A 6-year-old boy was hospitalized after his classmates attacked him on an elementary school playground, according to his mother \u2014 who said the school has denied her requests to view the surveillance video. Leslie McLaurin said she spent months alerting administrators at Bronzeville Classical Elementary School about a group of her son\u2019s peers who regularly bullied him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been asking the school for some kind of intervention,\u201d McLaurin said. But on Nov. 21, McLaurin picked up her son from the school, 8 W. Root St., with a swollen face, she said. He told her 10 bullies kicked and punched him on the playground.<\/p>\n
The boy, whom Block Club is not naming because of his age, was hospitalized with a concussion as a \u201cvictim of assault and battery,\u201d according to a doctor\u2019s note reviewed by Block Club. McLaurin filed a police report. The boy was hit \u201cmultiple times\u201d by a \u201cgroup of juvenile offenders,\u201d a police spokesperson said in a statement. An investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n
McLaurin has repeatedly requested footage of the incident involving her son, but administrators have declined, writing in part that her son was the initiator. \u201cVideo footage is for administrative review and is not released for parent viewing due to student privacy regulations and school policy,\u201d administrators wrote to McLaurin, according to emails reviewed by Block Club. \u201cOur security team will preserve any footage available from the playground to the main office.\u201d<\/p>\n
CPS\u2019 Downtown headquarters. Credit:<\/span> Reema Amin\/Chalkbeat<\/span><\/p>\n McLaurin said she only has her son\u2019s word until she sees the footage. \u201cOne person cannot be the aggressor of seven to potentially 10 kids. And my child ends up in the hospital,\u201d McLaurin said. \u201cWhere was the supervision?\u201d Chicago Public Schools did not directly answer questions from Block Club about the incident, including a request for the surveillance footage, referring instead to the district\u2019s anti-bullying policy.<\/p>\n The incident came four days after a mother and her 9-year-old son were attacked by a group of that child\u2019s bullies outside another CPS elementary school in South Deering. Video of the attack drew national outrage. In September, a mother told Block Club she was forced to pull her sixth-grader out of Pershing STEAM Magnet Elementary School in Bronzeville after bullying went ignored for months. In July, a mother sued CPS after her daughter endured two years of racial harassment and bullying at Wildwood IB World Magnet School, accusing the staff of negligence, according to reports.<\/p>\n The incident highlights the ongoing issues with bullying in Chicago Public Schools and the need for more effective measures to prevent such incidents. McLaurin\u2019s fight to view the surveillance footage and ensure her son\u2019s safety is a testament to the challenges faced by parents in navigating the system. The district\u2019s response to the incident and its handling of bullying cases will be crucial in restoring trust and ensuring a safe learning environment for all students.<\/p>\n Introduction to the Incident A 6-year-old boy was hospitalized after his classmates attacked him on an elementary school playground, according to his mother \u2014 who said the school has denied her requests to view the surveillance video. Leslie McLaurin said she spent months alerting administrators at Bronzeville Classical Elementary School about a group of her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bcc-newspack.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Blank-2000-x-1333-2.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,1279&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33309,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33307\/revisions\/33309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Concerns and Reactions<\/h2>\n
Ongoing Issues with Bullying in CPS<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
FAQs<\/h2>\n
\n
\nA: The boy was attacked by his classmates on the playground and hospitalized with a concussion.<\/li>\n
\nA: The mother wants to see the footage to understand what happened and to ensure that her son is safe.<\/li>\n
\nA: The school has declined to release the surveillance footage, citing student privacy regulations and school policy.<\/li>\n
\nA: The incident highlights the ongoing issues with bullying in Chicago Public Schools and the need for more effective measures to prevent such incidents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"