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Tennessee school issues statement in response to Keaton's viral bullying video

Union County's director of schools has released a statement on its bullying policy after a video went viral of a boy describing how he was bullied at school.

The Union County Board of Education Director of Schools has issued a statement after an East Tennessee boy's video about how he was bullied went viral.

Director of Union County Public Schools James E. Carter released the following statement Monday:

"To fulfill our mission of educating all children in Union County Public Schools, we must provide an academic environment that is safe, civil and supportive. We do not and will not tolerate bullying and have a policy in place that addresses conduct taking place on school grounds, at any school-sponsored activity, on school-provided transportation or at any official school bus stop. With any incident of bullying that is reported to our administrators, we follow the process of our policy and immediately investigate the alleged incidents. The privacy of all parties and witnesses to complaints will be respected in accordance with federal and state law."

Keaton Jones' mom posted the video to Facebook last week. The video has since grown hugely popular throughout social media by using #standwithkeaton.

In the post, his mom wrote that her son, Keaton, asked her to record and post the video.

"For the record, Keaton asked to do this AFTER he had he me pick him up AGAIN because he was afraid to go to lunch. My kids are by no stretch perfect, & at home, he's as all boy as they come, but by all accounts he's good at school. Talk to your kids. I've even had friends of mine tell me they're kids were only nice to him to get him to mess with people. We all know how it feels to want to belong, but only a select few know how it really feels not to belong anywhere."

On Monday morning, the privacy settings on the post had been changed so the video could no longer be viewed.

LINK: Tennessee's Bullying and Harassment guide | Union County Schools Handbook

Several celebrities, athletes and lawmakers have reached out to Keaton since the post.

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