Jacob Salinas, 12, is a straight "A" student at Lasara Junior High School.
He has hopes of pursuing a career in law enforcement someday, but Salinas said he struggles everyday at school.
"He keeps on telling me stuff, he mocks m,” Salinas said about a classmate. "I don’t know what I did wrong. I just want to be a normal kid."
Salinas said one of his classmates, a former friend, has been bullying him since the beginning of the school year. He's been able to ignore the teasing, finger pointing and name calling until now.
"I just keep on doing my work, not bothering anybody but it still hurts,” the seventh grader said.
For Ruby Salinas, her son's tears are too much to bear. She said she feels helpless and has spoken to the school principal and the superintendent, but said they have dismissed the severity of the issue.
"There is a problem that is occurring and he told me, or he told my son - he literally looked at my son and told my son for him to man-up and take care of the situation himself,” Salinas said.
The person Salinas is referring to is Lasara Independent School District Superintendent Rolando Peña. He would not give Action 4 News an on-camera interview because he said the Call 4 Action is frivolous.
Peña also said that Jacob Salinas and the alleged bully are best of friends, and that he and his staff have not seen any evidence of bullying.
Peña then said the issue Ruby Salinas brought up, is not a bullying case. The superintendent said students need to learn how to handle peer pressure on their own because it's just part of “growing-up.”
The concerned mother met with Peña and recorded their conversation.
"You have to teach Jacob what life is about,” Peña allegedly said in the recorded conversation.
“I know what life's about,” Salinas responded.
“You can't be in every point with Jacob - you can’t," Peña continued.
Salinas said her son is reaching-out for help and she's stepping-in before it's too late because she has seen the anguish it’s caused her son already.
"I feel like mad because the school didn’t help me,” Jacob Salinas said. “And I don’t want to mess-up my life for him getting happy or mad or anything - but it's been like that."
Peña said LISD had done all it could to accommodate the Salinas family and even had the alleged bully moved to a different classroom.
Ruby Salinas said she has already filed police reports about the case and will continue to protect her son if the school district refuses to do so.
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