When is a bully a bully?

A Thibodaux High student’s allegations of bullying were investigated by Lafourche Parish school officials, a month after the teen was arrested in connection with allegations that he had threatened violence against fellow students and faculty members.

But the school says there is no conclsive determination as to whether such bullying occurred.

Keith Usea, 17, is free on a $20,000 bond — reduced from an initial $1 million — at the Chackbay home of his father. He is also suspended from classes at Thibodaux High pending an expulsion hearing. He is charged with terrorizing and with attempted assault.

No weapons nor potential for use of weapons have been attributed to Usea, whom authorities confirm had spoken last year of having a list of students to whom he wished harm. The alleged list was only investigated this year, following the highly publicized shooting deaths of students at a Florida high school Feb. 14.

“I do not believe that my client would have been arrested if not for the events in Florida. In fact, the Detective testified in court that the events in Florida were part of the reason why my client was arrested,” said Usea’s attorney, Benjamin Comeaux. “Furthermore, the fact that students believed that my client possessed a “list” was previously reported to school officials and teachers approximately a year ago. The school system’s investigation of that complaint produce no validity to any of the allegations. Now that the Florida events have occurred my client was arrested. Yet still no evidence exist against my client which would result in a conviction because my client is not guilty of terrorizing.”

Testimony in court hearings and interviews with Usea’s family and police have indicated that he was questioned by school officials and detectives Feb. 19 after a call was received containing allegations.

An anonymous complaint was received at 6:50 a.m. that day at another other school in Lockport and communicated to Thibodaux High officials, according to court records.

Therefore, the timeline indicates, the alleged threat went unaddressed by school officials for the bulk of the school day.

At 2:10 p.m., according to the official timeline, Usea was removed from class and brought to the principal’s office at THS. A school resource officer was present, who notified detectives who came to speak with the teen. He was then taken to a substation in Lockport for questioning. After that he was taken to a psychiatric hospital for observation, and then picked up by authorities the following week.

A March 5, 2018 letter from THS principal Glenn Haydel to the teen’s father, Terry Usea, states that as a result of a Feb. 28 conversation an investigation into allegations that Keith had been bullied was begun. But school officials chose not to interview him directly because he was incarcerated.

There are no indications yet whether Haydel will continue the investigation now that the Usea teen is home.

A second THS teen, Mason Dupre, remains incarcerated in lieu of a $1 million bond. He is accused of agreeing to help Usea cause chaos at the school, and is charged with terrorizing.

His family has referred questions to an attorney but not disclosed who the attorney is, suggesting that a reporter should “find out” who the attorney might be. He has not yet had a bond reduction hearing.

Keith Usea’s mother, Valerie Folse, said she was recently told — after her son’s arrest — that he was bullied and shunned by students at THS, and that school officials asked about the alleged list when he was taken to the principal’s office.

“I was told by Keith that when everyone was in the room and the door was closed, Mr. Haydel said ‘Keith, we have received a report from a student that you have a list of people’s names on it that you want to kill.’ Keith immediately said ‘no, no, that was something I wrote last school year to get some kids to leave me alone, I tore it up after showing them and threw it away. I don’t have it anymore! I swear.”

A school official called Usea’s grandmother, his mother said, at his request, after he was taken from the school by police.

“The secretary told her that he was being taken to the substation for questioning and she told her that he had a list of names of students and teachers that he wanted to kill with a shot gun,” Folse said.

If those accounts are correct then authorities are prosecuting Usea for a statement made on a piece of paper that no longer exists, from a year before. How far they can go will be dependent on judicial decisions along the way as to what is admissible as judicial evidence and what is not.

Also complicating matters is Usea’s status as a student with social impairments as reflected in his individual education plan.

“He is autistic,” said Folse, noting that his responses to various questions could be affected by that. “The police should have been informed that he had special needs before he was asked any questions by anybody, at the very least.”

What emerges from questions concerning Usea’s case should be of interest to parents in general, however, separate and apart from whether any risk existed at Thibodaux High for violence.

School officials have made clear that what parents think is bullying is not necessarily bullying, and that under the rules which currently exist, a complaint of bullying may very well prove to not be bullying at all, at least according to the definitions used in the law.

“In checking discipline records from last school year 2016-2017 there were 6 referrals involving 4 students to the administration of bullying,” said the Lafourche School District’s child welfare chief, Frank Pasqua. “None ever resulted or fit the criteria of bullying. The administration had

these few complaints about someone bullying them, however none of them ever went farther than in house. There were no violations in the “bullying” policy that led to a full investigation at THS last year.”

Bullying is defined as a pattern of gestures, faces, written or verbal communication, as well as kicking, hitting and pushing or ‘repeated and purposeful’ shunning.

The pattern of behavior must have the effect of physically harming a student, placing the student in reasonable fear of physical harm or damage to a student’s property. It must be reasonably “severe, persistent and persuasive enough” to create an intimidating or threatening educational environment. It must also “have the effect of substantially interfering with a student’s performance in school, or have the effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the school.”

The key word to the whole matter, adminstrators maintain, is “pattern.”

Without a pattern, they maintain, there is no case.

One of the behaviors committed against Usea, his parents have maintained, concerns a student repeatedly — on an almost daily basis — lifting the back legs of his desk while he was at it, and then letting it fall to the floor.

“That occurred last school year,” his mother said. “I definitely think that’s a pattern.”

School officials have not again sought to question Usea about the alleged bullying. But his mother believes they should.

“He is home, he is on house arrest and so there is no reason why there can be questioning of him for this investigation,” she said.

Keith Usea