[Tony Montana]

Jamie Rathburn, a South Carolina mother, was arrested last month for going into her son’s elementary school and confronting his homophobic bullies.

She claims the bullies called her son “gay” and “stupid,” but that her concerns were dismissed by the school.


The mother entered the school without permission and confronted a group of third grade children, as well as a teacher.

Beforehand she posted a video on Facebook saying she was going to the school, which prompted someone to alert the police.

Rathburn said, according to Fox 32: “He was told that he was ugly, that he was stupid, nobody cared, and he was called gay, he was cussed out, and when he reported those things he was told to ignore it.” She claimed the school had told her the behaviour was “boys playing rough.”

She also claimed that the treatment of her son became violent, and that bullies threw him off a sliding ladder by his neck and hit him with a computer.
Since her arrest, Rathburn has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for her legal fees as well as “to take this to the top and really create change.”

She wrote: “I’m ‘the mom that stormed the school’ apparently I should hire the best attorney I can, so I’m hoping that friends and supporters will help me, because I’d like to take this to the top and really create change, but I have to make sure that have a legal team in place.”

Posts on the page, and on Rathburn’s Facebook page, are largely supportive.

According to Fox 32, Rathburn’s son will not be allowed to return to the school but will be attending another in the same district.

Rathburn wrote on her Facebook page that she would be attending a court date soon, and Greenville News reported that she had publicly apologised but had received a “no trespassing notice”, meaning she is no longer allowed on the school property.

“Maybe in her mind she was going there to confront a bully or a couple of children, but in not knowing who those were and choosing to yell at dozens of innocent kids, there is nothing appropriate about yelling at other people’s children’s in a school setting after you’ve snuck in illegally,” Beth Brotherton, director of communications for the Greenville school district where the incident happened, told Fox 32.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/06/1...hobic-bullies/

[RileyH]

hit him with a computer

why am I screaming at the thought of a 10 year old getting smashed in the face by a full on computer ahh

[Liam-]

Bullies getting away with it again, schools who have no care for their students and their wellbeing make me sick, they’d rather let it continue than having to do some proper work, *****.

[Ramsay]

Good for her

[Tom4784]

Just another case of a school being more protective of their image then of their students. Most schools refuse to acknowledge problems with bullying, it's always been the case.

[Vicky.]

It shouldn't get to the point that a parent has to do this. From my experience, schools are really really crap at dealing with bullies like.

[Amy Jade]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

It shouldn't get to the point that a parent has to do this. From my experience, schools are really really crap at dealing with bullies like.

My school suspended me for fighting back.

I was being bullied for years and it became physical, such as spitting in my hair, pulling my hair and shoving me. My mum had been in the school so many times and the most they did was put one girl on report for a week so one girl threw pencil shavings on me and I lost it and had a fight with her and I was suspended.

Schools dont care unless you make it public.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

My school suspended me for fighting back.

I was being bullied for years and it became physical, such as spitting in my hair, pulling my hair and shoving me. My mum had been in the school so many times and the most they did was put one girl on report for a week so one girl threw pencil shavings on me and I lost it and had a fight with her and I was suspended.

Schools dont care unless you make it public.

Yup, I got the same. They did **** all about me actually being assaulted for weeks and weeks along with nasty comments constantly, then when I finally snapped and kicked the crap out of her, I was the one in bloody trouble. Suddenly it matters when people fight back. Having similar issues with stepson too, hes being picked on and sometimes fights back, but the teachers miraculously never see the lads hitting him but always look just in time to see him fight back..then he gets detention. Its shocking really.

[sleleen]

Legend

[Kazanne]

It's ridiculous ,and good on that mother for trying to protect her child,the schools should have proper anti bullying rules and follow them,most of them are just useless,a parents instinct is to protect your child and I'de have laid into them, Im sure that red mist would have got me.

[Amy Jade]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Yup, I got the same. They did **** all about me actually being assaulted for weeks and weeks along with nasty comments constantly, then when I finally snapped and kicked the crap out of her, I was the one in bloody trouble. Suddenly it matters when people fight back. Having similar issues with stepson too, hes being picked on and sometimes fights back, but the teachers miraculously never see the lads hitting him but always look just in time to see him fight back..then he gets detention. Its shocking really.

Urgh poor thing, I bet he's so frustrated.

It's sickening how badly some schools/teachers deal with bullying.

[AnnieK]

Awful that it got to this for her and her son. Too many schools say they have a zero tolerance policy on bullying but tend to sweep it under the carpet.

[Ammi]

...I don’t know what action was being taken by the school for any bullying and although I completely feel for the frustrations of the parent...I pretty much agree with this...

“Maybe in her mind she was going there to confront a bully or a couple of children, but in not knowing who those were and choosing to yell at dozens of innocent kids, there is nothing appropriate about yelling at other people’s children’s in a school setting after you’ve snuck in illegally,” Beth Brotherton, director of communications for the Greenville school district where the incident happened, told Fox 32.

...she didn’t just ‘confront’ the bullies...but she ‘confronted’ innocents too who were 9yrs old and who at the moment of her outburst with whatever she said..?...had until then felt safe and secure in their school environment...her moment of frustration has jeopardised and damaged that for so many children who were not a part of any bullying behaviour...there’s a wrong way and there’s a wrong way...and this for me is undoubtedly the wrong way...


...I do hope the issues for her child are addressed immediately though.....

