Levi Sever, that fifteen year old high school student, who viciously assaulted Zachary Huston while his cousin filmed the attack, will serve 90 days in a juvenile detention center for the assault. Sever pleaded guilty, and was also ordered to undergo mental health counseling and continue his education during his detention. I would have added that he needed to find another school in which to finish his education. Zachary Huston was assaulted by Sever last October in a classroom at Unioto High School allegedly because he is gay. Huston and his mother, Rebecca Collins, allege that school officials did not respond appropriately to their reports about bullying due to Zach's sexual orientation. The unprovoked attack prompted the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to threaten legal action against the school district unless it amends the district’s anti-bullying policy to specifically prohibit the harassment of LGBT students, but, to this day, school officials have declined to address the ACLU’s request. So, a young boy gets beaten. Another young boy gets sentenced to three months at a juvenile detention facility. The school does nothing to change its policies. They ought to be ashamed.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, who is representing Zachary Huston, that Unioto High School freshman who was attacked by classmate Levi Sever last month because he is openly gay, has threatened to sue the Union-Scioto school district unless officials meet with the ACLU to discuss ways to curb bullying. Which begs the question, why does it take the threat of a lawsuit to protect students, any students, from being bullied?
James Hardiman, legal director for the ACLU of Ohiohopes to resolve the situation by way of an informal meeting with Union-Scioto Superintendent Dwight Garrett and Unioto High School Principal Jim Osborne rather than through legal action: "We have reached out to the school to make certain they understand and appreciate what we're trying to accomplish. We will not hesitate, however, if a response is not forthcoming, to take appropriate legal action."
Dwight Garrett said he had received the letter, and forwarded it to the district's attorneys, but declined to give further comment.
Hardiman said Zachary Huston endured repeated incidents of verbal and physical bullying long before the videotaped attack with no action from school officials: "Zach was pushed. Expletives were directed toward him. His mother reported this to school officials. Nothing was done. After a period of time, it became an exercise in futility."
This is where i get angry. If a student is bullied and no one knows about it--because the aggressor and the victim says nothing--then nothing can happen. But when the victim, or the victim's parent reports it to the school, or when it is recorded on a cell phone and posted online, how can the school possibly justify doing nothing?
One of the saddest aspects in all this, is that Union-Scioto school district has an anti-bullying policy in place, but they have, obviously, failed to enforce it. And, according to Huston and the ACLU, are still failing to do anything.
Since Zachary Huston returned to school, he has faced taunts from other students and some indifference on the part of certain educators. Even Zachary acknowledges, "I feel a little scared, but I feel like if I don't go back, then I let them get to me."
Will it take another beating, another kid being shoved, for the school district to acknowledge the problem and actually do something?
Levi Sever, the 15-year-old boy who attacked Huston, has not been back to school since the incident, and, just last week, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge. The judge in the case ordered the teen to wear an ankle monitor and check in with a probation officer twice a week. The case will be adjudicated sometime in the next month.
And I feel bad for that young boy, too. Had Zachary's complaints of being taunted been investigated, had his mother's concerns been addressed, then maybe a fifteen-year-old boy wouldn't be wearing an ankle monitor and facing a court trial.
If someone had just listened the very first time Zachary Huston said he was being bullied, none of this would have happened. Those two boys would be at school, living their lives as they hoped.
Levi Sever has been identified as the 15-year-old assailant of a gay student, now identified as Zachary Huston, at Unioto High School. And now, Levi Sever is being charged with a delinquency count of assault. Sever will appear in juvenile court later today to answer the charge.
Levi Sever is accused of assaulting Zachary Huston at the high school two weeks ago, while his cousin videotaped the attack, and then posted the footage online.
The case gained national attention when the video went viral and shocked many people who watched as Zachary was attacked by Levi Sever and other students simply stood by and did nothing to help. In light of that videotaped beating, more than 6,000 people joined a campaign on Change.org to urge the Union-Scioto school district in Ross County to change its anti-bullying policy to address sexual orientation and gender identity, and the district’s Facebook page was overrun with comments from people who object to the district’s handling of the incident.
According to a sheriff’s office report, deputies were called to Unioto High School after a Levi Sever repeatedly punched Zachary Huston, and then threw him to the ground. Another student, as yet unidentified, though she is said to be Levi Sever's cousin, made a cell-phone video of the attack.
Rebecca Collins, Zachary's mother, told investigators that the attack is “a hate crime” because her son is gay; she provided numerous Facebook messages that had been posted about her son before the attack..
The school principal, who says he spoke to witnesses after the attack, claims no one heard any anti-gay slurs during the attack, but should we believe these "witnesses" who stood by and watched a fellow student being brutalized, and said and did nothing, to help?
Union-Scioto schools Superintendent Dwight Garrett said his district has a zero-tolerance approach toward any form of harassment: “We had a bad situation happen. We’re doing the best we can. We want all children to be protected. There’s a problem nationwide with things like this.”
We're not talking about the nation, right now, Mr. Garrett. We're talking about a school in your district.
And when you say you're doing the best you can, then how do you explain that Zachary's mother had previously reported what she called nonphysical bullying of her son and nothing seemed to have come of that? And how do you explain a "three day suspension" for beating another student? And how do you explain your "revisiting" that suspension in the days following the attack? Garrett declined to detail what suspension or punishment the student received.
This was a failure on all levels to protect a child, any child, and should not be allowed to happen ever again. Anywhere.