|
|
IMHO, the school officials should be ashamed of themselves for not contacting you immediately!! Somehow, I would expect more sensitive treatment from a Catholic private school, too.
I truly believe that, if my son had stabbed another child with a pencil, the school would likely have called the police and charges of assault and battery may have been filed, right there on the spot, no matter what the age. That little girl is mighty lucky.
In our public school district, a 2nd grader was suspended for 3 days because he remarked to the teacher that she was "pretty." No physical harm was done. My point is, if a child can deserve such a punishment for innocently complimenting a teacher, regardless of whether or not it constitutes "sexual harrassment", the incident with the pencil stab wound should not go unpunished, and, as the parents of the victim, you should make it clear that you do not intend to gloss over it like just a routine event in the day of a school child. It seems to me that it is to the benefit of your child to make as big a deal of this as you need to. If you do little to nothing, what message does that relay to your child--that he is not important enough to defend in this case? That his rights are less important than those of the girl? That girls should be allowed to beat up on boys with little to no punishment? Your own son's self-esteem is at stake here. While it is good to teach him the golden rule, it is also good to teach him to assertively stand up for his rights.
My son is a BIG, husky boy. Things like this happened to him during his public school years. All he had to do was look sideways at someone, and I would be called; but when someone hurt him, the school didn't want to "bother mom and dad at work." What an excuse. I started documenting everything in written form, even sent faxes. The school hated that I put everything in writing, but I believe they respected us or, at least, pretended to respect us, and my son experienced fewer problems with verbal and physical abuse from other students after that.
Best to you. |
My 2 cents - Alice
