SALEM Student says she endured taunting

The school is willing to help, but officials need cooperation, the superintendent says.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- For most high school students, the busy hallways between classes provide a chance to catch up on gossip, joke with friends or attend to other matters.
But Erin Livingston, a Salem High School junior, says those long corridors have become a gantlet of taunting and harassment.
Erin, 17, and her mother, Angela, of Sharp Avenue, say the ridicule centers on the fact that Erin is black.
There's liberal use of the "n-word," they say. Erin, who is learning disabled, also is subjected to sexual taunting.
How bad it is: The harassment started last school year and has reached such a pitch that Erin's mother says she removed her from school earlier this month to protect her from further anguish.
"She cannot take the abuse anymore," Angela said of the taunting that happens almost daily in the school's halls.
Erin is under a therapist's care, and her mother is insisting that the school provide an in-home tutor until Erin is prepared to return to class and the school can assure her the harassment will be stopped.
"She should not have to walk with her head hanging down," Angela said.
"I just don't see how a town this small could be so full of hate," Erin said. "It makes me wonder if all people are going to hate me because of the color I am."
So far, no student has been disciplined for the taunting, which is a violation of school rules, punishable with suspension or even expulsion.
Angela says she doesn't believe the school is trying hard enough to solve the problem.
Official's response: "We're willing to do everything we can," said schools Superintendent Dr. David Brobeck. "There are kids who are rednecks," Brobeck added. They represent a tiny portion of the high school's student body of 829, which is about 1 percent black.
The harassment Erin says she's undergoing is rare in the district, Brobeck added. "Salem kids, for the most part, are pretty kind."
The school district is hampered in this case because Erin won't identify her tormentors, Brobeck said. "We have zero cooperation from Erin."
Erin said the taunting seems to be coming from about a half-dozen boys. But it's difficult pinpointing who they are.
Even if she could identify someone, she would fear telling because it could lead to retaliation, she added.
A solution: Brobeck said he's offered to assign students to escort Erin to classes. The escorts could provide her with support and try to find out who's doing the taunting. Brobeck said teachers also could try to identify the troublemakers.
Erin's mother rejects the offer, saying her daughter's tormentors would be unlikely to say anything with escorts or teachers present. What's more, the taunting would resume once the escorting and teacher surveillance ended, Angela contended.
Erin needs to return to school, unless she has a doctor's excuse saying she can't attend, Brobeck said. "We can take care of harassment," he added.
leigh@vindy.com