Bedford Student in Coma; Family Member Alleges Bullying

A family member of 16 year old Kacey Strough says that bullying either caused or exacerbated serious physical injuries to Strough that required brain surgery that lasted eight hours in order to remove a blood clot near the brain stem and address other injuries according to a November 3rd online post by the Des Moines Register. He will be in a coma for as long as a month according to the article. The family member told the Register that Strough complained about the bullying to one of his football coaches, which involved being struck on the head multiple times with a football. The article says that Strough developed headaches, speech problems, and paralysis that resulted in multiple visits to the doctor before they decided to go ahead with the surgery. The Register article says that the school is investigating the incident, but that the sheriff and police departments were not involved in any such investigation as of the posting of the article.

While the term “bullying” is a broad term, both Worth County and Northeast Nodaway schools take bullying seriously in their policy manuals. At Worth County, Superintendent Mike Rennells said that the school does a bullying prevention program at the elementary level and that they take seriously any complaints regarding bullying. Worth County third graders have done a poster with ideas to prevent or stop bullying which is on display in the elementary building. Consequences can include loss of privileges, expulsion, and referral to law enforcement depending on the situation. At the elementary level, students who are disciplined for bullying are referred to a counselor. The policy is to notify parents of any student who is bullied as soon as possible. Rennells encouraged parents to contact the appropriate teacher as well as an administrator if they believe their child is a victim of bullying. He said that they wanted to know about it right away and not wait until the third or fourth time before they find out.

At Northeast Nodaway, consequences can be anywhere from a one day in-school suspension to a long-term suspension or referral to juvenile officers depending on the severity of the incident for elementary students. Bullying is defined as repeated intimidation, including such things as physical, verbal, namecalling, and cyberbullying. With cyberbullying, it doesn’t matter if it happens within a school setting or not; Superintendent Jeff Mehlenbacher said, “If it affects us here, we will deal with it.” He said that parents at Northeast Nodaway who were concerned that their child was a victim of bullying should let the appropriate teacher know immediately; teachers at Northeast Nodaway are trained on how to respond to bullying complaints.

Given the broadness of the term, bullying can be difficult to define or recognize as such. But the consequences of not acting can include tearing a school district apart. Another student who said he went to Bedford posted online in response to the Register article that he left the school district because of what he said was bullying problems there.