PORT ARTHUR, Texas — The mother of a Port Arthur Independent School District student wants more done after she says her son was assaulted by another student at a football game.
"My son was assaulted by a classmate, a female student," Brittney Castillo, parent of a Port Arthur ISD student, said.
Castillo son is an eighth grader at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. She claims her son was caught up in a September 2, 2022 fight at a football game.
District officials said the fight involved eight students. Castillo said her son was assaulted, and the girl responsible was let off the hook.
"I felt like this happened at a school function,” Castillo said. “The child should have been disciplined in some way, received some kind of consequences you know."
Castillo feels the district could have done more to discipline the attacker.
Fights such as those have the district making changes. Starting Friday, September 16, 2022, the Port Arthur ISD will require all elementary and middle school-aged children to be accompanied by an adult at any district-sponsored event.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Porterie announced the new student-parent policy in a letter saying in part, “all elementary and middle school aged students attending athletic or any other events, whether they are enrolled in PAISD or not, must be accompanied by an adult parent or guardian ”
Along with parent supervision, police plan to monitor spots where students loiter. Port Arthur ISD plans to add staff and police to areas of concern.
The new policy also states in part, “any student who is deemed an unaccompanied elementary or middle school-aged child will be held at the athletic office until a parent or responsible adult arrives to retrieve him/her.”
District officials want to make campuses and school facilities safe for students.
"We try to make everything we do as safe as possible, so this is an added security measure," Adrienne Lott, Port Arthur ISD media specialist, said. “Some kids do loiter, when they are unsupervised, and it's an added safety measure to have parents actually supervise children. Because the district, we are not babysitters when parents are dropping their kids off and picking them up."
The district hopes the new policy will help prevent fights in the first place.
Despite the new rules and regulations, some parents are still concerned about fighting and want district officials to hold those involved in fights responsible.
“I mean it's, like I said, there was parents there and still things got out of hand," Castillo said.