Fracas at Port Hawkesbury high school upsets parent

Woman’s daughter told SAERC principal she was being bullied

A woman says she and her 17-year-old daughter were assaulted inside the high school in Port Hawkesbury, hours after her daughter told the principal she was being bullied and feared for her safety.

April Jamieson of Port Hawkesbury says the pair wound up together at Strait Area Education and Recreation Centre on Wednesday afternoon, after her daughter arrived at her workplace complaining she’d been assaulted in the school’s parking lot.

“She was crying, had bruises all over her legs and clumps of hair had been pulled out of her head,” said Jamieson. “I wanted the girl who beat her up to be held accountable for what she did, and ultimately for her to stop bullying my daughter. She’s been bullying her for a while.”

Jamieson says her daughter told her she was heading for her car behind the school when a female student charged her and began an assault.

Jamieson says after arriving at the school’s main office, the student who she says committed the assault burst through the door and attacked both her and her daughter. She says the principal, vice-principal and three other teachers were present at the time.

She says only one of them, teacher Lance Hawley, one of the teachers present, intervened and offered her daughter comfort.

“He actually helped my daughter get out of this girl’s hands. No one else did a thing. She jumped on top of me and started hitting me on the head. We were just standing there in the main office and she came flying through the door.”

Jamieson says her daughter had told the principal earlier in the morning that she was being bullied by her alleged attacker.

“My daughter was dismissed and not taken seriously,” said Jamieson.

Jamieson, who’s employed as a nurse, says her daughter, who’s due to graduate in June, has been repeatedly bullied at the school and had gotten into a fistfight inside the school earlier this year after being harassed by another female student.

She says she complained to the school’s principal, Rob Allen, but neither she nor her daughter were given any support.

Following Wednesday’s incident, both girls were suspended for the remainder of the week. But Jamieson says she’s concerned about what might happen after they return to school.

“She’s a soft-hearted, kind girl. I’m terrified what’s going to happen next. I have not heard anything from the school at all.”

The Chronicle Herald spoke to Allen, asking about Wednesday’s incident and whether Jamieson’s daughter had complained to him Wednesday, but he did not comment.

Deanna Gillis, spokeswoman for the Strait Regional Centre for Education, would not comment on the alleged incident due to privacy rules. Gillis said the incident is being handled by the school administration in accordance with the Provincial School Code of Conduct Policy, and the RCMP is also investigating the matter.

The school did issue a letter to parents on Wednesday, detailing an incident at the school.

The Herald inquired about the incident with an RCMP spokeswoman but was offered no details by the end of the day.

Jamieson says she was informed by a police investigator that she may be facing charges but was later told otherwise.

“He said he looked at the evidence and realized I was not at fault at all.”

The Herald also spoke to a former student of the school, who says she was also attacked by the same student Jamieson is accusing of assaulting her daughter.

The woman, who spoke anonymously, says the incident happened during school lunch hour in January 2017. The woman says she was behind the Sobeys in Port Hawkesbury when she was jumped by the young woman and three other female teenagers.

She says she sustained significant injuries.

“They pulled me down by my hair and I had a bald spot on my head for about four months. I have a lump of scar tissue there and on my hand from hitting the ground. She’s well known to be a bully.”

The woman, who graduated from the school last year, says she reported the incident to the RCMP, and subsequently the case was settled through a restorative justice process.

“It meant that I had to sit faceto-face with all those girls, which was living hell.”

She says she also reported the incident to the school principal (Allen was the vice-principal at the time) but was given little support.

“SAERC gives us all this introduction at the start of every school year, telling everyone how they’re going to put an end to bullying and they don’t tolerate it … It’s a complete lie. They don’t deal with bullying at all.”