TULSA, Okla. — A woman said her 6-year-old nephew, who she’s raising, has been left with multiple injuries over the last 6 months after being beaten and bullied at kindergarten at Hoover Elementary School in the Tulsa Public School District.
She said since November 2023, he’s had two trips to the emergency room and has come home with cuts scrapes, and bruises.
She said he’s had to have stitches after another child hit him with a stick.
She claimed his glasses were broken and also said on one occasion he was hit in the face causing his teeth to cut through his bottom lip.
Connie Laney-Golden shared pictures of 6-year-old Bryce’s injuries.
“From November to March, he’s endured two hospitals, stitches, and stuff that we’ve had to bandage at home,” said Laney-Golden. “Didn’t want him sitting somewhere so they pushed him off broke his glasses and put stitches in his head. This was another trip to the ER.”
She said Bryce has PTSD, ODD, and ADHD after suffering a traumatic start in life. She said she’s now his guardian and he’s in therapy and is on the gifted and talented program.
“My heart broke because he just wanted a friend. He comes from hard times, he just wanted a friend,” Laney-Golden said.
Connie said she’s made two reports with TPS Campus Police and she said she also asked the school for help.
“They act like it’s no big deal, boys will be boys, transfer him to another school. Well no, he just got into the gifted and talented program. He loves going to school. He would just like not to be beat up,” Laney-Golden said.
She said Bryce has now been put on a behavioral report and said she doesn’t know why.
She said she doesn’t want to take him out of the school, but is worried about sending him there so is now enrolling him in self-defense classes.
“I feel like I have to put in him Taekwondo to go to kindergarten to protect himself,” said Laney-Golden. “Listen, we’re going to kindergarten, we have to do self defense. That’s just not something that I ever in my lifetime would have thought.”
She said she supports TPS and teachers and wants everyone to work together to try to fix the problem.
“We need to have cameras, we need to have adult teachers paying attention to the children outside. We need you to watch them watch the bullies, get help for them,” said Laney-Golden. “We have to do better, we can’t just blame all the bullying on the kids. There’s preventative measures, there things we as adults need to do. Teachers need to do better. I’m giving you my child and I’m asking you to take care of him.”
Laney-Golden said she’s set to meet with an official from TPS next week to discuss the situation.
TPS sent FOX23 the following statement.
“We have high expectations for our students and that includes finding safe and productive ways to navigate disagreements - and we have a zero-tolerance policy for any behavior that jeopardizes the health and safety of our school communities. We use our Behavior Response Plan to determine our disciplinary measures for students involved in any kind of physical altercations. While we cannot share information about specific students, our Hoover Elementary team and Office of Student and Family Support Services are actively engaged in addressing these allegations. The safety of our students, staff, and school communities is our priority, and we continue to implement strong safety measures throughout the district.”