5th-grader to school board: 'I have been threatened to get shot in the head by an AK-47'
"Delanie Marcotte."
When she heard her name called, New Hampshire school girl Delanie Marcotte stood up in the audience at the Timberlane Regional School Board meeting last week and took a seat at a table in front of school officials.
"How are you? What are you here to talk to us about?" one of the board members asked her, as seen on the school district's livestream of the meeting.
Delanie smoothed out a piece of paper on the table in front of her and read a statement that has been heard by more than 40,000 people on her dad's Facebook page alone.
Someone at school, she was about to tell the school board, threatened to shoot her in the head.
She identified herself as a fifth-grader at Pollard Elementary School in Plaistow.
“I am here to talk about a problem that means a lot to me — bullying," Delanie said, her voice beginning to shake. "Bullying is a problem in our school. I am a victim of it.
"My parents have contacted the school about it, but it continues. It happened to me and my classmates. I have been asked by the mother of my bully during a school field trip why I tried to get her son in trouble.
"I have been threatened to get shot in the head by an AK-47 and buried in my back yard and many other things. I ask you what are you going to do to protect me and my classmates against bullying. I am here to stand up for every kid that gets bullied.”
She raised her head and looked directly at the board members.
A couple of them spoke.
"Very proud of you for coming."
"Thank you."
The board members and people in the small audience applauded.
Then the board went on about its business.
"This took courage," Todd Marcotte, Delanie's father, said on Facebook.
“Quite frankly, she is doing something that I would have never had the guts to do, being bullied myself in high school," Delanie's mother, Amy Marcotte, said in a statement to WMUR in Manchester, New Hampshire. "We stand by her 100 percent and will do whatever it takes to protect our child."
What Delanie's statement didn't say is that the bullying has gone on for months, according to NBC 10 in Boston, which spoke to Delanie and her family Sunday.
"I wanted to let them know I was getting bullied and that I didn't want it to happen anymore. They kick me and they say mean things, call me names — it is not nice," Delanie told NBC 10.
Her father told the NBC station that it's been "very hard to watch your child get bullied, hear about it day in and day out, and you do get very aggravated. It's an issue, and it's an issue that has to be addressed."
CBS Boston reached out to Timberlane Regional School District Superintendent Earl Metzler for comment Monday. In a statement given to several media outlets, Metzler said the district stands behind all students and they're encouraged to speak up if someone is making them uncomfortable.
People commenting on Todd Marcotte's Facebook page had more to say.
"Todd your video went viral and as a teacher and a mother from Chicago, I stand with your daughter and I don’t tolerate or accept bullying," wrote one woman. "I hope her words rattle society and I hope her stand breaks the walls down."
"Way to be brave Delaney," wrote another woman. "It is not easy to be the one who stands up and says enough! I wish you luck and hope your community will see the need to do more to address this problem in your school."
Metzler told NBC 10 that there are many "vehicles at Timberlane to share your concerns including, but not limited to, the public comment portion of our school board agenda."
He told CBS in Boston that Delanie's report of bullying now has the district's "undivided attention."
This story was originally published June 11, 2018 at 12:24 PM with the headline "5th-grader to school board: 'I have been threatened to get shot in the head by an AK-47'."