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Kazanne

It's ridiculous ,and good on that mother for trying to protect her child,the schools should have proper anti bullying rules and follow them,most of them are just useless,a parents instinct is to protect your child and I'de have laid into them, Im sure that red mist would have got me.

not just anti bullying, but also anti homophobic too


having that mother arrested really makes the school's principal and staff come over as homophobic bullies too in a way, for not doing anything about the real bad people here

[Vicky.]

Yeah, just screaming at random kids is not the answer I guess

I think I would take it out on the teachers that are doing nothing to help, rather than shouting at kids when you don't even know which kids it was seemingly. But I get why she snapped.

One of the stepkids was bullied in primary school too, was coming in with loads of bruises, teachers were not interested at all. Until Gavin went in and told the headteacher that from that day, whenever his son came in with a bruises he would go in and give the headteacher one in the same place. Oddly enough, the teachers got their arses into gear and the kids were sorted and not a bruise until he left that school. So they CAN do it if properly motivated, which should not take threats as they should care and do as much as possible to start with

I was sure he was going to be arrested for that actually, but I again got where he was coming from as he had tried formal meetings, speaking to the parents of the kids involved and such for months and months and nothing changed.

He cannot really do this angle with current bullying though, absolutely no way he would get away with it these days. And he accepts it was wrong, but also stands by it as it stopped his kid being hurt and nothing else was working so

[user104658]

A fully grown adult confronting primary school children aggressively is never going to be the right move . You talk to the school. If that doesn't work, you talk directly to the involved children's parents (we have had to do this). If that doesn't work you inform those parents that you'll involve the police - which usually puts a rocket up their arse - and if they're still not interested then that's exactly what you do, because at the end of the day, it's still harassment and assault whether it's children or not.

[Ammi]

..on a positive ...her actions have highlighted another huge issue with the school which needs to be addressed immediately..that an intruder was able to gain such close proximity to a classroom full of children..that intruder could have been armed...

[Beso]

I'm a bit concerned about her being able to saunter angrily into a US school. .

[Beso]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..on a positive ...her actions have highlighted another huge issue with the school which needs to be addressed immediately..that an intruder was able to gain such close proximity to a classroom full of children..that intruder could have been armed...

This

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

My school suspended me for fighting back.

I was being bullied for years and it became physical, such as spitting in my hair, pulling my hair and shoving me. My mum had been in the school so many times and the most they did was put one girl on report for a week so one girl threw pencil shavings on me and I lost it and had a fight with her and I was suspended.

Schools dont care unless you make it public.

It's easier to scapegoat a victim when they snap than it is to solve an underlying problem. Zero tolerance policies are and have always been bull****. Lip service and nothing more.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..on a positive ...her actions have highlighted another huge issue with the school which needs to be addressed immediately..that an intruder was able to gain such close proximity to a classroom full of children..that intruder could have been armed...

I actually disagree on this Ammi, my daughter's school yard is very easily accessible and I wouldn't have them change it, in fact I'd find it quite depressing if they did. I sadly think the high fences and security doors are somewhat of an illusion, designed to make parents "feel like" their kids are safer when in reality it makes very little difference security wise - if someone is determined to commit a crime like that, a fence and a door isn't going to stop them. And I think the harm done by having kids grow up in mini-prisons surrounded by barbed wire isn't yet fully understood.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I actually disagree on this Ammi, my daughter's school yard is very easily accessible and I wouldn't have them change it, in fact I'd find it quite depressing if they did. I sadly think the high fences and security doors are somewhat of an illusion, designed to make parents "feel like" their kids are safer when in reality it makes very little difference security wise - if someone is determined to commit a crime like that, a fence and a door isn't going to stop them. And I think the harm done by having kids grow up in mini-prisons surrounded by barbed wire isn't yet fully understood.

...It doesn’t have to be a ‘mini prison’ for a child to be safer at school though, TS...But for me an intruder in a classroom..(..and an enraged intruder..)..is a huge concern that the school also has to address...as well as any bullying issues...

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...It doesn’t have to be a ‘mini prison’ for a child to be safer at school though, TS...But for me an intruder in a classroom..(..and an enraged intruder..)..is a huge concern that the school also has to address...as well as any bullying issues...

Ahh to be fair, I did originally read it as her entering the school grounds rather than the building itself. Obviously it would be a concern if anyone could just walk in without being buzzed through a reception.

That said; she's a parent of a child at the school so if the staff are aware of that and she's said she's there to see or collect her child, there's every chance they would let her in on that basis?

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Ahh to be fair, I did originally read it as her entering the school grounds rather than the building itself. Obviously it would be a concern if anyone could just walk in without being buzzed through a reception.

That said; she's a parent of a child at the school so if the staff are aware of that and she's said she's there to see or collect her child, there's every chance they would let her in on that basis?

...Obviously we don’t know every detail.....but I’m going to assume she wasn’t buzzed in and allowed into the classroom during lesson time is one thing but also because of how the incident was described...which was that she ‘snuck in illegally..’...and then when she was in she was able to gain access to the classroom...which she obviously would know where it was I presume from any previous visits...

“Maybe in her mind she was going there to confront a bully or a couple of children, but in not knowing who those were and choosing to yell at dozens of innocent kids, there is nothing appropriate about yelling at other people’s children’s in a school setting after you’ve snuck in illegally,”


...hmmmm all I can say is that even through she was a parent...?...I would expect ‘an unexpected parent’ during a school day not to be allowed directly to a classroom...especially if they seemed agitated in any way...but even if she had hidden that completely...?...I would still expect security procedures to be in place and her not be allowed into a class in session without a specific agreement for some reason...