VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County mother says she was forced to pull her kids out of school early Friday because they were being bullied for wearing masks in class.

“I’ve been alternating between extreme anger and tears, and then just helplessness,” Kelly McCathran said.

She says her desire to keep her children safe is making them a target at school. A week and a half ago, McCathran said a student spit on her 10-year-old daughter at Coronado Elementary in New Smyrna because she was wearing a mask.  

After it happened again on Friday, McCathran says she met with the principal.

“I said, 'Well, can you please just get her away from this child? He is harassing her,'" she said. "I consider it assault. If he wasn’t 10, I would’ve called police."

McCathran said she was given the option of changing her daughter’s class but didn't want to punish her by taking her away from friends. 

“I just want her to be safe, and I don’t want her to be the instrument of my father‘s death because some kid is being unsafe at school and targeting her for wearing her mask,” she said.

This isn’t isolated to one school, McCathran said. Her 12-year old-son at New Smyrna Beach Middle experienced similar issues for wearing a mask, she said.

She wants the school district to take this more seriously and for people to just treat others with respect.

Spectrum News reached out to the Volusia County Public School district to ask about policies for handling allegations of bullying like this, but did not get a response to requests for an interview or comment.