To the editor;
Re: Letter to the editor titled ‘Elementary student’s aunt voices concerns about school bullying’ in your March 21, 2013, issue.
I believe that the aunt should be commended for voicing her very serious concerns regarding bullying in the Barriere Elementary School.
We moved to this community because we really love the location and the opportunity for many outdoor activities. However, it certainly has not been the experience we had expected.
Our daughter has had problems with being bullied since kindergarten and, in spite of our efforts to ask for assistance with these problems, the situation has not improved. She is now in grade three. We are at the point now, if she is not physically injured, we just deal with it as best we can.
It has been our experience that it is always the same children who are doing the bullying, only a small number of students.
We have not seen that there are any consequences for their actions and, in fact, the child bullied appears to be victimized again by the persons (i.e. teachers, staff) who are supposed to be protecting her.
Our child is far from perfect, but she is a kind and gentle soul. Even after being hit over and over throughout the years at school, it would not occur to her to behave in a similar manner. She just wonders why this is happening?
We have put five other grown children through school, all the way from Vancouver to the Fraser Valley, and never have we experienced the situation that our youngest daughter has been facing. I agree with the aunt that the people in charge are as much a problem as the bullies themselves, as they appear to be totally unable to solve this bullying problem.
We now feel that it is our only option as parents, to relocate and start her fresh in a school where, when I kiss her goodbye and leave her at school, I know she will be safe and cared for properly. What a sad commentary on the environment we have experienced at the Barriere Elementary School.
Please sign me -
A very discouraged and
disappointed parent