EDMONTON – A Grade 4 student who was allegedly involved in a serious incident at a Sherwood Park elementary school is no longer a student there.
Parents, some of whom had expressed concern for their children’s safety at Brentwood Elementary, received a letter from Elk Island Public Schools Friday afternoon.
“As a follow-up to the letter you received on May 5, we want to advise you that the Grade 4 student referenced in that letter will no longer be attending Brentwood Elementary. Along with our community partners, we continue to work with the family and child to ensure they receive support and assistance as needed.”
The May 5 letter said the student “was involved in a situation April 22, 2014 that has caused a great deal of concern.” It offered few details, citing privacy legislation, and said the student would remain at the school but be supervised by staff at all times. He was to take separate recess and lunch breaks and be kept out of classrooms with other pupils.
Some parents said school officials hadn’t done enough.
“My eight-year-old … was up to one o’clock in the morning crying, having a tummy ache, not wanting to go to school,” Chantal Thompson told Global News Tuesday.
READ MORE: Parents concerned after incident with student at Sherwood Park school
Thompson, whose 10, eight and six-year-old children attend Brentwood Elementary, kept her kids home from school for a few days after hearing about the incident.
“I’m doing this for my children, the safety of the kids. I want them to feel safe at school and if they don’t even feel safe there then why send them?”
She says she’s relieved the child will no longer be attending Brentwood.
“I’m just relieved. My daughter came through the doors with a big smile,” Thompson explained. “The relief from her, the weight off her shoulders, she was just so happy.”
While relieved, Thompson says she’s not pleased with how the situation was handled by the school division. She believes all parents who have kids at Brentwood Elementary should have been notified of the incident right away.
“It took two weeks for us to actually get the letter,” she said. “If it wasn’t for a certain mom to call parents, to call a meeting, then we probably still would be in the dark… we should have known about this the day after.”
Elk Island Public Schools says it is committed to improving and will conduct a review of its practices.
“A Brentwood Elementary parent has volunteered to be part of this review process,” read the letter sent home Friday.
Brentwood Elementary School has about 500 students and 45 staff members.
Comments