BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Students and parents stood outside Martin County High School for two days last week to protest what they say is bullying and humiliation of students with special needs within the school. On Saturday, the protesters marched in downtown Inez.
The walkout and protest started Thursday morning when students showed up holding signs in the hallway at the school. After freshman Trenton McCoy was “expelled for the remainder of the year,” students walked out in solidarity and gathered near the school’s entrance. The crowd quickly grew to around 30 people chanting, “Love, not hate. We do not discriminate.”
Protesters held signs displaying messages such as “Justice for Heather” and “Stand Against Bullying.”
On Friday, they stood in the rain for fellow student Heather Spence, who is neurodiverse and the alleged target of recent and ongoing bullying by a “popular” group of students on campus.
“We’re here for the people that can’t speak up for themselves or don’t want to speak up for themselves because they’re scared of what would happen,” MCHS sophomore Brooklyn Newsome said.
According to the protesters, bullies took advantage of Heather’s trusting nature to manipulate her into embarrassing and dangerous situations. It started with teasing, name-calling and verbal abuse, they said. The bullying escalated when “a group of girls” allegedly manipulated Heather into chugging milk one day and eating bananas they had chewed up and spit out until she was sick another day. In yet another incident, some boys are said to have chewed up fruit cocktail and “fed it to her like a baby bird” – spitting it into her mouth.
Heather, a 17-year-old junior, said bullies also poured urine over her head.
“They have not been held accountable for their actions, which is very unfair and wrong,” senior Skyler Dingess said. “What they did was unfair to her and other special needs kids in our school.”
Protestors said what made matters worse was the bullies were videoing and laughing during these incidents, then exploited Heather by circulating screenshots and videos that recently surfaced on social media.
“She needs justice,” sophomore Kadence Hale declared. “Heather doesn’t understand they aren’t laughing with her; they’re laughing at her.”
Sophomore Madison Bartley said bullying had been an ongoing problem and this was not the first time Heather had dealt with bullies at the school.
“Nothing has been done and nothing is being done about it,” Bartley asserted.
Protesters revealed another alleged incident where bullies videoed a male student with autism changing clothes in the locker room and circulated the video.
The protesters contend that bullying in the school goes unpunished due to favoritism based on kinship and social standing.
“We’re out here for Heather and any student who has ever been bullied or harassed,” sophomore Haley Williamson said. “We want to show them that they are not alone; they can speak out and they have a voice.”
Martin County Schools Superintendent Larry James released a statement Friday saying the bullying accusation was under investigation by the school administration.
“The Martin County School District has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying, which includes anti-bullying and sensitivity programs,” James said. “We strive to provide a safe learning environment for all our students.”
In a phone interview Tuesday, the superintendent stressed that he respects the students’ right to protest and wants to give them space to get their emotions out. He said listening and addressing their concerns is important, and he hopes to have a face-to-face discussion with them.
“I hope these kids will trust us to investigate and make things right,” said James.
“We have anti-bullying programs, and we need refreshers for everyone. It’s our job to educate our kids, and as soon as we return from spring break, we will do this again. I want to keep everyone safe.”
Heather speaks out
Protesters marched Saturday afternoon from the former ShopRite in Inez to Dollar General on Blacklog, where they set up and spent the rest of the day.
Heather marched with them.
“I’m one of the bullying victims,” Heather said, naming several girls and boys as bullies.
“They spit up bananas and made me eat them. They kept feeding them to me until I got sick and was crying, and I wanted to go home.
“They also poured pee on me, on my head. That also involved the group of girls and those boys.
“They also fed me fruit cocktails like a baby bird. They kept feeding it to me. And I told them to quit, but they wouldn’t.
“Then they made me chug milk until I was sick. That’s what it was, too.”
According to Heather, the same group of students bullied her boyfriend. He is also a special needs student.
“They were calling him bad names, and they were making fun of him for rocking back and forth and [stimming],” explained Heather. “And they were also hating on him for liking wrestling and for his rapping.”
Heather’s father, Darrell Spence, and other family members attended the protests to support Heather and the students standing up for her.
“They have a two-tier system that works for the upper class,” Darrell said. “It’s always been like that. I’ve had it with their two-tier justice system at the board of education.”
Darrell said he spoke with a school administrator about the bullying of his daughter but thought he was speaking to the superintendent.
“He told me everything was under control,” said Darrell. “Well, that’s bull.”
Heather’s family members said that after the issue arose, the school isolated Heather from other students by making her eat lunch in a classroom. They said that in the meantime, her accused bullies continued to have lunch in the cafeteria as usual.
Heather’s sister, Kristena Johnson, said that arrangement is unfair to Heather. She also said she isn’t convinced the accused bullies treated Heather “as they would anyone else in the group,” as administrators suggested.
“They’re a bunch of spoiled rich kids who think they can do whatever they want,” Johnson remarked. “And they’re using an autistic kid as their amusement.”
Protestors suspended
Student protesters said the school had suspended many of them and barred them from the upcoming prom.
Newsome and sophomore Cheyenne Horn said they were suspended for five days.
McCoy said he protested in the school hallway for about 10 minutes Thursday morning, along with about a dozen other students holding signs. According to McCoy, a teacher approached and said he wasn’t allowed to hold up a sign.
“He only said that to me,” McCoy said. “I was backing away and he grabbed the sign and ripped it. People started screaming and saying he was not allowed to put his hands on me. I told him I would not let him grab the paper out of my hand.”
McCoy said he was wrongfully accused of cursing the principal.
“I never did that,” said McCoy.
Hale said her parents reached out Friday to the American Civil Liberties Union.
“The ACLU said to give them names and grades of all the students who got suspended or any type of punishment for coming out to do the protest,” said Hale. “They’re going to get attorneys, and we are suing the school.”
Senior Aubrianna Crum said the situation would not “go away.”
“They’re not going to stop us until they fix it,” Crum vowed. “There’s no point in just sitting here and letting people, just because they have money and the right name or family or whatever, just run over people.”
Crum said bullies “literally threatened” to run protesters over with their cars during the rally.
“They sat there and told Mrs. Williams lies about us having other stuff going on, like gay pride flags,” added Crum. “Somebody has a blanket that happens to be rainbow-colored – because she’s cold. It’s 40 degrees, raining, and we’re out here when we shouldn’t have to do this.”
Superintendent James assured that none of the protesters would be barred from the prom unless they were already barred for an unrelated reason.
“They won’t be barred from the prom for protesting,” said James.