The parents of a special needs boy said their son’s been the victim of bullying and asked the district last week for extra help.

On Thursday, about 35 teachers, administrators, the police chief, school board members and Superintendent Nordy Nelson sat down in a Falls High School home economics room. They were all there to watch or discuss how to proceed further after a parent said he repeatedly contacted the school asking for special protection and testing after saying they believed his son had been bullied for years now following two public recent incidents.

The father said that his third-grade son’s disabilities, such as not looking people directly in the eye or often touching his face and hair, helped made him a victim.

There must be a solution they can work on together, the sides said, although it did not look like it would be an easy situation to work through, going by what both sides later said.

“Just a reassurance that (he) is safe is good enough for us,” the parent also said.

Under federal law, the father said that teachers and other staff must do more to protect his child, who’s come home bruised and with his clothing ripped multiple times. He asked for that help as well as more testing of their child.

Nelson said it is a very complicated situation. He said he was not there to talk about the incidents but the district’s policies and how to improve upon them.

“This is an ongoing process that we will address,” said Nelson, who promised to look into the alleged incidents further. “But it takes a lot of time and personnel.”

He said unfortunately sometimes a problem like this has to occur before policies can be changed to protect other kids in the future.

“I’m not offering just problems,” the father said. “I want to be part of the solution. I’m not here to point fingers.”

Nelson added that the school board will get involved as well to formulate a plan.

None of the teachers or staff asked any questions or spoke during the open meeting. One of the parents had alerted The Journal about the situation, and the school invited the press. Later the father asked, via Facebook, for parents of other children with special needs to attend the meeting.

The 9-year-old’s parents said they are certain other incidents have occurred since their son is often afraid to go to school and sometimes comes back disheveled with torn jeans and then retreats into himself and wants to be left alone. The father said the boy is behaving ashamed.

“There obviously is a gap in the process,” the father said.

He also requested special protection and for government-paid psychological testing for his son under the American with Disabilities Act’ 504 Regulation for students.

After the meeting, the father said he felt like he was facing a “firing squad” with so many staff members standing on the other side.

Board Member Willi Kostiuk said he was concerned and wanted to find out why these kids would be bullying this boy.

“We will look at it as a school board, and will be updating our policies,” Nelson said, after saying he’d make sure this is thoroughly investigated.