Oshawa mothers say bullying an issue in their children’s school

A pair of Oshawa mothers are speaking out after what they say is a continuous problem with bullying in their kids’ school.
One of them says it’s gotten so bad she has decided to move her family and her kids to another city.

It’s no secret every school deals with bullying on some level. But for Alex McNevin and Raazia Rizvi who go to David Bouchard Public School in Oshawa, they say enough is enough.

“It’s been going on for years, and when I say years, I mean it began in 5th grade,” says McNevin.

The 13-year-old who identifies as non-binary says a toxic culture of bullying has plagued the school. And it all came to a head for them and Razia on anti-bullying day. That’s when Alex says they got beaten up for defending Raazia.

“One of them pulled their hair and started to punch them. It was a very disturbing thing to see,” says Rizvi, who says they had been harassing them earlier that day as well.

“I was shoved so hard,” McNevin said. “I shoved back, and then I had my hair pulled.”

The incident resulted in a meeting between families and the vice-principal, but no disciplinary action, says the families.

“There was no discipline at all (even after) the interviews with the kids. They were aggressive, there was no remorse towards Alex at all, and that’s a problem,” says Kayla Degarie, Alex’s mother.

Global News reached out to the Durham District School Board about the incident. Superintendent David Crossfield says they recognize the school has a problem.

“We do acknowledge there are issues that we are trying to correct,” he said, when Global News inquired about the school.

The DDSB says they have a strict policy on bullying and conduct complex investigations when there is a report on an issue.

“We do a fulsome investigation,” says Michael Menheere. “There may have to be progressive discipline.”

Menheere is in charge of the Safe Schools profile for the school board.

“I think the important part, too, is what do we do after we may have to implement discipline.”

Marzia Shamsi, Raazia’s mother says they have had enough of the back and forth, and have decided to move their children to another school and another city altogether.

“Nobody does anything about it. Nothing is being done,” says Shamsi. “I don’t want to put my child, and possibly risk my child’s life she says.”

Although Raazia is upset to leave her friends, she is happy to be able to move somewhere she won’t have to look over her shoulder.

“I’m moving schools and I’m glad. I hope I can feel safer.”

These aren’t the only families dealing with issues. Amiee Talbot just enrolled her son at the elementary school last September. She says her 10 year-old has had problems ever since he started.

“Yesterday people were saying he was adopted, and just swearing at him, using the n word has come up a lot,” she said.

“He goes to tell a teacher like they say to do, but I’m not sure if they just don’t know how to handle it or if it’s just too many.”

It’s a problem all too familiar for the local union president, Mary Fowler. The chapter lead for the Elementary Teachers Foundation of Ontario in Durham says the environment can put a strain on teachers as well.

“They haven’t really looked at how to address the behaviours,” she said. “That’s a big concern that staff have.”

1:23 Several youths arrested after bullying and assault investigation in Oshawa

The school board uses a progressive discipline model, addressing all students impacted in incidents. This means they don’t resort immediately to suspension or expulsion and try to work with students and families.

“We have the safe school plan for those impacted,” says Menheere. “Those are ways they can feel safe in school, get their input and parents.”

“But we also have to support the student that may have been doing the bullying. They will have to come back to the school and we need to fix those relationship moving forward,” he said.

Fowler says the school board has promised more staff and complementing the faculty a little different than other schools in the region. This includes additional staff, teachers assistants and a childhood educator as well.

But Fowler says she’s hearing from her members that the progressive discipline model isn’t necessarily working.

“It doesn’t get to the root problems of the behaviours of kids that live really challenging lives,” says Fowler.

The DDSB encourages victims to come forward using their reporting mechanism — report bullying now. It’s a system that allows, families, victims or teachers to report incidents discreetly. But parents still question if more needs to be done.

“I just don’t see how the school doesn’t see this. This is multiple children this is happening to, it’s not just our children,” says Degarie