The violence and lack of discipline at public schools in San Francisco’s got a Ukrainian teenager who sought solace in the United States yearning for her war-torn country.
A 13-year-old Ukrainian refugee who fled to America wants to return to her home country after being robbed and abused by other students while attending Marina Middle School in San Francisco.https://t.co/3OfTX6oJPg
— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) February 21, 2023
Yana, a 13-year-old who left Ukraine last year to avoid the war, came to the United States and settled in San Francisco. In January, she enrolled at Marina Middle School. Barely two months in, she is fed up with life in America.
Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, she expressed her disappointment as she said that she thought “it was going to be better because it’s San Francisco.” But her experience so far turned out to be far from the teen movies she watched from her home country.
According to the young girl, schooling in San Francisco has not been a rosy experience, as she revealed she had her phone stolen at the school. She also said she got threatened and bullied by a group of students she believed were behind her phone’s disappearance.
While one would expect classrooms to have a shred of solemnity with the presence of educators, Yana realized quickly that that is not the case in the U.S. as she recalled that students acted in total disregard for teachers. The Ukrainian refugee testified to students jumping on the desks, cursing in classes, and interrupting their classes, all without facing any repercussions.
Having a strong faith in San Francisco, Yana held out hope that it would be better. “But after two days, I saw everything going on at the school,” she said.
The bullying was real, she said, and a counselor had to intervene. The phone theft and threats instilled fear in Yana, and she could not get herself to go to school.
Her mother and aunt requested a school transfer which got denied by the school district. For now, the young girl does not attend school while the adults look for camps and other programs she can enroll in for the summer.
This would not be the first time Marina Middle School would be ousted for its students’ bad behavior. Only last month, there was a report on “barely controlled chaos” in the school. According to the San Francisco Examiner, students at the school engage in an array of horrible behavior, from throwing food at each other to bullying students and even teachers.
