By John Coy, Chief Investigative Reporter
SEVEN YEAR OLD BOY CHOKED ON SCHOOL BUS
“…it was simply horseplay…” is what Wendy Estes reports was told to her by Carthage R9 school officials in response to the mother’s concerns about an incident she alleges took place aboard an R9 school bus. Her seven year old son Austin suffered through what the mother states was almost 30 minutes of being choked by another student who wanted little Austin’s seat.
According to Miss Estes, school district officials also informed her that she is not allowed to view any footage of the attack happening because of the other students on the bus. When Austin arrived home from school that day, his voice was very raspy. He also had red marks around his throat.
“Simply horseplay.”
A young boy is likely traumatized for God knows how long and the mother gets a “boys will be boys” like response from school officials.
“Simply horseplay.”
A mother loses trust in the very institution who is commissioned to assure her child’s safety while he is in their “care.” And she is given a message indicating her child is basically expendable.
“Simply horseplay.”
A bully is given the impression that he can choke a little boy out and suffer no consequences.
“Simply horseplay.”
What if there are medical costs incurred? Who is going to pay for that when the school district officials plea it out to a game of musical chairs gone bad?
“Simply horseplay.”
Tell that to the young boy who was beat senseless less than two weeks ago at a Carterville bus stop. That perpetrator was taken into custody. The victim required surgery.
If indeed these allegations pan out, then to put it mildly…this is crap. If we can’t trust that when our children climb aboard the big yellow Lord of the Flies roller derby, that they will be safe; then we are doomed. Our entire being will be consumed with fear that some smelly “big kid” is choking the life out of our little one.
Try functioning in that reality.
Joseph Johnson contributed to this story.
Some of the content of this story was gleaned from Facebook.
"Rebellious Lovers" 
My son attended Carthage schools for 8 years and was horribly bullied. We ended up moving to Joplin in hopes of a fresh start and new beginnings only to have the bullying start back up just as bad if not worse. I GIVE UP ON PUBLIC SCHOOLS and starting homeschooling my son 3 weeks ago. It is absolutely pathetic that there arent harsher punishments for these bullies. The physical and mental damage these poor kids go through will last a lifetime. No excuse. Wake up schools…..
I am so sorry to hear about your son’s trials. Bullying is becoming an issue of epic proportion. I am uncertain what it will take to stop this behavior. I am afraid that a tragedy is looming.
I too had a son that was in the Carthage schools and was being bullied at school!! He was also bullied on the bus, I now live in Sarcoxie and homeschool all of my boys. The bullying has to stop!!!!
Agreed!!!
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Seriously??? Since you cite “Facebook” as your source, one has to wonder if this isn’t just the rantings of disgruntled person. Since “Facebook” is a platform where anyone can spew nonsense about anything they please, it hardly seems like a credible source.
Thank you for your comment. Facebook was not cited specifically as a “source”. The story states that “Some of the content of this story was gleaned from Facebook.” Specifically, the part about the teen in Webb City who was assaulted, which was featured in a KOAM-TV news story as well. In addition, independent research verified that “an incident” took place. If you read the story carefully, you will see that the story is based on the mother’s allegations, and nothing in the story indicates fact. That stated, the most damning part of the story, which was independently verified, is that the school district did indeed refer to the incident as “horse play” when the mother reported. If you have any other information or details regarding the incident, we would love to hear them. This story is far from over. Thank you-Frank Manning, Editor.
It is agreed that it is the responsibility to teach their children not to bully lies with the parent. BUT the problem with that is that it is NOT happening or that is where they are learning the behavior. I am a former teacher at Carthage and i stopped bullying hundreds of times in the 6 years I taught. The problem is that the bullying is happening at school, on the bus and at the bus stops. This means that while they are in your care they are being abused and this is not acceptable! That is why the schools need to bond with the community to stand up to bullying. We are trying to get the community involved with the schools to educate all students and parents on how we can prevent this problem. I started a Facebook page called Stand up to Bullying/kimhouse1965. It is not there to slam the schools it is there to help get out awareness that bullying has become a major problem in our society and that children are taking their own lives because of bullying. Folks we can bury our heads in the sand and say it is not our responsibility to fix or we can come together as a community and try our best to fix this problem. It is time for us to do something!
Thank you for your comment. Bullying has been around, well in one form or another, forever. Lately though we are seeing actual assaults, which takes bullying to a new level. I agree that the responsibility to curb the violence is complicated and takes a joint effort. One of our writers, Joseph Johnson is writing a multi-part special report on bullying. Part One is up now. We intend to check out your Facebook group and pass it along to others, if that is OK with you. Again, thank you for your input.-Frank Manning, Editor.
That is sad! And she can’t watch the videos?!? Stupid Carthage!