Garrick Moritz and Carrie Moritz, Gazette
Recent outcries on Facebook and a news piece on Dakota News Now highlight that the discussion on bullying in the Garretson School has not yet been resolved. The community trust and morale is still low, more than a year after the Gazette initially broke stories on this topic in April 2024.
At that time, the Gazette outlined the experiences of two sets of parents who felt their children's issues with bullies were not being properly taken care of, to the point where they pulled their children from the school district. While immediate results were not expected, it was hoped that by bringing the issue to light, that instances would reduce, or communication between parents and the school could increase.
The discussion on bullying started on Garretson's public Facebook group, Garretson Living, just before April 24th and escalated, not only within the original post, but in subsequent posts.
Several parents accused the school of hiding bullying issues and not taking care of them. A story on Dakota News Now highlighting the stories of several parents was then released on April 30, stating that parents were asking for help with school bullying concerns.
The DNN story featured Sierra Maack, an anonymous parent, and Joni Heggen.
Heggen's son was expelled for a semester after an airsoft pistol was removed from his truck by friends on school property, but Heggen felt her child was bullied by administrators after the event the next morning. (Heggen's son was allowed back in school this past January after the school board lifted his expulsion.)
In the DNN story, Maack pointed out that her daughter was being bullied through actions and words, and she didn't feel anyone was taking her complaints seriously.
The anonymous mother said she went to the school board, who asked her to speak to the superintendent. She said that it never went further than that. (The Gazette was in attendance at a school board meeting last fall where a family complained their child was being bullied, and said they felt no steps had been taken to mitigate it by the administration. The board had asked the family to speak to the superintendent.)
Kaci Danforth, a GHS graduate, posted her story on Garretson Living.
"I went to that school and it was the worst time of my life. I was treated like absolute s*** [redacted]. My anxiety was uncontrollable there and for good reason. Other kids told me I was worthless and I was not meant to be alive. Those kids told me I’d be better off gone. Nothing ever got done about it.
"Rumors etc. S*** [redacted] that was never true was talked about. I can tell you easily my future kids will never step foot in that school. I may have LIFELONG issues with making friends now but I’ll be damned if my future kids ever get treated like that. There’s good reason I never go to garretson [sic] anymore. Thank god I graduated and am an adult now."
A final story came from Emily Bossman, an administrator on Garretson Living, who has her own bullying story to tell. She had approved, then subsequently deleted, an original anonymous post without consulting the rest of the moderating team.
She pulled her daughter from the school last fall after the eighth grader had developed stress-induced seizures related to constant teasing and slurs from classmates because she chose to dress differently, Bossman said.
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