NORTH WALES, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Families packed the North Penn School District board meeting Thursday night, many of them outraged after a Pennbrook Middle School student was attacked by another student at lunch the day before — a violent assault parents and students believe could have been prevented.
North Penn officials said around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Pennbrook cafeteria, a student attacked a seventh-grader with a Stanley cup, using the metal tumbler to brutally bash the victim in the back of the head.
“The girl who got attacked didn’t see it because she was facing backward, and all of a sudden you hear these terrible loud bangs of the Stanley bouncing off her head,” one of the students explained during the board meeting. “There was blood going everywhere.”
Security and staff jumped in to get control of the situation, and the school was locked down for eight minutes, officials said. Medics took the 12-year-old victim to the hospital for her injuries.
School counselors and the district’s trauma support team have been made available for students.
Multiple parents at Thursday’s meeting said their kids heard such an attack was going to happen and they alerted school officials ahead of time, but no action was taken.
“My daughter went to counselors at 9 o’clock in the morning, twice, and told them this attack was coming today at lunch. It was known,” one father said.
“I called the school on two separate occasions — Tuesday and Wednesday — to inform them of this child who was going to curb-stomp my daughter or make my daughter bite the curb,” said one mother, who feared her daughter would also be a victim. “And I was assured my daughter was safe.”
North Penn Superintendent Todd Bauer delivered remarks at the meeting before the public comment period: “Such behavior has no place in our schools. You expect better, we expect better, and certainly I do as well.”
The superintendent did not provide specific details about the incident or comment on allegations that warnings were ignored, saying the families of the students involved have a right to confidentiality, and the district needs to get all of the facts in order.
“We are currently pursuing the details leading up to this incident and why it occurred,” Bauer said. “We are also collaborating with our local law enforcement in their investigation as we work to ensure that something like this cannot happen again in our schools.”
He said there would be hearings regarding potential consequences for the student attacker. Upper Gwynedd police confirmed that the attacker, a 13-year-old seveth-grader, will face aggravated assault and related charges as a juvenile.
The victim has since been released from the hospital.