Central Coast father speaking out about bullying claims

A Central Coast father is speaking out about bullying at his daughter’s school.

Francisco Duran told KION his 13-year-old daughter is being bullied at Los Arboles Middle School in Marina, and he said he has two videos that have him worried for his daughter’s safety.

Duran said one girl in particular has bullied his daughter since the beginning of the school year.

A video posted on Snapchat shows the bully appearing to harass his daughter.

“The girl threw water at my daughter and then threw the water bottle at her and hit her, struck her in the face,” said Duran.

He said his daughter usually loves going to the Teen Center after school in Marina, but that has all changed after he learned she was being bullied.

“Today, she called me and told me she didn’t want to go to the teen center,” said Duran. “That made me feel bad because she feels that she can’t go nowhere now
because she’s scared of these girls bullying her or beating her up.”

In another Snapchat video posted a week after the water bottle incident, he said the same bully is shown holding what appears to be a pistol and showing it off to the camera.

“I don’t know if it’s for my daughter, but from what she did to my daughter a week ago and now she’s pulling up with a video like this, I’m putting two
and two together,” said Duran. “Hopefully it’s not towards my daughter, but still, if she is doing this, you need to find out if it’s a real gun or a fake gun.”

The Marina Police Department said they can’t tell if the gun video is related to the bullying. No arrests or citations were made since no crime was committed.

The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District told KION they are aware of the case and take the safety and well-being of their students as top priorities.

“MPUSD takes all reports of bullying seriously, and acts swiftly and appropriately. Due to student confidentiality, we are unable to provide specific actions/consequences (with regard to the incident you are inquiring),” said Marci McFadden, a spokesperson for the district, in an email sent to KION.

According to Duran, the bully was suspended from school for five days, but that now she is back. And Duran still wants more to be done.

“I just hope to resolve this problem. I don’t want no other kid getting bullied by anybody, specially not this girl,” he said. “But with a girl carrying a gun
or showing off that she can get a gun, doesn’t matter if it’s real or fake, we want to make sure it’s a fake gun.”

Marina police say their investigation has determined there is no threat to students, the school or community members.