A special education high school student made an audio recording of a bullying incident and was later threatened with charges of wiretapping.
School administrators agreed to reduce the sentence, and March 19 the student, from South Fayette High School in McDonald, Pa., was charged with disorderly conduct.
The student and his mother, Shea Love, testified in front of District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet that he had been repeatedly shoved and tripped at school, and that a fellow student had even attempted to burn him with a cigarette lighter.
The boy -- who was diagnosed with a comprehension delay disorder, meaning he processes information slower than normal, ADHD and an anxiety disorder -- used his school-approved personal iPad to make a seven-minute audio recording of his math class bullying experience.
When the student showed Love the recording, she was outraged.
The audio file records a student saying, "'You should pull his pants down!' Another student replies, 'No, man. Imagine how bad that (c**t) smells! No one wants to smell that (t**t),'" as the teacher is helping the victim with a math problem, according to benswann.com. One bully even hit him over the head with a book, despite the teacher's previous reprimands.
School officials did not have a problem with the bullied student reporting the episode so much as it saw the situation as an abuse of electronic devices, according to reports. The school's policy for such cases is disciplinary action and/or confiscation of the device pending a conference with the parent.
Principal Scott Milburn told the student to erase the recording, and called South Fayette Township police Lieutenant Robert Kurta, who decided to treat the case as a crime, to the school to interrogate Love's son.
But the boy does not see it that way.
"I just think that it wasn't really right. Like, I'm getting prosecuted for trying to seek help...If I had known it was illegal, I wouldn't have done it," he said.
The 15-year-old plans to appeal the conviction. His next court date is April 29 in Pittsburgh.
