Bullying at school: a family sues its school service center for $18 million

A family from Montérégie is suing its school service center for $18 million for the after-effects caused by the intimidation and arbitrary treatment suffered by its five children in three different schools.

“The dad who got angry [à Berthierville]it could have been us,” says Marie-Josée De Celles, in reference to the viral video of a father who attacked his son’s bully in early February.

“We chose the route of the courts instead,” says this mother of five children, most of whom are now adults.

The two parents and five children of the De Celles-Côté family are suing the Hautes-Rivières School Service Center (CSSDHR). The request, filed at the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu courthouse last September, details facts which allegedly took place between 2003 and 2021 in three establishments, including the Napoléon-Bourassa primary school and the Joséphine-Bourassa secondary school. Dandurand.

The five children would have experienced bullying, either from their peers or from adults themselves, it is explained in the lawsuit, which totals more than 140 pages.

Beaten by five students

“During recess, Emmanuelle is pushed voluntarily by a student under the gaze of the supervisors who do not intervene […] She falls with her head on the asphalt […] without an accident report being drawn up and [les parents] are not informed,” we can read there.

“Was beaten by five peers in the schoolyard,” summarizes a medical note included in evidence about young Marek, then 6 years old.

• Listen to Benoit Dutrizac rebel against the political class who seem to be doing nothing to resolve the problem of bullying in our schools via QUB :

In 6^e year, “Marek never put down his bag and always kept almost all of his items with him, ready to leave and escape quickly if necessary,” we illustrate in the request.

Post-traumatic stress

Today, Marek is 15 years old. He is in 4^e secondary school in a private college where he received scholarships and honors for his efforts.

But he still bears the after-effects of his time in primary school. “I have difficulty forming a social circle,” he admits in an interview.

Suicidal comments, “post-traumatic syndrome”, loss of self-esteem: each of the children experienced distress in their own way linked to what they experienced in the CSSDHR schools, the prosecution argues.

“We don’t want anyone to have to relive that,” says Andy Côté-De Celles, 21.

Push-up in front of the class

“I was the parent who called out the nonsense and they didn’t like it,” says M.^me De Celles, who worked in another CSS until 2013.

On many occasions, the children were allegedly “punished for their mother’s actions.” For example, three of the children were allegedly forced, at different times, to do push-up in front of the whole class because the parents had failed to sign the agenda or an exam, it is reported.

“At first, I said to myself, it can’t be. I must be completely crazy, says M^me From these. I couldn’t imagine that we would retaliate against children.”

It was in 2019 that she began to doubt, when Marek “came home with bruises” claiming that they had been made by the school’s special education teacher.

“Biased portrait”

The list of accusations includes the fact of having fueled a “biased portrait” and spreading “false remarks” about the family.

The father, Maxime Côté, has had legal problems in the past. But this never surfaced in the clashes with the school, assure the family members interviewed.

“Their problem was with me”, summarizes M^me From these.

In 2014, she ran for school elections commissioner. She “disturbs by her numerous denunciations and public outings,” we note in the lawsuit.

The family also accuses school leaders of having falsified or hidden documents concerning them.

For example, it will not be until 2022 that M^me De Celles was able to get his hands on a report from the Student Protector which partly proved him right and which had been produced ten years earlier.

“It’s David against Goliath,” sums up the one who is suing the CSS without the help of a lawyer. A hearing took place on February 21, during which it was determined that Marek must have legal representation because he is a minor, explains Ms. De Celles.

For its part, the CSSDHR indicates by email that it cannot comment on the file.

SOME INCIDENTS REPORTED IN THE PURSUIT

1) Obsession with hair length

The length of children’s hair is an issue that constantly comes up in the events that allegedly took place at the Napoléon-Bourassa primary school.

“Because your mother refuses to cut your hair, you will not be able to participate in physical education class,” the lawsuit reads among examples of arbitrary treatment.

“The teacher, in front of all the students in the class, scissors in hand, threatens Andy to cut her hair herself before violently grabbing her arm,” we report.

The subject is even found in the intervention plan of 1^D year of Marek.

“For his vision, Marek must tie his hair […] For his safety, Marek must tie his hair.

The 6-year-old boy only had shoulder-length hair, according to a photo from the time provided by the mother.

2) Strange phone calls

In 6^e year, the parents ask that Marek change schools for his safety. Quickly, his grades went back up. In French, it goes from 58% to 82%, according to the Saint-Jacques school bulletin consulted by The newspaper.

Parents, however, are under the impression that school staff have been given a mandate to “document everything relating to the child and the family,” the lawsuit says.

A remedial teacher from the school, under a pseudonym, chats with Marek in the evening and asks him “indiscreet questions” about his schedule, his sleeping hours and the presence of adults at home.

At the start of high school, Marek receives strange calls from students he doesn’t know who question him as to why he is not in class at his public school. In fact, Marek was enrolled in a private college.

One of the young people ended up admitting that he had questioned him at the request of a teacher, it is reported in the request.

If school stakeholders had had real reasons to be concerned about M’s parenting skills^me From Celles, “they had the obligation to make a report to the DPJ, which they did not do”, we recall in the document.

According to her, these information gatherings carried out by school leaders were rather aimed at covering up their own errors.

3) Suspended…but no plan

Ismaël De Celles, the eldest child, did his first three years of secondary school in the private sector. With the exception of difficulties in math, his average was in the 70%, according to the transcript that was consulted The newspaper.

Everything collapsed when he re-entered the public to perform his 4^e and 5^e secondary schools at the Beaulieu school (today Joséphine-Dandurand), particularly for financial reasons, explains M^me From these.

It was then that he began to accumulate lateness and absences. Most of the interventions made with Ismaël amounted to removing him from his classes to demand that he make “dozens, even hundreds of copies”, which only served to demotivate him further.

Over 180 school days, he would have been subject to 150 suspensions, including detentions.

However, no intervention plan was drawn up by the school, even though Ismaël suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and was in a “vulnerable situation,” he said. surprises the Student Protector in her report.

In the report, a specialist educator describes Ismaël as a drug addict who was arrested by the police twice. “It’s wrong. It’s based on prejudice and hearsay. He was never arrested. “It was me who called the police because he was running away from school,” says M.^me From these.

4) No problem in private

All the children completed their secondary education in whole or in part in different private schools. Despite the high standards, none of them encountered the same problems there as in CSSDHR public schools, the family says.

“After Ismaël, it was unthinkable that another of my children would attend public secondary school in Saint-Jean. To be honest, I would have mortgaged my house so they wouldn’t go to Beaulieu school, says M.^me From these. We sometimes got into debt,” she admits.

These financial sacrifices are also part of the damages claimed. Added to this are the private expenses to consult psychologists, remedial teachers and other experts in order to overcome academic difficulties and the after-effects, in addition to the loss of income due to the need to send the children back to avoid the intimidation they were experiencing. on the school bus, for example. M^me De Celles had to put her career on hold in order to manage all the crises caused by her children’s problems in the targeted schools, she adds.