An 11-year-old Delaware boy with the last name of Trump has asked his school to change his name in its records, citing bullying as the reason for his request.
The bullying allegedly began after candidate Donald Trump announced that he would be running for President, which prompted the boy’s mother, Megan Trump, to pull her son out of school to be homeschooled, according to WPVI.
Bullying once again commenced after the boy’s parents tried enrolling him this year into a different school, Talley Middle School, in the hopes that circumstances would be different.
The boy, Joshua Trump, had always gone by his mother’s maiden name, but now wants it changed to his father’s last name, Berto, now that the bullying has picked up again at school.
Talley Middle School has agreed to change Joshua’s name in their system, but the boy’s parents are displeased, and say that the Brandywine School District hasn’t done anything to address their son’s bullying.
“He said he hates himself, and he hates his last name, and he feels sad all the time, and he doesn’t want to live feeling like that anymore, and as a parent that’s scary,” said Joshua’s mother to WPVI.
“They curse at him, they call him an idiot, they call him stupid,” added Megan.
Talley Middle School Principal Mark Mayer said that in regards to the bullying, the school conducted an investigation, and has identified and disciplined five students, according to WPVI.
The principal added that he knows teachers try “their very best” not to say Joshua’s last name in class.
“They [the students who had been disciplined] were apologetic and they did say that they were sorry,” said Mayer.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.
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