I (26f) have a 7 year old daughter. Her father (45m) is not the in the picture. We met when I was 17 and didn't start "dating" until after I was 18, despite the fact he pressured me into having sex while I was still underage. He is currently serving jail time for soliciting a 14 year old minor for CASM and a whole other bunch of stuff (because I know people are going to ask why isn't he paying child support, where's her father, etc. He can't pay child support because he's a creep and in jail)

My daughter's father pretty much abandoned us once I was no longer useful to him. He just moved on to the next young girl he could manipulate and eventually knocked her up too. My daughter has 3 younger siblings she has never met and has only met her biological father a handful of times in his life. I have worked hard, from fast food to retail and now I have an office job working for my local community college in the financial aid office as a front desk person. It's part-time with the promise of being full-time but my work hours are pretty set. I work the max amount of hours my state will allow part-timers and door dash and donate plasma on the side to make ends meet. I "make too much" for government assistance, even though I make $18 an hour with my main job. I don't agree with it but I'm also not my state's social services so there really isn't much I can do. I go to food banks when I can coordinate a day off to get to the food banks scheduled hours, I've babysat and pet sat for neighbors to make extra cash. I hand wash clothes in the tub and hang dry them to avoid paying $10 to wash and dry just one load at my apartment complex's laundry unit, I rarely eat meat, we never eat out, etc. I am doing every damn thing in my power to keep food on the table and this shitty apartment over mine and my daughter's head. I literally do not have my own bed. My "bedroom" is a futon in what is considered the living room while my daughter has the master bedroom (can't afford a 2 bedroom apartment with the rent going up every year!)

The issue is: my daughter is getting bullied. She's in 2nd grade, and we have had problems ever since last year. In first grade, it was because she had to wear glasses. Now it's because a new girl has joined her friends group and has made fun of my daughter for being "poor". This has been going on since January when the new girl moved to the school. It's ranged from my daughter not having her nails painted, my daughter not having light up shoes, my daughter has a "lame" backpack, my daughter has been picked on because the school sends her home with a brown bag of fruit and canned goods each weekend. She has been picked on because she gets the free lunch at school and I've never brought in treats for the class (like cupcakes or sweet snacks just because). She's been picked on for not having a cell phone or a nintendo switch. It seems like every week this girl is finding new material to pick on/tease my daughter about. I have brought this up to her teacher, asked for them to be sitting on opposite sides of the room, etc. The school can't move my daughter into a different class and they won't give me her parent's contact information. So just about every day, I have to pick my daughter up from the after school care and she is just so upset and down in the dumps and cries about our living situation. She's told me she wishes we were rich and could go to Disney or the beach like her friends are doing over spring break and I am literally shitting my pants on trying to figure out how I'm going to get child care for her when I have to work and can't take time off because taking a day off means I don't get paid.

I got an email from her teacher today while on my break about my daughter just refusing to do her work because "distractions in the classroom" and I figured it was about this new girl (my daughter confirmed when I picked her up and this time it was because my daughter's pants were pulled up too high and her socks were showing and the new girl called her "yucky") I ended up venting to an older co worker about this (older guy, no kids, did 20 years in the Navy and now he's an academic advisor) and he said this was just "a part of life and Daughter would have to get used to it." and I just felt really frustrated. I am going to demand a meeting with her teacher (again) and the principal because I am so tired of my daughter crying and refusing to go to school in the morning over this girl. We still have two months left in the school year before summer break and I am just at my limit. My co worker said I would be making more trouble "than its worth" and made a joke about he was glad he "didn't have to deal with this" and it just made feel even more frustrated/annoyed/angry.

I don't know if I'm expecting too much out of an elementary school teacher and principal but something has got to give. It's not my daughter's fault we're poor and I hate that she's being bullied for it when I'm doing everything I can to keep us housed and fed. AITAH for feeling frustrated and wanting to make a demand that something changes (and possibly request this girl is NOT in my daughter's class for 3rd grade next year)?