Anonymous asked this question on 3/31/2000:
A student in my child's class has threatened to kill another student and blow up the school. The school knows about it and says they are handling the situation.The student had been suspended but has returned to class.All the kids are afraid of the girl. My daughter comes home everyday crying and telling me she is afraid.How do we handle this?Should we pull her out of school?This student has picked on my daughter as well as others on a weekly basis.We appreciate any advice,thank you., A student in my child's class has threatened to kill another student and blow up the school. The school knows about it and says they are handling the situation.The student had been suspended but has returned to class.All the kids are afraid of the girl. My daughter comes home everyday crying and telling me she is afraid.How do we handle this?Should we pull her out of school?This student has picked on my daughter as well as others on a weekly basis.We appreciate any advice,thank you.
nemesis2 gave this response on 3/31/2000:
As an Australian, we have yet to experience such fears and anxieties such as you are currently facing and I hope we never do. A few suggestions, firstly, ask the school what their policy is on such issues, they should have a plan of action and this should have included notifying the police. There needs to be consequences for such behavour and an action plan to prevent harm to other students as well as providing whatever assistance the student in question requires such as counselling and parent support services. As for your daughter, she needs to have a secure environment for her schooling, including fully supervised environment, debriefing and/or counselling, education on seeking help and support and dealing/coping with bullying. Are there ways your daughter can feel safer - have a long talk about such ways - dropping her off or picking her up from school, having a day off occasionally to recharge or de-stress, team up with other's in her class in a buddy system etc. Maybe you could team up with some other parents for awhile too, in order to support each other and to act on this situation by making the school accountable for providing a safe environment for all concerned.
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