‘The hardest thing in the world as a parent’: Parents allege bullying by Forestbrook Middle School administrators

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - Current and former Horry County parents have joined together to demand a change in school administration, claiming the same administrators have been targeting students for years.

“What I saw my son go through was the hardest thing in the world as a parent,” said Edward Peddell, whose son goes to Forestbrook Middle School.

Peddell claims his son is on a 504 plan for impulsive actions, but was kicked off the Forestbrook Middle School football team after just one infraction.

After he said his son had been targeted multiple times, he made a post on Facebook, and found several other parents had had similar issues, many with what they claim is administrators targeting more vulnerable students.

“The school administrators caused so much emotional and psychological harm that my son had a fear of going to high school. I eventually had to have him medically removed and homebound to complete his schooling,” said one parent during Monday night’s Horry County School Board meeting.

Some parents claimed the damaging actions also included coercion.

“Administrators would coerce [my son] to write statements using words he didn’t understand, tell him what to write on his statements, and have witnesses revise their statements and use my son’s disability to pin incidents on him,” said another parent.

Peddell said although the parent group could take further action, all they want is a “complete administrative leadership change” at the school and a better environment for their kids.

“When you have a child that comes home and breaks down because they don’t want to go to school, or they’re questioning everything that you’ve built up as a parent...their self-esteem, their confidence, and to have a person in authority come and do that, it affects an entire family,” said Peddell.

A spokesperson for Horry County Schools provided the following statement to WMBF News after parents' comments at the board meeting Tuesday

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