POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Several Polk County parents are furious about their kids being bullied in school.

Some have even gone as far as to file lawsuits against the Polk County School District, saying that some school’s administrators are to blame.

One mother sent an e-mail, saying: “I hope this e-mail finds the person that can bring about change needed at my child’s school. My biggest concern as a former Bloodhound graduate is the safety of not only my child, but the youth at Auburndale High School. Numerous fights keep occurring and administrators are not visible or respected. THERE NEEDS TO BE A CHANGE!”

Many other parents followed with texts and calls about what they call ‘continued bullying’ at their children’s high school.

Another mother e-mailed, “My daughter was the one being bullied in the videos, but when her school called the police, everyone went — even my daughter. That’s just not right.”

Spectrum News reached out to Polk County School District to inquire about the issues and was told that there had actually been a significant drop in fights at one of the schools in question.

“We evaluate every fight individually and there are many factors we weigh in determining the discipline applied. There is a lot of detailed information about discipline in the PCPS Code of Conduct. All of our high schools have at least one law enforcement officer on campus every day. In most situations, law enforcement officers decide if a student is going to be arrested and/or face criminal charges.”

An official from Polk County School District said from August 2021 through the end of January 2022, Auburndale High School had 1,240 discipline referrals and 23 of those were for fights.

During the same period this school year, AHS had 845 referrals, 18 of which were for fights. Officials also said enrollment at AHS is also up more than 120 students from the 2021-22 school year.

Still, even with number of fights down at this particular high school, parents say the violence amongst the students in general is getting worse.

Long-time youth mentor Chris Ward of the Skills Center spoke about his experience with high schoolers.

“We’ve seen the demographics change,” said Ward. “We’ve seen the change in kids, we’ve seen the change in parents, just like our parents would say growing up, ‘You’re so much different than we are.’”

Ward has been working with kids in the Tampa Bay and Polk County area for over 25 years. He said he’s seen a lot of changes, but one thing that remains the same, he said, is the power of accountability.

“Parents need to hold their kids accountable,” said Ward. “There’s a big separation between being an authoritative figure and a friend. Some of the things that are happening to the kids that are bullied, the suicide rate is going up amongst these kids. How would you feel if you had that on your hands?”

Local groups in Polk County are stepping in to see how they can assist the district and parents with their children experiencing bullying in schools.