Violence at schools also occurs in the region. School staff in Bas-Saint-Laurent are also under great strain. Recently, a child armed with a pair of scissors attempted to attack another child. A violent incident that an employee denounces because he or she believes management acted improperly.
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“During recess, a teenager came out with a pair of scissors to attack another teenager in the schoolyard. […] The other young man managed to seek refuge in the school and the young man tried to return to attack him. He couldn’t do it because the doors were locked,” said an employee of that school, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
That day it took about forty minutes to subdue the teenager.
Immediately after the event, the Phares School Service Center said there were discussions between teachers and their students about what had just happened.
However, the Phares School Service Center explains that no notice was sent to parents “as the situation has been brought under control.”
“It was at recess when all the young people in the playground were trying to see what was going on. Some were traumatized, others cried in the hallways afterwards. I feel there could have been more support for the students,” our source explained.
This person has decided to break the silence because he believes that violence in schools is too present and not adequately denounced.
“Violent situations often occur in schools. I believe this situation was really serious and was too trivialized by management,” she added.
Management did not feel it was necessary to call the Sûreté du Québec that day.
According to our source, people are still hesitant to call the police in such situations because there is no “clear protocol.”
“Yes, I believe that the Sûreté du Québec had to act in this case. […] We hold cordons with students, we do fire drills, there may be a lack of information on how to deal with such situations in schools,” she explained.
According to Jean-François Gaumond, president of the education union of the Mitis region, awareness needs to be raised.
“We don’t automatically think of calling the police, but we are there in our schools, even primary schools, to protect our teachers and students,” Mr Gaumond said.
The Union is also of the opinion that violent incidents are unfortunately “tolerated”.
“For a long time we have trivialized acts of violence to the point where they are considered normal, even though there should be no tolerance,” Mr Gaumond added.
The Phares School Service Center assures that such events do not occur every day and claims that violence in the region’s schools is not increasing.
According to the school service center, everything was done to care for and support the two affected students.
However, our source believes that support should not only apply to the two people affected and that additional protective measures should be put in place.