Mom says teachers are bullying son at high school

SELMER, Tenn. — A McNairy County mom says she has had enough.

“It’s not peer-on-peer bullying. It’s teacher-on-student bullying,” Tiffney Penley said.

Penley says her 10th grade son at McNairy Central High School is getting bullied, not by students but, she says, by the teachers.

“One of the administrators told him he looked like a drug dealer and that he looked like he was on drugs,” Penley said.

Penley says that wasn’t the only comment made to her child.

“I hope these teachers are held accountable for their actions,” Penley said.

In fact Penley filed a report with the McNairy County Sheriff’s Department. In it she says the teachers said “You get on my d*** nerves and make me want to start smoking, dipping and drinking. You’re a walking chaos.”

In the report she says another teacher said “You’re making yourself look like an a** and I can talk about how ugly you are all day if I wanted to.”

“If my child does something and they punish them, then that’s fine. If a teacher does something, then they should be punished in the same sense,” Penley said.

She admits her child has had some issues at school, but she says that’s no excuse for the teachers’ behavior.

“They say it’s been all year, but it has not been all year. He’s only had two write-ups the first part of the year and has had 12 this second semester,” Penley said.

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News reached out to the director of schools Thursday morning, who sent this response: “The McNairy County Board of Education takes parental concerns such as this very seriously, but we do not comment on matters concerning school personnel and ongoing investigations.”

Penley plans to address her concerns at the school board meeting Thursday evening and hopes teachers in the district “get it together.”

“If you don’t have any compassion toward your students than to sit and cuss at them, then you should reconsider your idea,” Penley said.

Penley said the principal did not allow her son to go to class Thursday and said to wait until after the board meeting.

Penley says she plans to home school her son next year.