INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Public Schools board met Thursday night for the second time since FOX59/CBS4's reporting brought to light a disturbing video last week that was recorded by a former teacher showing a student with special needs being beaten up by a classmate.
"It's taken a mother suing the district, having her little boy's trauma out for the world to see, an online petition, families speaking to the media, et cetera – to get to this point," one parent said during public comment at Thursday's meeting.
Board commissioners heard several emotional pleas for change at the school and district level. The video has been the subject of a lawsuit against IPS and recently, an IMPD investigation. It's had parents, like one who sent a written comment to the board, asking questions like: "Why were the parents of children affected not promptly informed?"
"Someone, in my opinion, made the decision not to inform our parents and all of the teachers that a teacher was leading his own personal fight club in a lower elementary classroom," another parent said during the public comment.
"We are in a crisis, and our families are really disappointed in the lack of communication," another parent shared.
Some parents called for the removal of administrators at George Washington Carver Montessori School 87, where the video was filmed by former teacher Julious Johnican who was allegedly urging the students to fight. Many also asked for mental health support for the students who were in that class, transparency moving forward and reassurance.
"What can you guys ensure that this won't happen again, or that it's currently not happening at a school right now?" One parent asked.
Early on in the meeting, Commissioner Kenneth Allen acknowledged the situation.
"I'm proud of our board leadership, district leadership… who are working cohesively and have taken swift action to review our protocols around reporting incidents of abuse within our district schools," Allen said.
The video was taken last fall, but it wasn't until FOX59/CBS4's reporting made it public that the district took any action to review its protocols. District officials said they contacted DCS when they were first made aware of it, per protocol.
IPS Police did not investigate. In a recorded statement on Wednesday, a week after FOX59/CBS4 broke the story, Superintendent Dr. Aleesia Johnson laid out the steps IPS would be taking moving forward, including using an external partner to look into the incident and school culture at George Washington Carver 87, reviewing the aforementioned protocols and creating a student safety task force.
"We have 20 days left of school. Trust will take more than 20 days to rebuild," a parent said Thursday.
After all members of the public had their voices heard, the board introduced a resolution to create a mental health and school culture task force, which reads: "We recognize that there is pain and lack of confidence in some spaces and healing is imperative."
Neither IMPD nor the prosecutor's office had an update to share this week on the investigation into this incident.