Parents say there’s a culture of bullying at Charlotte Catholic High School

CHARLOTTE — Channel 9 is investigating accusations of a culture of bullying at Charlotte Catholic High School.

Last week, the south Charlotte school said it was investigating bullying allegations on campus. But now, Channel 9′s Evan Donovan spoke with a man who said his son was bullied so badly, they pulled him out of school.

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Bullying is not unique to Charlotte Catholic, but Donovan has spoken with the parents of at least a half dozen current and former students concerned about what they called a culture of bullying. Until Tuesday, all of them were afraid to talk on camera because they were afraid their kids would become targets. They were also afraid of retribution.

The father only spoke anonymously because he didn’t want this to happen to any more kids. He described to Donovan some of the comments made to his child at Charlotte Catholic.

“He said, ‘What are you doing here, Mexican?’” and added, “You’re not welcome here.”

After a great experience at Catholic elementary and middle schools, he said his son started getting bullied last year at Charlotte Catholic High School.

“The student bullying him said, ‘Nobody cares [about] you. We have the money to buy your family,’” the dad said.

He says that was last school year, but it continued.

“This year, on the first day of school, he told me the first day he [went] very happy to school,” he said. “When he come home, he come in crying. He say he [was] bullied too much.”

He said a student pushed his son, who he said pushed back and then got confronted in the locker room.

“Same student who bullied him all the time, he said, ‘You touch me again, I’ll kill you,’” the father said.

“He said, ‘Nobody cares if you die here.’”

“He said nobody cares if you die here?” Donovan asked.

“Yeah, he told me something like that. ‘Nobody cares. You’re Mexican,’” the dad said. “And he told me that and he said, ‘I’m not going to school. I don’t care.’ He came and cried and said ‘I’m not going to school no more.’”

The father said he immediately complained to the school but said they didn’t do enough.

“I go on the first day to school and explained to the counselor everything that happened,” he said. “I feel [like] he don’t care. He say[s], ‘Oh, that happen[s] here.’”

He told Donovan what happened next.

“[The counselor] said, ‘No worries, we try to fix it. I want call. I want [an] investigation.’ But my son said he never asked of him what happened.”

The father claimed one of his son’s bullies is a football player. Donovan has heard similar stories from other parents, one of whom sent a video allegedly from last month that involves football players in the locker room.

Last week, Charlotte Catholic said it was investigating three incidents of bullying in the locker room involving football players and had “... already begun to discipline those involved, imposing consequences that have included expulsion, suspension, removal from the football team...”

The family Donovan spoke with pulled their son out of the school months ago, but they’re still dealing with the guilt.

“I feel guilty, you know, because I pushed him [in] going to [that] school,” the dad said. “It’s my fault.”

(WATCH BELOW: Charlotte Catholic High School confirms expulsions, suspensions after locker room bullying)

Charlotte Catholic High School confirms expulsions, suspensions after locker room bullying

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