The mother of an Altoona Area sixth grader is speaking out after her daughter was attacked from behind during dismissal Monday afternoon.

A video of the incident has circulated online and shows the victim’s hair being pulled from behind by a female student, who throws the victim to the sidewalk along Seventh Avenue near a school bus and begins striking the victim’s head and neck area.

The video shows the victim standing up, and as the struggle unfolds between the two students, another female student jumps in, grabs the victim’s arm and begins striking her in the back of her neck. As the victim and the first student fall to the ground, the second student continues to strike the victim in the head until a male student interferes to stop the fight, at which point the video clip ends.

Superintendent Brad Hatch said both students who were involved as perpetrators are facing significant school consequences as well as criminal charges, noting safety and security officer Bill Pfeffer has communicated with the families involved.

“The suspects were immediately dealt with on a school discipline level,” Hatch said.

Casey Mabry, the victim’s mother, said her daughter was diagnosed with whiplash and has been in significant pain since the incident. The victim was already in counseling for other traumatic events, and Mabry said she’s hopeful this incident doesn’t exacerbate her daughter’s mental health concerns.

The victim and the second female student who got involved were best friends for multiple years in elementary school, Mabry said, noting she was heartbroken upon hearing what had happened to her daughter at school.

“The school district is failing,” she said, noting her daughter was threatened with a written statement about a month prior.

“To my understanding, there were five similar attacks from these girls on classmates this year,” Mabry said, adding school officials didn’t consider the girls’ pattern of assaulting their peers.

Mabry said her daughter tried to defend herself to the best of her ability.

“Being taken off guard from behind by multiple people in a crowd, grabbed by the hair and ripped backwards made it challenging,” she said.

Mabry said she wanted to thank the male student who stepped in to stop the fight, but district officials wouldn’t give her his name, due to confidentiality.

Hatch said student safety is the district’s No. 1 priority, and it’s important for district officials to have extensive communication with parents.

“Our understanding is that there may have been interaction over social media that might have led up to this potential interaction that we were unaware of until after the fact,” he said.

Having frequent communication between home and school is vital for district officials to be proactive and put preventative measures into place, Hatch said.

“We take those things very seriously,” Hatch said. “It is unacceptable and we will do everything in our power to discipline that behavior.”

Since the incident, Mabry’s daughter has returned to school and enjoys in-person learning, she said.

Mabry said she plans to address the school board of directors at their April 13 meeting and consult with an attorney regarding further action.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.