Briar MacLean may have saved a life, but his school chose to reprimand him instead of applauding his bravery.
Briar MacLean, a 7th grader at Sir John A. Macdonald School in Calgary, Canada, stepped in and saved a classmate from a bully with a knife, but according to his mother the 13-year-old was not recognized for taking a stand, he was instead unfairly disciplined by his school. The Sun News reports that MacLean, “broke up a fight that could have turned into a stabbing,” but instead of praise or even thanks, he was sent to the principal’s office, his mother was called, he was questioned by police, had his locker searched, and was then sent home.
MacLean told the Sun News, “The [bully] put [the victim] in a headlock, and then he pulled out his switch-knife… and then I came in and pushed him into the wall.” His mother, Leah O’Donnell also told the National Post that on the day of the incident she received a phone call from vice principal of her son’s school, and she was informed that the school does not “condone heroics” and that her son should have sought out a teacher’s help. O’Donnell said, “I asked: ‘In the time it would have taken him to go get a teacher, could that kid’s throat have been slit?’ She said yes, but that’s beside the point. That we ‘don’t condone heroics in this school.’”
Principal Michael Bester released a statement which said:
It is not recommended that students intervene in incidents such as this to ensure their own safety. While we’d rather avoid events such as this, they do occur at schools across our city. We want to assure you that we took every step in this situation to keep students and staff at the school safe.
According to police the investigation is ongoing, but it has been confirmed that there was a knife involved in the incident. No one has been charged yet but according to the school,”two students, including the bully, were suspended following the incident.”
At the end of the day, this student will be able to look himself in the mirror and know he did the right thing and saved a life. Yes, he risked his physical safety, but he saved himself the potential life-long trauma of having to carry the guilt of not stopping a murder when he could have done so. OTOH, the administrators involved, who seem to think it is “normal” for knife-wielding bullies to be found in junior high schools around the city, can know that they took the cowardly route to avoid potential liability. Nice lesson to teach the… Read more »
Something not unlike this happened with my eldest son, one classmate attacked another with a pencil… Upon getting a call from the school I asked for the names of all teachers and staff who witnessed the incident, for those who should have witnessed the same and if the principal felt there was sufficient adult supervision present at the time. I also asked if there was any video or audio record of the situation. Then I asked for the fax # at the office and explained that they would shortly be getting a letter repeating my direction that my son’s questioning… Read more »
Thanks for validating my sarcasm. When my kids were in high school I know of two kids in separate incidents who were suspended for ten days for “fighting”. A better description would be “getting the crap beat out of them” by the bullies who regularly abused them. But hey, that’s what you get with a zero tolerance policy. Looking on the bright side the suspensions gave them ten days without abuse. So to paraphrase the immortal Carl Spackler, they had that going for them.
There’s some more sarcasm in there somewhere.
I see a boy and his mother, I wonder where his father is.
Luckily this mother stays with her son and not with the school principal.
‘Principal Michael Bester released a statement which said:
We want to assure you that we took every step in this situation to keep students and staff at the school safe.’
—-
What a stupid talk is this, how come then in this so safe school is a bully with a knife attacking other students?
You’re absolutely right. These educators really screwed this one up. There should have been three students suspended. They either left out the victim or that meddlesome kid in the suspensions. Zero tolerance for this stuff. This is how it’s done in the US. WTH is going on in Canada these days.
My God! These ‘Educrats’ are so far ‘off the rails’ they’re in another time zone! Make that the Twilight Zone! It’s really scary when you realize that these people are shaping the future.