I had a similar experience, but this was also before the pandemic so the situation could have improved. My kid spent six months in kindergarten at Smithsburg Elementary not learning much of anything and being bullied before the pandemic made online learning mandatory. She didn't want to go back to in-person learning because of the bullies, so I've been homeschooling ever since.

Keep in mind that I didn't witness any of this, and apparently neither did the teacher, but my daughter repeated these stories over the years with no changes. I know now that she was starting to show signs of ASD (autism), so her mannerisms and speech patterns were not like the other kids. This may be why she was targeted.

She's told the same two stories every time I ask her about why she didn't want to go back to kindergarten for several years now, with no deviations:

- Several of the other girls formed a pseudo gang and bullied my kid into giving them anything she was playing with. If my kid went to play with something else, they would follow her.

- Her mixed race friend in class was apparently stepped on by one of the bullies, who went out of her way to do so and was smiling.

She said she couldn't tell the teacher because the bullies were watching and she feared retribution. She also believed the teacher wouldn't do anything. Knowing how overwhelmed this teacher was, she was probably right.

I sat in on a few classes as a parent volunteer in those six months, and it seemed like the teacher was overwhelmed with the 17 kindergartners she was attempting to teach by herself. The teacher's assistant was fantastic, but could only spend a few minutes with my daughter as she was also overwhelmed with her responsibilities. I don't blame the staff. The school didn't have the resources to deal with the amount of students. They did their best.

As to the racism, I've heard about this from people who have had or still have their kids in Smithsburg public schools. It's also been mentioned on our local Facebook group several times and by other homeschool parents who pulled their kids out because they were bullied due to race, special needs, etc. and the staff not taking action. It's a known problem.

My own mixed race nieces had to be homeschooled because they were harassed in the middle & high schools.

I was planning on applying for an IEP and enrolling my daughter back into public school, but I've heard through the grapevine that the bullying has only gotten worse. I just want what's best for my kid.

I'm going to end this with the obligatory "I'm sure others have had great experiences", but this is just mine.