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This article was published 18/8/2009 (4699 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
'Our whole lifestyle has had to change,' says Deborah LeBlanc, with her son, Bryan, who was allegedly bullied and attacked.
WINNIPEG – An Assiniboia family has launched an unprecedented lawsuit asking the courts to decide how far a school's responsibility goes in protecting children from bullying.
Deborah LeBlanc has filed a lawsuit against St. James-Assiniboia School Division over an alleged incident in which her son Bryan suffered a fractured skull and ongoing brain damage last year.
It is believed to be the first time anyone has sued a Manitoba public school division over bullying.
"Our whole lifestyle has had to change," LeBlanc said Tuesday.
She said that Bryan -- who turns 14 next month -- can't concentrate on more than one concept at a time, is not allowed to bicycle or skateboard or play team sports, and gets severe headaches from noise or bright lights.
"He can't go to school -- he's still going for medical consultations," said LeBlanc.
LeBlanc said that the alleged incident occurred on May 20, 2008, at 2:30 p.m. in a classroom at Hedges Middle School. Byran was among about 30 kids in the class, but the teacher was elsewhere, she said.
"There was free reading, there was only an educational assistant in the class."
LeBlanc alleged that over the next 20 minutes, a boy who was older and larger than the rest of his classmates first verbally bullied Bryan -- "Your family's poor, look at how you're dressed," she said Bryan reported the boy as saying -- and then grabbed Bryan twice.
Bryan went to the educational assistant for help, said LeBlanc. She alleges the EA did nothing to intervene.
"The kid picked (Bryan) up a third time and slammed his head to the floor," she said.
"They did not call me, or an ambulance. He needed help with walking, his legs were really weak," she said.
Bryan was in hospital for two days, his mother said.
She is asking unspecified damages, and said that other students present in class that day may be called as witnesses.
The school had a responsibility to protect her son, LeBlanc said: "The EA could have stopped it. An ambulance should have been called."
Education officials said Tuesday they can't recall a previous lawsuit over bullying.
"I'm not aware of any precedent in Manitoba," said Carolyn Duhamel, executive director of the Manitoba School Boards Association. "Most of the time, parents and school divisions try to sort these things out internally."
LeBlanc said that she has home-schooled Bryan, and the division has sent a teacher to their home regularly. Bryan hopes to attend John Taylor Collegiate this fall, but will have difficulty handling a variety of subjects each day, LeBlanc said.
"We've already met with the team from John Taylor" and are lining up special resources to help Bryan, she said.
She has two younger children, said LeBlanc: "I'm a single mom, I don't have any family, I'm with Bryan 24 hours a day."
She said she does not know the family of the alleged bully, and said that the boy and Bryan did not have previous conflict. She said the police have been involved, and believes the division gave the boy a one-day suspension.
St. James-Assiniboia superintendent Ron Weston said the division would not comment while the lawsuit is before the courts.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
