ORANGE PARK, Fla. — An Orange Park student is recovering after his father says a school bullying incident landed him in the hospital.
Now Jason Van Duyn wants answers from Clay County School District leaders.
Sixteen-year-old Ethan Van Duyn spent almost a week in the intensive care unit, suffering brain bleeds, a fractured skull, and hearing loss. His family says they've all suffered since one of Ethan’s classmates started a fight with him in a school bathroom about three weeks ago.
Jason Van Duyn says a classmate texted Ethan to meet him in the bathroom. That’s when he says the student attacked his son, who fought back. He says Ethan and his siblings are now being home schooled.
“He’s a senior next year and I’d hate to have him be home schooled on his senior year,” Van Duyn said. “You know, he loves to play sports. He wants to experience the proms and other things, and he can’t do that now.”
According to Van Duyn, the kids were posting videos to an Instagram account, which has since been removed, of students fighting.
“It’s almost counter-intuitive to education if the kids are so worried about what’s going to happen to them when they’re in school,” Van Duyn said. “How can you learn if you’re so nervous or worried about ‘if I need to go to the bathroom, if somebody’s going to jump on me in the bathroom?’”
In a statement, a Clay County Schools District spokesperson said: “The District is aware of the incident at Ridgeview High School. Clay County District Schools Police Department is investigating this specific incident and disciplinary action has occurred in accordance with our student code of conduct.”
According to the district, the case has been turned over to the state attorney’s office for recommended charges.
Edward Spade, a licensed clinical social worker at The LJD Jewish Family & Community Services, said the best way to keep your children from engaging in behavior like this on social media is simply to talk to them.
“Find out who their friends are,” Spade said. “Find out what their interests are. Find out what they’re doing with their social media accounts. What are they posting?”
He also says it’s important for parents to teach their kids responsibility and educate them on the legal consequences of taking or posting videos like this.
“Children don’t truly understand all of that,” Spade said, “so parents educating themselves and as to liability issues and then talking to their children about what could happen from things like this.”
You can contribute to the GoFundMe for Ethan’s medical bills here.