked you be a good slave n-word, come fight me expletive n-word," Charles said.
He says it took a week for the school to remove the white teenage males from his daughter's class and it hasn't helped.
"They are still intimidating my daughter. These boys need to receive a severe real punishment," Charles said.
Cinco Ranch High School Student Honesti White was expelled from school after getting into a fight with students she says were bullying her.
"They just wouldn't stop bothering me until I was forced to defend myself," she said.
She says the students sent threatening text messages saying "imma kill honesti" and "im bringing a gun bro im not even joking"
The district says another student was disciplined in this case but refused to discuss specifics citing student privacy laws.
"They did not care because this is a young black child and the perpetrators were white, had the roles been reversed they would have handled this case differently," says community activist Quanell X.
Katy ISD says the incidents are isolated but parents and activists says it's a sign of a larger problem.
"At the end of the day you have an African-American superintendent who is allowing this to happen on his white campuses," said education advocate Gerry Monroe of the United Urban Alumni Alliance.
Here are two statements Katy ISD sent to Channel 2 News regarding the incidents at both schools:
"We're at a great disadvantage as a school district, as we cannot say all that we know due to FERPA law. If this story could be told in its entirety, the public sentiment would likely not be with the narrative currently being formulated and promoted by the affected parties.”
"However, we would like to clarify information that has been falsely reported by the parent's representative – Quannell X.”
His statements are inaccurate. Prior to today, Tatiana Rountree had not brought forth any allegations of racial slurs to the attention of administrators, nor were there three other students involved attacking the student in question on campus on February 19. According to eyewitnesses, the incident involved only one other student, and that individual was identified as the victim by all eyewitnesses.
The District said it takes reports of alleged bullying very seriously as the safety and security of our students is our top priority. Any student who engages in threatening written, verbal or physical conduct, this includes the use of racial slurs, on school property or at a school sponsored event will be appropriately disciplined as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct, according to the District.
"Due to FERPA law, we are limited on the details we can share about this incident. However, we can assure parents that the two students who allegedly used racial slurs against another student at Katy High School have been appropriately disciplined."
The District said at schools across the region, the consequences for bullying range from behavior conferences with verbal reprimands to out-of-school suspensions, depending on the severity of the activity and the outcomes of an investigation.