Fifth-Grader Says 'It Was Very Hard' Speaking Out About Bullying During School Board Meeting

"What are you going to do to protect me and my classmates against bullying?" a New Hampshire fifth-grader pleaded in a speech addressed to her school board.

Delanie Marcotte, 11, read a speech she prepared for an eight-person panel during the Timberlane Regional School District School Board Meeting last week.

She even discussed an incident where she said she was "threatened to get shot in the head by an AK-47 and buried in my backyard."

"At first, I thought maybe it was a joke," her mom, Amy Marcotte, told InsideEdition.com. "Kids are kids, making up a song to be funny, but at the same time — in this day and age with school shootings and everything that happens — how can you not take something like that seriously?"

Marcotte explained her daughter comes home with new stories of her torment nearly every day.

"At first, it was, 'He’s just poking fun. He’s just being mean. You know, ignore him and he’ll go away, he’ll stop,'" Marcotte said.

But she realized it was more serious than kids teasing her daughter when Delanie came home one day, and said a group of classmates started singing a song about shooting her with an AK-47, burying her in her backyard, and making sure no one would find the body.

“It kind of gradually got to the point where we finally had to go in [and talk to the teachers],'" she said. "We get that they’re [kids]. I’m sure in their mind they thought it was funny and they thought it was a joke, but it’s not funny."

Marcotte explained that they have been in numerous talks with the teachers and administration, who insisted they were doing something to fix the problem.

Yet, Delanie continues to be the target of school bullies, and said in her speech that she was even approached by a parent of one of the bullies, and asked why she wanted "to get her son in trouble."

"To confront her and say something like that, I thought it was terrible, I thought it was immature,” Marcotte said. "If this was my kid doing this to someone else, as a mom, I would reach out. 'What can I do to stop this?' 'What can we do to get the kids [to stop] acting like this?' or ‘I’m sorry.'"

Delanie explained that even although her dad was actually scheduled to speak during the school board meeting, she decided at the last minute that she would read the speech herself.

“I said that I wanted to do it, so it wasn’t someone speaking for me," Delanie said. "It was like me speaking for myself. It felt nice, but it was very hard."

Since Delanie made her heartfelt speech, Marcotte said she has been meeting with principals and administration to discuss how to address bullying.

The Timberlane School Board has since released a statement:

"At their June 7^th board meeting, the Timberlane Regional School Board received a report of alleged bullying at one of the district elementary schools.  The matter was immediately forwarded to District administrators and is currently under review by way of the established process for addressing bullying complaints, as defined by state law and school district policy. The Superintendent is also monitoring the process.

This notice is to inform Timberlane parents as well as members of the public that the School Board, the Superintendent of Schools, and District administrators take reports of bullying seriously. The District is committed to promoting anti-bullying preventative strategies to ensure that each student is provided a safe learning environment and, to that end, has sponsored numerous anti-bullying initiatives.  Staff members undergo anti-bullying training, student receive instruction on anti-bullying, and community awareness measures are undertaken as evidenced by a recent anti-bulling presentation by the Timberlane Parents Advisory Forum (https://vimeo.com/263036543)."

Calls to the school by InsideEdition.com for comment have not yet been returned.

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