Sussex school suspends 2 bullies: mother
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 | 12:09 PM AT
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A Sussex, N.B., mother says she is relieved that two bullies who have taunting her daughter and a friend have been suspended indefinitely from a local high school.
Annette Gregg and her daughter, Sam, 16, and Amanda Taylor, 15, spoke out this week about problems with bullies at Sussex Regional High School.
'The school's solutions or resolutions to problems generally are quite effective ... [and] the situation does change, it's not a permanent thing.'— Paul Smith, School District 6 spokesman
Going to school had become so difficult for Sam Gregg and Taylor that they were planning to transfer to a different school, and they needed teaching assistants to escort them to classes to avoid being taunted by the bullies.
But it now appears the threats and taunts may end and the two Grade 10 students won't have to leave their high school.
After another incident on Tuesday, Annette Gregg said, the school has suspended the bullies indefinitely.
Paul Smith, a spokesman for School District 6, said privacy issues prevent him from discussing the Sussex situation.
But Smith said all bullying situations are complex, and he's confident things will be resolved at the school level.
"The school's solutions or resolutions to problems generally are quite effective … [and] the situation does change. It's not a permanent thing," Smith said.
Smith said that in all cases of bullying, the bullies are encouraged to change their behaviour through counselling.
Before the suspension, Gregg had called school administrators, the RCMP and even Bernard Richard, the province's child and youth advocate, to find a way to stop the bullying.
Earlier this week, Sam Gregg described the threats that she and her friend were forced to endure.
"At school they usually follow me and Amanda around in the hallways, and since last week I had to be escorted by one of the TAs," Sam Gregg said.
"It's pretty scary actually. Like it's kind of like you're watching your back everywhere you go."
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