'Gang mentality' bullying claim as girl quits school

An 11-year-old girl has been pulled from school amid allegations of bullying by her classmates, including an email that suggested she should kill herself.

The girl's mother says the Christchurch school should have done more to stop the bullying before it spiralled into a "gang mentality" by which her daughter felt persecuted by her entire class.

"It's the little kick under the desk, it's the `You do realise everyone hates you, don't you?' It's the fact nobody calls her by her name, they all call her `the ugly bitch'," the girl's mother said.

The situation had spiralled after her daughter appeared on television, gathering a small amount of fame. "Kids just get jealous," her mother said.

Her daughter had been pulled from a previous school after being bullied by a teacher and was at risk of depression. The mother is now seeking a doctor's certificate to excuse her daughter for the rest of the year and planned to home-school both her children next year. She did not want the school identified.

"We've had night after night after night of insomnia and tears and just watching her lose interest in everything," she said. "She knows that 30 other people in the room she's in hate her."

The girl's mother said teaching policies did not allow schools to punish pupils for bullying.

"It's a great school – it's the system that it's living in that's flawed. The same problem would exist in any school because of the culture of what's accepted."

Bullying and cyber-bullying using email and mobile phones is a growing problem in schools and has been linked with several youth suicides.

The school's principal said he and his staff had fully investigated every allegation.

The email was sent via a social networking site and, because children shared their usernames and passwords, it was impossible to confirm who sent the message.

The parent of the child accused of sending the email also called in an independent computer expert, who could find no evidence of the email on the machine. Police had not been called.

"We investigated absolutely fully," the principal said. "We treated it seriously. I could find no evidence to suggest it was any one of the children at the school. Honestly, we did absolutely everything that we could do."

Regarding the other complaints, the girl had never complained to the school directly, he said. All the mother's complaints had been investigated. Some were without substance, some were misunderstandings.

Some children had been punished for saying nasty things to the girl. In proven cases, parents were contacted and children were disciplined, through such means as time out in the playground. He had spoken at school assemblies about bullying and how it would not be tolerated.

"We believe we're doing the very best we can for [the girl]."

High-profile bullying incidents

October 2009: Police are investigating allegations that a 13-year-old Onslow College pupil was beaten semi-conscious as up to 70 bystanders watched the attack, some filming on mobile phones.

June 2008: 14-year-old Waikato boy Myles Dellar was beaten unconscious by a group of classmates at a Raglan Area School social.

March 2008: Takapuna Grammar School pupil Toran Henry, 17, is found dead at home after a video of him being beaten by other pupils was posted on the internet.

December 2007: Nine junior Hutt Valley High School boys were dragged to the ground, partially stripped and violated – one with a sharp object – by a pack of six classmates.

February 2006: Waikato girl Alex Teka, 12, is found dead the day before school starts after a prolonged text message campaign, including death threats and abuse.

February 2003: Daniel Gillies, 16, of Oamaru, fell 80 metres to his death after teenagers sent him cruel text messages about his disfigured face.

- © Fairfax NZ News