Mothers sound bullying alarm at Frankfield Primary

WESTERN BUREAU:

Three Clarendon mothers are raising serious concerns about bullying at Frankfield Primary School, claiming that their children are being harassed and mistreated despite the school’s awareness of ongoing issues among students.

“My daughter is depressed. She doesn’t even want to go to school anymore,” said S.F*, the mother of a nine-year-old girl who transferred to the school in September after the family relocated.

She told The Sunday Gleaner that the bullying began shortly after her daughter enrolled. She says the child has been physically assaulted, had money and lunch taken, and suffered multiple injuries at the hands of older students.

“ ... Ever since she started going there, she’s been having problems with bullies. Her finger got damaged, and she told me that another student did it to her. I went to the school and talked to them, but she is still having the same problem. She came back again with her foot damaged. She said that a child took a metal chair and hit her,” a frustrated S.F. related.

“She came home again with a pencil point in her hand and said another student used a pencil to stab her. These things have been happening over and over. Her lunch has been eaten, juice taken, and even money taken. Another day, she was coming down the stairs, and one of the boys was passing by. She said that she got one lick on her back, and because she was not expecting it to happen, she lost her balance,” the mother recounted.

The child’s most recent complaint is over a snack that allegedly fell from another pupil and was then forced into her mouth.

Tardy response

S.F is irritated because her child now constantly complains about how unhappy she is at her new school. She informed The Sunday Gleaner that the events had been reported to the school, but she was dissatisfied with the school’s tardy response to stop the bullying.

“She has gotten rebellious over time. She has refused to learn. You know what she asked me yesterday? If it was okay to change her name. She was a very high-energy person. She likes to be involved in activities at school. She wants to do projects. She even said to me that if they had a speech and drama club at the school, she wanted to be a part of it,” S.F said.

Another parent, N.B., shared a similar experience. Her six-year-old daughter, a first-grader, has reportedly been tormented by older students and is exhibiting signs of severe emotional distress.

“My daughter has come home complaining multiple times, and if she doesn’t cry, she has begged me to transfer her from the school. One day, she told me that she feels like hanging herself. The next day, she told me that she’s going to jump over the Frankfield bridge,” said N.B.

She explained that her daughter had recently returned home from school with another complaint, exacerbating her frustration.

Nobody nuh business

“The taxi man called me up the road and told me to ask what was wrong with her. I asked and she said, ‘Mommy, a little boy wet me up with water at school.’ She was soaked from her head to her toes. But if you go to the school and complain, it is like you nuh fi talk. Every time I go to her teacher and say that my daughter told me this little boy is bullying her, this little one is licking her in the head, or this little one is troubling her, it is like nobody nuh business.”

N.B. said her daughter has repeatedly asked to transfer schools and that seeing other parents voice concerns in a WhatsApp group gave her the courage to speak out.

“When I was in the WhatsApp group and saw other parents talking, I just feel it’s the time to talk up because we are reporting it to the school and nothing is being done,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

At the same time, M.T. said her seven-year-old son is being bullied by other boys at school. Despite raising her concerns to the school, she claims that her child is still being physically abused by his classmates. She said that her son was recently hurt after another child caused him to fall.

“Two of dem hold him and push paper down inna him ears, so mi go to the principal. The other day before mi a bathe my son, but mi notice him a draw weh his head, so mi ask a wah do him. Him say dem trip him round a school and him drop and lick him head. When mi look good now mi see say wah coco inna him head.

“Mi go ‘round a school go talk and the teacher say mi must tek him up and carry him go a my yaad,” she complained.

Despite admitting that there are genuine instances of bullying at Frankfield Primary, Principal Vasper Scarlett told The Sunday Gleaner that some parents are exaggerating the problems their children are facing.

Parents interfere in children problem

“You will have a few cases where the bullying is genuine, right? But what I find happening now with today’s parents is that sometimes they interfere in the problems that the children have. Children … have problems, just as adults, and they come in and they interfere with the problems, taking it to another level.”

“We help them deal with the problem, and the students are back as friends the next day. Unfortunately, the parents get involved, and then they are the ones who are against each other, while the students are happy. So sometimes it’s not really bullying, but I think the parents sometimes need to understand that students go through different stages in their socialisation process, and sometimes, although they should be very concerned about their children, they are not to go into the children’s little affairs and then make it bigger than it is sometimes,” Scarlett said.

When asked specifically about the three students whose parents spoke out, Scarlett said the school is developing initiatives to address the issue, including anti-bullying campaigns and parenting workshops.

“As I told you, they have a few cases that are genuine. When you look at students, every case is different, and every home is different. You have some students where maybe the home that they are coming from is, I wouldn’t say different, but it needs development. We have students [who are] not socialised well by their parents,” the principal said.

“We were even planning on having some sessions with the parents. We’re going to deal with the bullying, to identify what exactly bullying is. We are also going to try to see how best we can help the parents to develop better parenting skills,” Scarlett added.

Bullying remains a persistent issue in schools across Jamaica, with growing concerns about its psychological and academic impact on children.

Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner in 2023, Dr Warren Thompson, director of Children and Family Programmes at the CPFSA, noted that a new study is needed to determine the current data on the prevalence of bullying in schools.

Anxiety or depression

He said common forms of bullying include physical attacks, spreading rumours, being excluded from social circles, making repeated threats, verbal abuse, extortion, cyberbullying, and verbally ridiculing other students, repeatedly.

Psychologically, he said this can lead to the victim developing anxiety or depression, or a decline in academic performance. Victims, he said, may also have difficulty trusting others and could even exhibit self-harming behaviours such as cutting and suicidal ideation.

A bullied child could also develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Linking bullying to violence in schools, Thompson believes all schools must develop clear policies to deal with the issue.

“Where you have children who are coming from communities where gang-related violence or domestic violence is the norm, when they go to school, they’re going to replicate that kind of behaviour … . Schools have to counteract that,” he said.

*Names have been abbreviated to protect the identities of the children involved.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com