15-year-old girl beaten by female student on school bus in St. Martin Parish

ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (KLFY)- The family of a 15-year-old girl says they are hurt and angry after they say she was brutally beaten on a school bus by another female student. The fight happened last Wednesday.

Both students attend St. Martinville Senior High School. In a video sent to News 10, you could see the female student repeatedly punching the 15-year-old girl in the head and shoving her head into the bus window.

"When I first saw the video, I literally had tears in my eyes," said a relative of the 15-year-old girl.

A relative of the 15-year-girl, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the 15-year-old girl has been bullied by the female student since her freshman year. The relative says 15-year-old girl is now a sophomore at St. Martinville Senior High School but is still being bullied by the female student.

The relative says the 15-year-old girl's mother has notified St. Martinville Senior High School multiple times about the bullying.

"The parent has went to the school several times last school year, every time the daughter called and said this girl said she's going to fight me, she's pinning up her hair to fight me, and other children we're around, she called her mom," said the relative.

She says St. Martinville Senior High School has filed a stay-away order for the two female students, but says she is upset they were riding the same school bus.

"The school put in place a stay-away order, well how good is a stay-away order if they're still riding the same bus, and the parents had no knowledge of the stay-away order and what that means, so that's a question that we would like answered," said the relative.

Despite the fight, the 15-year-old girl did not receive any serious injuries, according to the relative.

"She was actually in a seat, she did not kick back, she covered her head and her face the whole time, and we're thankful she did that because the licks could have been very severe to her face and in her hand," said the relative.

The relative says school should be a place for students to learn and grow, not fight.

"Fights on here and there but they're at school for one thing, to get educated," said the relative.

The relative says the family is in the process of filling out a bullying form for the incident.

"I have contacted a bully specialist and the first thing she asked, did you ever fill out a form, so that is now being filled out as we speak," said the relative.

News 10 contacted the St. Martin Parish School Board for comment, and they sent us a statement on the situation.

"We are aware of the recent incident that occurred on one of our school buses. The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority, and we take any incident that compromises that very seriously. We understand the importance of creating a positive and safe environment for all students, both on and off school grounds, and have taken appropriate action to address the incident in accordance with our district policies. Additionally, we will continue to emphasize the importance of respect, conflict resolution, and ensuring that our students understand the expectations we have for their behavior. We ask for your understanding as we work through this matter, and we remain committed to fostering a safe, supportive learning environment for all students".

News 10 also reached out to the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office who says detectives are investigating the fight.