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Dennise Watier, a mom from Cambridge, Ont., says it’s been tough seeing her son go through bullying at his elementary school since mid-March.
“He’s not himself,” Watier told Cambridge Chronicle outside William G. Davis Public School in Preston, where her son goes to school now.
“As a parent, it frustrates me. It hurts me to see him hurt.”
On Thursday, Watier held an anti-bullying rally right outside her son’s school with about a dozen friends, family members, and other parents joining in-wearing pink and holding signs.
She said the rally was meant to support her son and all kids dealing with bullying at school.
“It’s got to stop and something has to be done and it has to be taken more seriously,” she said.
Watier shared that since March break, her son has been physically attacked three times at school, called names including racial slurs, and faced body shaming. He’s even been attacked in the lunchroom and stopped bringing lunch altogether because of it.
“He use to be a happy-go-lucky kid who use to love coming to school and now he doesn’t want to come to school,” she said.
WATCH | Parents hold anti-bullying rally outside Cambridge school:
Parents hold anti-bullying rally outside William G. Davis Public School
Worried parents gathered outside William G. Davis Public School in Cambridge on Thursday for an anti-bullying rally calling for better protection for students. CBC K-W’s Carmen Groleau spoke with parents at the event who are raising their voices about ongoing bullying their kids face at school.
Parent feels school’s response isn’t enough
Even though she’s talked several times with the school’s principal about her concerns, Watier thinks the school’s solutions are just “Band-Aid fixes” that don’t really keep her son safe.
“They’re telling me he can leave his classes 10 minutes early, but then that puts him vulnerable in the hallway, or that he can leave school 10 minutes early, but then he’s missing out on school,” she explained.
Amy Crowe came out to back Watier because her own son was bullied and physically attacked while going to Coronation Public School in Cambridge over the last three years.
Crowe feels like bullies end up being protected “which is unfair.”
The kids being bullied “get told to go to the teacher, go to the principal, tell their stories to them. They’ll listen to them, but they’re not [listening],” Crowe said.
“It’s reached a point where parents have got do this [rally], hopefully so they get heard better. And hopefully more schools will do this too so more voices get heard and something actually gets done before bullying gets worse.”About a dozen people who are friends and family of Dennise Watier along with other parents whose kids face bullying gathered outside William G. Davis Public School in Preston for an anti-bullying rally. (Carmen Groleau/CBC)>Watier worries that all this stress is making her son fall behind because he’s anxious and not sleeping well lately.>She says she’s taken things further by involving police as well as reporting it up through Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB).>Watier also said she’s worried because the board doesn’t seem fully committed against bullying with zero tolerance policies.>The WRDSB website explains Bill 212 aimed at adjusting from zero tolerance rules many boards used after the Safe Schools Act (2000), which caused lots of suspensions and expulsions.”>”To increase consistency and accountability, it shifted authority for expelling students from principals back over to boards,” their site reads.>”Similarly principals (not individual teachers) got power over suspensions too – expectedly making those decisions more consistent.”
The board stresses student safety is top priority
The Cambridge Chronicle asked William G. Davis Public School principal Sonya Sykes for comment but she directed questions straight back toward the board administration instead.</پn
Emailing Cambridge Chronicle, Alison Gaymes-San Vicente-the WRDSB associate director of student achievement and well-being-said “the safety and well-being of our students is always the priority.”</पn
She added they’re dedicated making sure every learning space is “a place where every student feels safe, valued, and respected.”</पn
“We take a full-system approach preventing all types of bullying – physical , verbal , social , racial , sexual , religious or online,” Gaymes-San Vicente said.”</पn
“Using progressive discipline plus restorative methods we focus not just on reacting when things happen but helping students understand how their actions affect others plus supporting those hurt.” </पn
She also mentioned they encourage students speak up plus every school site offers an anonymous reporting tool so students can safely report issues affecting themselves or friends.
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