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A mother in Greenville County, South Carolina was arrested after she walked into her son’s elementary school and confronted his longtime bully.
Jamie Rathburn said she has kept a log of all the bullying incidents, “He got hit, kicked, hit with a computer, he was shoved, he was jerked off a slide from behind,” Rathburn said.
On May 17th, Rathburn walked into the elementary school without permission and confronted students.
”I’m not right in my actions, but I’m right in standing up for my son,” Jamie Rathburn said. “I feel like it was handled poorly. I feel like my son was neglected in the fact that he would ask for help and not receive it. He was not being heard, which is why I got involved,” she said.
Greenville County Schools said Greenbrier Elementary had been in frequent contact with Rathburn about the bullying and was taking steps to address it. But the district also said if a parent doesn’t feel a school is being responsive, they should contact the district directly. Rathburn did not.
Greenville County Schools said the district was not the one who called police. District officials believe it was a concerned parent who saw a heated Facebook post.
“It is never OK to confront other people’s children and to use foul language with them and threatening language with them,” said Beth Brotherton, Greenville County Schools District spokeswoman.
Part of Rathburn’s frustration is that she didn’t know how the accused bullies were being punished. But the district said it would be a violation of the other families’ privacy to release that information.
“I told him what I did wasn’t OK. It wasn’t. It was not OK. Mom shouldn’t have done that, but I was upset and you see what happened when I allowed my emotions to control my behavior. I did something stupid and it got me arrested,” she said.
Source: WNCT