Fort Smith Attorney Joey McCutchen will be attending a meeting of the Springdale School Board to be held at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 at 804 West Johnson Avenue in Springdale.
McCutchen has asked to be placed on the school board’s agenda to address the problem of violence within the school system. McCutchen said that he was representing a 14-year-old girl that was beaten at Lakeside Junior High after receiving threats from another student.
Although the threats were reported to school officials by the victim, no meaningful action was taken to protect the girl. McCutchen said,
“The violence was based on a challenge on the internet website tiktok.com. The challenge is intended to incite girls to fight with other girls.” McCutchen continued, “In this instance, other students recorded this wholly unprovoked beating that should have been prevented by school officials.”
A copy of the video of the beating is available at
https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/uQfnLYIBew.
McCutchen indicated that the aggressor has now been arrested but before being arrested she was allowed to return to the same school that the victim attended. The victim was forced to hide to protect herself while she called a parent to pick her up.
“When schools refuse to protect our children, it’s time for parents and the legal system to take action,” McCutchen said.
