If you knew that your school-aged child was being bullied, to what lengths would you go to ensure the child’s safety?
A Norfolk, Virginia woman decided to take things into her own hands when, she claims, repeated calls and emails to her child’s school went unanswered. Sara Sims placed a recording device in her nine-year old daughter’s backpack before she went to school one morning. Smith says her fourth grade daughter was being bullied and school administrators were doing nothing about the situation.
The recorder was discovered in the child’s backpack, and she was moved into another classroom. Sims thought that this might solve the problem, and she was happy that action had finally been taken.
However, her happiness was short-lived. A month later, Sims was charged with the use of a device to intercept oral communication and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Sims says she was mortified. “The next thing I know, I’m a felon…when I’m trying to look out for my kid,” she said.
Sims says the thing that bothers her most is that she has yet to get a response from anyone in the school’s administration. She says she only took things into her own hands when no one at the school wanted to help her little girl. She never dreamed her actions would be used against her in such dramatic fashion.
Her attorney maintains that, thus far, the school is not making this about the classroom. The one felony charge carries a possible jail term. The felony charge could land Sims in jail for up to five years. All of this for trying to protect her daughter when the school she attended would not do so.
What do you think? Is this all just a little bit ridiculous? And why on earth would a school not want to protect a student from being bullied? The school system has yet to comment on the situation.
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