A San Antonio mother is speaking out, claiming years of bullying at the city’s Compass Rose Legacy charter school were not handled appropriately.
A San Antonio mother has drawn community attention after raising concerns about how a local school handles bullying allegations. The most recent incident involved her fifth-grade daughter returning home with chunks of her hair missing.
Andie Rae Castillo said in a social media post earlier this month that her child, who is a student at the charter institution Compass Rose Legacy, has experienced bullying there for the past three years. She also claimed her repeated pleas to school officials have not been appropriately addressed.
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On Friday, October 3, Castillo posted a now-deleted video showing her daughter at a salon and asked TikTok users to help her find the parents of the children who allegedly cut her daughter’s hair while she slept on the bus. MySA reached out to Castillo but did not receive a response.
“I’m so f** done with this bullying,” she captioned the clip. “It’s gone to [sic] f** far now. This is beyond bullying. This is assault. Kids are so cruel and mean. My baby is the sweetest damn kid. She is so nice and sweet to everyone, I don’t understand why anyone would treat my sweet girl this way.”
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In a statement to MySA this week, Compass Rose Legacy said it “immediately launched a thorough investigation” after being notified of the alleged bus incident.
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“After carefully reviewing hours of bus footage and speaking directly with students and staff, we confirmed that false information had been shared,” the school told MySA. “The evidence clearly showed that there was no bullying or misconduct by others.”
Castillo echoed a similar statement in a follow-up video posted on Tuesday, October 7, stating that she and her daughter had met with school officials and were shown footage of the girl cutting her own hair. Both apologized to the principal and others involved. However, Castillo believes the incident highlights a broader pattern of mistreatment occurring at the school.
During the meeting, officials acknowledged knowing her daughter had been bullied for the past three years, she said in a video.
“But school policy is, if it’s one person bullying one kid, that’s when they can address it as bullying,” she said. “If it’s multiple kids, which, her bullying situation has been multiple kids, if it’s multiple kids, they don’t consider it bullying.”
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Castillo continued, “I guess it’s just considered being picked on. And there’s nothing they can do about kids being picked on. Unless it’s one kid on one kid doing something to them, then they can act on it, because then it’s bullying.”
MySA reached out to the school to confirm these allegations, but did not hear back. Castillo said she believed her daughter when told another student had cut her hair because of her history of being bullied.
“I’m always going to believe my daughter when she’s telling me that someone cut her hair, and again with the history, I jumped to the conclusion, I’m 100% admitting that, I jumped the gun, and I went to the police station and I said, ‘I need to make this police report.’”
She said she made the report because the weekend was about to hit, and the school would be closed till Monday. She made the social media post of her daughter’s chopped hair that same day, and it went viral.
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“I had been asking for months and almost the last three years to have conferences with the principals … to talk with the principal, with the teachers about what’s going on,” Castillo said.
When she called the school or sent an email, though, she says she received responses like “‘The principal is in meetings,” or “We’ll get back with you.” She said they never did.
“She [Castillo’s daughter] was being bullied for the last three years. Nothing got done. She thought she could blame a bully again and nothing would get done,” Castillo said.
After seeing the footage of what really happened, Castillo cried, “heartbroken” that her daughter would go to that extent, she said. Still, Castillo says she agreed with Compass Rose Legacy’s decision to issue a statement to media organizations regarding the bus incident. It would clarify that no bullying had taken place in that setting.
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“She [the school principal] let me know that she released the statement,” Castillo said. “She said, ‘I would love your support.’ I said, ‘Absolutely. You have my support. Wrong is wrong. My daughter was wrong.’”
However, Castillo was not okay with another request the school allegedly made — asking her 10-year-old daughter to make a “public apology.”
“She [Castillo’s daughter] knows she’s in trouble, and she knows she did wrong,” her mother explained. “I’m doing the apology because I jumped the gun … But I’m not going to have my daughter do a public apology because she’s still a child. At the end of the day, I’m the adult, I’m her mom, and it’s my job to protect her.”
She claimed again that “nothing was done” about the alleged bullying before this publicized incident. She added that several other parents have since reached out to her with similar stories of bullying at the school that went unaddressed. Castillo has withdrawn her daughter from the school, she says.
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Compass Rose Legacy previously told MySA that the safety and well-being of its students are its highest priority.
“At Compass Rose Public Schools, our mission is to pair academic achievement with personal growth. Even in moments like this, we see an opportunity to model honesty, empathy, and accountability for our students. Though misinformation can spread quickly, the truth always matters — and our focus will remain where it belongs: creating joyful, safe, and supportive classrooms where every child can learn and thrive.”
Compass Rose Legacy did not respond to additional requests for comment on the allegations in Castillo’s follow-up video.