After his numerous attempts to confront Aalliyah's teacher and principal about the bullying, the school transferred her to another class, he said.
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman acknowledged that the process for parents to get answers about their kids, and the way schools respond, must be re-examined.
"On the surface, it looks fine, but underneath, the system is very, very broken," she said in an interview last month.
She said she plans to incorporate customer-service training for front-office staff and to open parent-resource centers next year where parents can take their complaints to the district.
Teachers will also receive additional training in classroom management, Spence, of the office of school operations, said.
But it's not enough, Brake said. He insisted that the district should get serious about holding school staff accountable.
"If teachers are allowing this [bullying] to continue, they need to be reprimanded," he said. "They're always pointing at the home when something's wrong, but not when something's going on at the school."
