Writer and committed citizen, the author taught literature at college, she is president of the governing board of an elementary school and member of the editorial board of Quebec letters. She co-edited and co-wrote the collective work Shock treatments and tarts. Critical assessment of the management of COVID-19 in Quebec (All in all).
“You crush! Your behavior pisses me off! Worse you too! Worse you too! I can’t take it! » ; “You, your grimaces and your laughter, next time you’re out. No warning, that’s the only warning you got. Same thing for you! I want more! Is that clear ? » ; “Come on, tabarnouche! Do you want to bring me all your notebooks, mauzusse melee? » ; “Leave it there. EY! I told you: leave it there! » ; ” Shut up ! » ; ” Shut up ! »…
You have to listen to the chilling audio extracts collected over three days to grasp the extent of the trauma experienced by the children of the Grands-Vents primary school in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac. If the writing manages badly to translate the charge of violence, the screams carry their images: we imagine the bulging eyes, the sputters, the tense body, the pointing finger, the ascendancy of the teacher… then the little ones of six or seven years, under his yoke, paralyzed. First-year students, who are taking their first steps in the school system; students whose brains struggle to assimilate the material, too busy processing the torrent of verbal violence that is unacceptable even for an adult, who would at least have the possibility of fleeing…
The questions came quickly. Someone must have heard something? Directions roam the hallways, right? Did other parents have any suspicions? Professors? Did the parent who recorded this attempt to act through official channels before turning to the media? How could someone who engages in such violent interventions remain in office for so long?
What we know
Lifting the veil is both complicated by the omerta that reigns in the education system and the procedural heaviness. The director of the Center de services scolaire des Mille-Îles was slow to respond to requests from the media, from whom she would have heard the news… However, the liberal critic for education, Marwah Rizqy, says he has proof showing that “the School Services Center, the lawyer, as well as human resources know minimally since January for verbal abuse and assault”.
At least one parent had filed a complaint in writing with the director of the establishment and the service center, a report revealed. But the complaint process is not simple or short: it can take five steps to a decision — and even more if the initial decision is unsatisfactory. You must first communicate directly with the intervener concerned, then with the management of the establishment, then with the person in charge of community support, then fill out an official complaint form, then, finally, if all is not not yet resolved, file a complaint with the regional student ombudsman. In this case, despite complaints to two authorities, the teacher remained in her post.
The school administration’s flagship takes an inordinate amount of time to turn around… In such circumstances, where the physical, psychological and emotional integrity of children is threatened, can the parent be blamed for having opted for a radical solution to put to day the actions of the teacher, which would lead to her suspension, finally?
The recordings created a shockwave: they revealed to parents in the classroom what their children were going through every day and provided a fast route to the offices of the Minister of Education and the Prime Minister. Complaints of intimidation and assault have been filed in parallel with the criminal. The police investigation is therefore in addition to that of the Service Center and the general investigation of the Ministry of Education on abuse (not only sexual) in the education sector. The school principal was removed from office until the end of the school year; psychologists and psychoeducators have been dispatched to the families and the children will have a new teacher.
The failure of the system
In such cases, the young age of the victims does not simplify matters. While some six-year-olds offer detailed accounts of their days, others unpack the information bit by bit, rather cryptically. It’s easy to miss a serious situation…until it takes over. Once suspicions are substantiated, many parents don’t know if they should talk — or to whom. They dread the battle they will have to fight and they are afraid — for their child.
The phrase “I wouldn’t want my child to be disliked” comes up often, so much so that some parents decide out of spite to take their troubles patiently. They convince themselves that the school year will eventually come to an end, aware that denouncing a delicate situation can cause a backlash effect that would make their child’s school experience even more painful…
Faced with the bankruptcy of a system that was unable to react adequately, or in time, to official procedures, a parent this time opted for registration to provide unequivocal proof of the climate of terror in the class. Next fall, the National Student Ombudsman will be operational. It will be possible to file a complaint there without going through the school and the service center, where the world is sometimes very small…
How many children have suffered the wrath of this teacher? How long has this woman been unwell? Did we try to help her, to take her out of school? For how many years has she been deploying her desperately violent methods? Let’s hope that the investigations will shed light on the situation and explain the inaction (or the slow reaction) of these two levels of our sick school system. Because the testimony of a mother whose child had this teacher a decade ago suggests that the situation had been going on for a long time – which parents gathered on Tuesday evening corroborated.
Questioned about some of his interventions by said mother at the time, the teacher allegedly yelled at her, two inches from her nose, to mind her own business: she had put together a file on the child, ready to be sent to the DPJ, in which she had written that the five-year-old child was not normal and that it came from home… Anti-bullying plans should also apply to teachers.
Now 15, this child is doing well in school and has a very good relationship with her mother. But she is still unable to hear a teacher scream.