( CNN ) -- Fears over Ebola have made the jump from pundits to the playground . On Friday , a group of students attacked two of their peers at I.S . 318 in the Bronx while yelling `` Ebola '' at the brothers who had recently returned from Senegal , the boys ' father told CNN Newsroom Tuesday . The New York Department of Education confirms the incident occurred , saying the boys were pushed and shoved . Ousmane Drame , the boys ' father , said the boys felt so upset by their experience that they want to go back to Africa . Ebola outbreak : Get up to speed . `` They were made fun of by the children ( who ) started yelling , 'Ebola . Ebola . Ebola . Africa . Africa , '' Drame said his sons told him . Charles Cooper of the African Advisory Council , a local advocacy group , said that during lunch , one of the boys was jumped by the students who had been calling him `` Ebola . '' When his older brother intervened , the brother also was assaulted . Drame said classmates refused to play with his sons in gym . `` We 're done playing with you . You have Ebola , '' he said one of the bullies told his sons . `` You sit down . ... They do n't want to play with them . Nobody is close to them . '' `` We will not tolerate intimidation or bullying of our students , '' NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said in a statement , `` especially in this moment when New Yorkers need to come together . '' Who shouts 'Ebola ' ? 'The stigmatization of Ebola ' Farina added that her office is investigating and that they 've sent staff to `` mediate the incident . '' Cooper said these young children are bearing `` the stigmatization of Ebola and something needs to be done . '' The boys , according to the their father , were born in the United States . Senegal , the country they returned from , has had only one case of Ebola . On October 17 , the World Health Organization declared that nation free of Ebola . `` They want to go to school , '' their father said . `` I need to find a new school . '' But perception is n't always fueled by fact . In the first week of October , the CDC received 800 calls from Americans concerned about Ebola . When a doctor in Manhattan became that New York City 's first Ebola patient , everything he 'd touched since he returned from Guinea came under scrutiny . A bowling alley he visited underwent decontamination as headlines asked whether Ebola could be transmitted via a bowling ball . Poll on Ebola attitudes . According to a new CNN poll , 81 % of Americans polled think it 's likely someone in the United States will be infected with Ebola in the next few weeks . But only about a quarter think that will happen in their community . A slight majority approve of the federal government 's handling of the disease and fully 71 % are confident the feds can prevent a nationwide outbreak . But the poll did show that three in 10 would like noncitizens traveling from West Africa to be prevented from entering , even in absence of any symptoms . `` We can not allow the Ebola epidemic to stigmatize a single population , '' said U.S. Rep Jose Serrano of New York . The congressman , who represents the part of the Bronx where the two boys were attacked , said in a statement : `` Ebola is not a West African problem , or even an African problem , it is a global health concern . Instead of feeding into the fear and discriminating against others , we need to come together in solidarity as we grapple with this terrible disease . '' Or as Cooper with African Advisory Council put it to News 12 : `` We do n't want to see any of our children being bullied in any school . They are there to learn and they 're there to be kids . '' CNN 's Sho Wills contributed to this report .
Two boys just returned from Senegal were beaten at a Bronx public school , their father says . Score: 6 NYC schools chancellor said her office will investigate . CNN poll : 81 % think somebody in U.S. will be infected with Ebola soon .