Children were left alone in a snowstorm for nearly half an hour.
Two children in Somerset Nova Scotia, aged 10 and 6, were denied access to their school and left outside alone for 26 minutes during a snowstorm this past Thursday, Dec 16. The kids were dropped off at the school by their mother and were stopped at the door by their Principal Tracy Murray. Her reason for not allowing them in: the kids had chosen to stop wearing masks.
In November both children made a decision to no longer wear masks, as they were causing extreme anxiety, as well as skin rashes and colds. At first, the school made some accommodations, though they treated each child differently. The 6 year-old could attend class as usual, but the older sibling had to be in an office room isolated from the rest of the school, not even allowed to go to her locker to get her lunch. On one occasion the staff forgot to bring the child’s lunch up from her locker, which resulted in her going the entire day without eating.
After a week and a half of these “accommodations” the older child started being sent home for not wearing a mask while the younger was still permitted to attend. When the children’s mother pointed out the double standard, the school responded by sending the younger child home as well. The mother was given an ultimatum: either force her kids to wear a mask or they would be suspended. They were suspended on five subsequent occasions, resulting in the children missing 16 days of school.
On December 16th the children were dropped off after serving their fourth suspension. The principal, on seeing them unmasked, refused to allow them entry, and locked them outside. She came out twice, once to give the older child gloves, and to give the children’s grandmother letters stating they were suspended for a 5th time. A local RCMP office passing by noticed the kids playing outside in a snowbank close to the road and pulled in the school driveway to keep an eye on them. The officer spent some time outside with the children, but several times the officer needed to warm up in his car while the children remained outside. Principal Murray told the mother that two staff were always with the kids while they waited outside. However, the officer says he was the only adult present.
The children’s mother says the children are struggling with missing school, and their friends. They feel singled out, as they have witnessed other children and staff going maskless on multiple occasions. The eldest is especially upset over not being allowed to go to the school book fair, as she is an avid reader. She thought she might be able to go, but a teacher blocked her from going in at the last minute.
The mother of the children says she just wants the children to be able to experience a normal education without being discriminated against.
We reached out to the principle, but have not received a response as of publication time.
The names of the mother and children have been withheld by request.
Thanks for covering this, Beth. Absolutely disgusting behavior by this school. “Health and safety”, indeed.
Sounds like irresponsible parents just dropping their kids off in a situation they are well aware of the outcome and now looking for attention.
Are you joking?
If these were your kids you’d be singing a different song wouldn’t you?
I agree this draconian dictatorship is over ,god would be appalled at these monsters for keeping children in the cold cause their ego said do ,hahhhha oh shit if hate to be them
The story the mother and grandmother is completely different that they have all over Facebook. The police was not driving by in their original comments he was parked across the road. This family is also a part of the valley freedom fighters. There is much more to this story. If you want to cover a story make sure you can get accurate information
Any parent who allow this travesty to happen will burn in hell ,
The parents set these kids up for disaster. They already had issues before and continued the same pattern. Why drive off and leave the kids knowing full well there would be an issue? If you don’t agree with masking, take them out of school. Why repeatedly subject them to all the consequences if neither side changes their stance? Don’t use your kids as pawns in your own covid conspiracy crap.
The parent is part of the protest group in Berwick, theres so much more to this story.
It’s unfortunate that the children found it so difficult to put a clothe mask over their nose & mouth. There are so many resilient children who are thriving despite the pandemic & then there is the unfortunate ones who are suffering during these difficult times. I feel bad that the children do feel conflicted because they are getting a mix of information and chose to follow a certain belief set & are unable to join their friends because there are certain rules in place. However, whether masking is believed to be effective or not it is mandatory & rather than placing the school in such a difficult situation they may need to take their concerns to appropriate rule makers rather than rule followers . I did not overlook the fact that children were outside & I would like to assume appropriately dressed for the winter weather and under the watchful eye of someone periodically checking in on their well being. much the same way an adult would monitor their kids in an age appropriate way.