An Edmonton mother is at her wits end, as her young daughter had to deal with bullying from the same classmate for two years – but she says the school has failed to protect her child.
Barb Laidlaw said her daughter, Caty, 6, has endured more than two years of bullying from the same child, which started in Kindergarten.
“The first day she came home I was just mortified,” Laidlaw said. “I was appalled that my child had a bruise on her from being pinched, and I thought ‘Ok, I’m not really too sure how to deal with this.’”
Caty is now in Grade 2 at Ecole Grandin, but over the years, Laidlaw said her daughter has gone from enduring verbal abuse, to hair pulling and pinching – she said at one point, her daughter came home with bruises four days in a row.
“The child’s friend punched Caty in the arm the other day at recess, and this child pinched Caty,” Laidlaw said. “So there’s that bullying mentality if someone does it, it must be cool.”
In an effort to make it stop, Laidlaw had met a number of times with the teacher and the principal at the school, and was told the other child suffers from behavioural issues, and had received in-school suspensions as a result.
However, Laidlaw claims the bullying continued, and after more meetings with school officials, nothing changed – and the mother became even more frustrated, she doesn’t want to change her daughter’s school because she would like to keep Caty in the school’s French immersion program.
“I just felt like I was banging my head up against the wall, I felt like it was one of those loops that goes on for infinity, because I wasn’t getting anywhere,” Laidlaw said.
Now, Laidlaw has taken her concerns to the school district, and met with the assistant superintendent with Edmonton Catholic Schools – where she was told a teacher’s aide will be put in the classroom to help deal with the issue.
Officials with the school district turned down requests for an interview, but a statement from Assistant Superintendent of District Operations Patrick Lema said:
The District is taking this issue very seriously and we have had several meetings with both parents. We have a series of strategies to successfully resolve this matter and will continue to monitor them.
An Edmonton child psychologist told CTV News that it’s important for children who are being targeted by bullies, to not react.
“Don’t show them that it’s getting to you, don’t let them bug you,” Joy Muller said. “Often, you can ride out the storm.”
Laidlaw told CTV News she’s worried there will be more problems in the future, and she would like to see harsher punishments put in place for bullying, and suggests an anti-bullying program be implemented in her daughter’s school.
With files from Veronica Jubinville
