ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Emotions ran high Thursday night during an explosive Roanoke County School Board meeting, just weeks after the suicide of a 10-year-old girl who was bullied.
Community members and the family of Autumn Bushman packed the room as school leaders reviewed the district’s current bullying policy. The meeting comes nearly three weeks after the 4th grader died by suicide after she was bullied.
During the public comment portion, several students, parents, and teachers spoke about the impact Autumn’s death has made on the community. They also called on the school board to make changes.
As school leaders gave their presentation on the district’s current bullying policy, Autumn’s mother, Summer Bushman, addressed the board directly.
“You never notified me,” said Summer. “My daughter is dead,” she shouted, overcome with emotion. “It’s a lie, it’s a lie. We need to protect our children.”
As other audience members joined in, all but one school board member, David Linden, walked out of the room. Several attendees were asked to leave by law enforcement.
“Get out,” an officer was heard saying during the tense exchange.
The board members returned and resumed the meeting, but a silent protest followed. Members of the crowd wrote and held signs reading “Stand up for our kids,” while standing for the remainder of the meeting.
Despite the emotional pleas, school leaders voted to adopt the district’s existing bullying policy without making any significant changes. They did, however, address the crowd before adjourning.
“We’re not tone deaf up here,” Linden said. “If there’s a better policy, we’ll find a way to put it in place.”
After the meeting, 10 News asked School Board Chair Shelley Clemons about her decision to walk out during the public outburst.
“That is a procedure that we have in place when the room becomes very volatile,” said Clemons. “And that’s just a way to try to help law enforcement calm things down so that we can come back and proceed forward.”
“I think it’s not helpful when there’s kind of a back-and-forth and the room is, there’s a lot of screaming and yelling. I don’t think that that helps,” she added. “But I do think that we do try to provide them with an opportunity to speak and we will continue to do so.”
School officials say the bullying policy can be changed at any time and encourage families to share their thoughts through a new online survey: Roanoke County Bullying Policy Feedback Survey. The survey is live now and available for one week.
You can view the district’s current bullying policy here and resources on bullying here.
