A Kanata, Ont., woman has filed a statement of claim against the Ottawa Catholic School Board for allegedly failing to protect her daughter against bullying at school.

Krisha Stanton alleges that her daughter’s teacher at St. Isidore School on March Road, along with some administrators and the school board, failed to protect her daughter Jaclyn from bullying.

According to a statement of claim filed by the family in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice almost two weeks ago, Jaclyn was repeatedly bullied and harassed during the 2007-2008 school year.

In the statement, the family said another student pulled Jaclyn’s hair, tripped her and called her names in front of other children in the class. Stanton said in the statement that during the bullying, her daughter started to withdraw, quit her swimming classes, began wetting her bed at night, and sobbed at the sight of her school bus.

Stanton, who is seeking $325,000 in damages, said in the claim that her daughter now goes to a private school and requires ongoing counselling, treatment and medication.

Stanton said in the statement that she went to the school on multiple occasions to ask for help, but she said she was rebuffed when she asked to have her daughter moved out of the class.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. The school has until the middle of March to respond with its defence.

“The statement of claim is in the hands of the board’s lawyers and we are not in a position to comment at this time,” said Mardi deKemp, a spokeswoman for the school board.

Bruce Feldthusen, a dean at the University of Ottawa’s law department, said cases against educators are not unusual, but he said the vast majority of cases against teachers and school boards don’t go to trial.

Feldthusen noted that if the lawsuit goes to trial, it could set a precedent for how bullying cases are handled in the courts.

“In order to bring a successful action, I think the students are going to have to prove that they’ve suffered a recognized psychiatric injury, and that’s the kind of thing that can impair your lifetime earnings and become very expensive,” he said.

“If all these allegations could be proven, if there were no surprises coming from the other side, they’re alleging depression and anxiety disorder here — it’s the type of case that could definitely culminate in liability,” Feldthusen said.

The province recently passed Bill 157, which requires school staff to report incidents of bullying and violence to the school principal, who is then required to contact the parents of all of the students involved in the incident.