NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. — Punches so loud you can hear them on the cellphone video.
Last week, a sixth grade student was attacked by a classmate at Fletcher Middle School in Neptune Beach.
The father of the boy spoke exclusively to the On Your Side Team about his concerns after a video of the incident was posted on social media, along with other school fights.
The video starts 22 seconds before the attack. The classmate of the sixth grade student had him cornered before punching him in the face twice.
“I will have to say that if you watch this video, any type of parent with any type of feelings for children should just be mortified," the student's father said.
The nightmare didn’t stop after the punches were thrown Wednesday.
The video was found by the student’s sister on an Instagram page with more than 200 followers. The page encourages submissions of other videos, stating “Dm me with fletcher fights. I’m gonna give up if Instagram keeps taking down my videos.”
As of Tuesday night, there were three other disturbing videos of students attacking each other posted.
“Here some thug has decided to take my son's innocence and make it his 15 minutes of fame," the student's father explained. "He premeditated this, he knew what he was going to do. He told someone else to videotape it. And as we know, the internet is something that's going to be around forever. This will never go away.”
Duval County Public Schools is aware of the Instagram page, telling First Coast News in a statement, "Whenever we become aware of these types of social media pages, we do contact the platform host to request that the page be removed. Obviously, we have no control over those social media networks, but we do make those requests.”
The student’s father said he is also concerned that he and his wife have had to initiate calls to school administrators and the district to see how they are responding to the attack.
In fact, after he was hit last Wednesday, the student’s father said, his older daughter had found out and went to the office to check on him. She was the one who had called to notify his wife, according to the student's father.
“We shouldn't have to call the school to dig around and get information. In a situation like this, we feel like the school should be on top of it, 'Let's keep these parents informed,'" he said.
"Students who violate the code of conduct are disciplined accordingly," the district said in its statement. "Consequences can include suspension, referral to an alternative center, or the involvement of law enforcement … School leadership followed all district protocols.”
The following is the full statement from the Duval County Public Schools Spokesperson:
"Let me begin by saying that the video is disturbing to watch. As we’ve previously shared, our stance, as always, is that acts of violence on our campuses are unacceptable, and students who violate the Code of Conduct are disciplined accordingly.
Consequences can include suspension, referral to an alternative center, or the involvement of law enforcement.
Student disciplinary information is confidential, and because of those laws, I cannot address your questions about specific disciplinary actions of any student incident.
I can share that school leadership followed all district protocols, including contacting both families when they became aware of the incident. School leadership continues to be available to meet with the families involved to address any additional concerns they may have.
If family members have any further concerns, please let me know, and I will put them in touch with the regional superintendent that oversees the operations of this school.
Also, whenever we become aware of these types of social media pages, we do contact the platform host to request that the page be removed. Obviously, we have no control over those social media networks, but we do make those requests."