A Flin Flon School Division investigation of a schoolyard bullying incident earlier this week revealed a five-year-old child had not been chained to a goalpost, as was reported on Global News and picked up by the Reminder Online.
Flin Flon School Division Superintendent Blaine Veitch told The Reminder Friday morning that the five-year-old student, Seth Robertson, left the École McIsaac School grounds with other children on the day of the reported incident, and was gone for at least an hour.
“The student had left the school grounds and was playing with other children,” said Veitch. “The school tried to contact his parents, but didn’t get a response.”
Veitch said the playground was searched for the missing child throughout the afternoon.
“There were classes and camps outside doing greening and other work,” said Veitch. “He wasn’t on school grounds.”
The superintendent said Seth was back on school grounds by the 2:30 pm recess.
“They did come back and there was an incident between children,” Veitch said. “Students did interfere, but the boy did not appear to be hurt. He came in the school and stayed for the afternoon.”
Both the parents and the RCMP were contacted in the early stages of the investigation after a story that Robertson had been chained to a goalpost had surfaced.
“It was the early stages of the investigation,” said Veitch. “We
didn’t have much
information.”
McIsaac’s school grounds have a surveillance system in place, but Veitch said, “Unfortunately the recording wasn’t working.”
The superintendent said the live video was on, but it hadn’t been set to record.
Veitch said the school division will be reviewing its protocols.
“There are probably a few things we can learn from this,” he said.
“We appreciate the parents’ concerns. We want all of our students to be safe. We’re looking to learn from this case and to try and make sure…things are handled as well as possible in the future,” he said.
The incident at McIsaac was the second bullying-related incident in the community last week. There was also an altercation between students at Ruth Betts Community School.
That incident was posted on Facebook, describing a large group of students fighting.
“There was an incident,” said Veitch. “There were several boys playing together and it got physical. There was an altercation between [one boy] and three other children.”
Veitch said several children who were waiting to get into the school watched the incident.
“As bystanders they are taught to stop bullying, but they decided not to,” said Veitch. “There was a crowd of children around the one boy.”
As at McIsaac, the school grounds of Ruth Betts are under video surveillance. Veitch said he was able to review the recording and deal with the situation.
“The school has taken action…and [the students] have been dealt with,” he said.
The superintendent said bullying does happen at local schools, just as it does in workplaces and other surroundings.
“Schools are not immune to it,” he said. “Are we worse than other places? I don’t think so.
“There is some data that shows we have as many issues as other places,” Vietch said.
Veitch said the schools are “working hard” to end bullying with campaigns like Roots of Empathy and counselling as well disciplinary measures.
“We’re not taking this lightly,” said Veitch. “This last incident is one that is not typical and has been dealt with.”
RCMP official Tara Seel said the reported incident at École McIsaac School is no longer under investigation.
While the investigation is not officially closed, Seel says, “At this point we’re not following up on this. There is nothing to support it.”
