SEVASTOPOL, WI -- Two Sevastopol students face juvenile referrals for disorderly conduct after a special needs student was "significantly bullied" on Dec. 1 in the boys' high school locker room, according to a Door County Sheriff's Office incident report.
The incident was recorded by a sophomore boy using SnapChat and briefly posted online, according to the report. The students in the video are "primarily junior varsity basketball players," the report says.
The video shows the special needs student being pushed into a locker, laughed at, having clothing items taken from him, a table pushed into him and a toilet plunger shoved at him. The video ends with an image of the name "Lennie" entered under the student's face as "an apparent reference to the character in the novel 'Of Mice and Men' who is also special needs," according to the incident report.
The special needs student showed Door County Sheriff's Investigator Chris Neuville a bruise on the inside of his right elbow from when he was pushed into a locker.
investigators say the main physical aggressor in the video is a freshman boy. They add that a 16-year-old boy is the one who initially filmed the incident.
The boys have been described as "remorseful" in the report, and were unable to explain why they allegedly harassed the victim.
"We have no tolerance for bullying," says Sevastopol District Superintendent Linda Underwood, explaining what she could about the proceeding investigation into the incident, which officially started the morning after students notified faculty of the incident.
Investigators have interviewed the victim, his family, and the two students allegedly most involved in the incident, along with their parents. All parents have now seen the video, which was difficult to watch for the parents of the victim, the report says.
Superintendent Underwood says faculty is always supervising students, but students are expected to obey the rules while on school grounds after hours.
"That doesn't always happen," she adds.
As the investigation continues, Underwood says part of moving forward for students, parents, and staff is working with each group to help stop bullying, and speak out immediately when seeing it.
"That's part of the long conversations that we have with students and parents," says Underwood.
The two teens were dismissed from the basketball team and suspended from school for five days, according to the report, which also said the boys may face expulsion.
It's up to the D.A. whether charges will be sought in this case.
