PARIS — Nineteen students were suspended last week from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School after parents were told their children were being disciplined in connection with the harassment and intimidation of a student.
A group of students were alleged to have roamed the school Thursday morning in search of one student who they claimed had kicked another student the previous day. The group then surrounded and intimidated the male student, School Administrative District 17 officials say.
Superintendent Heather Manchester said to families in a letter sent Saturday that the 19 students were suspended on Thursday “for coming together as a disruptive and potentially dangerous group to respond to a rumored incident of violence in the bus loop.”
One of the suspended students told the Advertiser Democrat on Friday that he and several others were waiting for their buses Wednesday when they witnessed the one student kick at another child who was holding a big chunk of snow. The suspended student said the child who was assaulted was showing his snow chunk to the others.
School officials said there was “no actual physical harm” resulting from the incident at the bus loop.
The next day, another student who witnessed the incident went looking for the student who had kicked the snow, with the intent of asking why he bullied someone, according to the suspended student. Other students began following as well, he said, adding that only one person in the crowd actually spoke to the one student accused of kicking the child.
When high school staff saw a crowd had formed, the student at the center of the incident was removed from the scene and administrators began identifying the others involved and contacting their parents.
“As school leaders entrusted with the safety of the sons and daughters of the Oxford Hills, we cannot tolerate acts of student bullying or physical retribution in our schools, no matter the intent,” Manchester said.
The suspensions ranged from two to five days.
News of the incident spread quickly on social media, with many parents and kids posting that the students had not ganged up on anyone but instead were standing up for a peer who had been bullied the previous day.
Chris Fogg the parent of another suspended student, said his child is being punished for being in the vicinity of the incident.
“My son is in 10th grade and friends with some of the kids in the group,” Fogg said. “He said they were walking down the hall” and when they saw the alleged bully, a couple confronted him.
“The vice principal said that in the video my son was doing nothing wrong, but it was a threatening situation,” Fogg added. “He was suspended for being a spectator, arms crossed and standing there in the background. It makes about as much sense as watching a parade and getting punished.”
Channing and Ashley Locke, parents of another suspended student, were also called to the school. Ashley said her first reaction was to ground her son but when he explained that his friend was calling the one student out for bullying, they decided they would not punish him further.
“I support my son standing up against bullies,” Channing said. “We taught him to take it seriously. He has never gotten in trouble before.”
The social media frenzy led to speculation that district administrators do not hold all students to the same behavioral standards.
However, Manchester said it is against the law for any district employee to share information about any student with others, including disciplinary actions. Details of the mass suspension were first made public on social media by parents and students.
“State law and privacy rights limit what I can share with you, but school administrators have reviewed school surveillance video, talked with the alleged assailant and the supposed victim and his family, and completed an investigation report,” Manchester said in her letter, referring to the alleged Wednesday incident with the snow. “The work by Principal (Paul) Bickford and his administrative team confirms that there was no intended violence, bullying, or actual physical harm involving the bus line interaction that has been the subject of rumor this week.”
