NOTE: To protect the identity of the minors involved the names of their parents have been changed.
KAWARTHA LAKES-Mike Smith says he doesn’t feel his child is safe at school.
“It’s scary, you’re supposed to feel safe in the morning letting your kids get on that bus and go to school and instead now I am worried every day.” Smith told Kawartha 411 News.
Smith’s eight year old son attends Fenelon Township Public School in Cameron. Smith says in September his son was dragged into a ditch, behind some bushes on the outskirts of school grounds and held against his will by two 10-year-old boys.
“They grabbed my son from behind, and dragged him. These boys had prepared in advance, they had sharp sticks waiting there. They put the sharp stick to my sons neck and wouldn’t let him leave.”
Smith says one of the boys then dragged a little girl into the ditch and tried to force the two of them perform inappropriate acts on each other. Smith’s son and the girl were able to get away after the bell rang and distracted one of the boys.
“It makes me feel sick to my stomach that this is the type of care that parents are entrusting their minors to. It makes me feel unsafe to send our kids into the public school system to the point where we are thinking about pulling him.”
Smith is not only upset with what happened to his son, he is angry about the school and boards response. According to Smith the perpetrators got a two day suspension and are already back in school. He says the school promised it would put a “safety plan” in place to ensure his son wouldn’t run into these students again but that has already been broken.
Kawartha 411 news has learned that one of the perpetrators has been involved in a similar incident in the past.
We contacted the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB)who would not confirm any details saying they could not discuss “student issues” and implied that we should not be discussing it either.
“That is not our information to go into, you and I or the media at all because this is a student incident, this is absolutely not something we can discuss at all,” Â Carolynne Bull, Communications Director, TLDSB told Kawartha 411 News.
Speaking generally Bull said school officials and the board take a number of factors into consideration when it comes to discipline.
When asked what the school board is doing to ensure these kids and the rest of the student body are kept safe Bull said “I can’t answer that”.
In the meantime she suggested Smith continue his conversations with the principal, while his son is left feeling vulnerable.
Smith says he feels the two perpetrators in his sons incident must be expelled to keep others safe and then moved to a different school once the expulsion is complete.
The OPP was notified of the incident and said they have limited options due to the age of the kids involved.
“This incident was reported to police. Officers attended and spoke with all involved and their parents. CAS was contacted and information was provided regarding the investigation. Safety Planning suggestions were provided and disciplinary action was to be handled by the school.” PC Jake Daynes, Kawartha Lakes OPP, told Kawartha 411 News. “With regards to other avenues in these situations, as all the youths were under the age that is covered by the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), it limits our ability to have further action with the kids themselves. I would end up providing suggestions to the school on safety protocols in these situations which our officers did.”
Daynes says The YCJA covers youth between the ages of 12-18, when they are this age, officers can send them for extrajudicial measures through their community partners which include, anger management programs and community involvement. For children below the age of 12, police are limited as to what they can do as they don’t fall under the YCJA and therefore do not suffer a consequence if they do not abide by a release. A child under the YCJA would be required to attend anger management class through the Boys and Girls Club, or they would be charged with assault.
Smith isn’t the only parent raising concerns about their child’s safety at school.
A grade 10 student at LCVI was attacked while at school last spring. Her father, Ken Murphy told Kawartha 411 News she had to have seven staples in her head. While in this case the perpetrator was charged, Murphy says she was back to school within weeks.
“There was an incident reported, investigated and charges were laid, the accused was a young offender.” Deb Hagarty, Kawartha Lakes Police Service told Kawartha 411 News.
A source told Kawartha 411 News that there have also been problems at King Albert Public School in Lindsay. A Behaviour Intervention Response Team was reportedly brought in to assess the situation at the school. The BIRT team is a group of educators who are highly skilled and trained in behaviour management are brought in to support teachers to support students who have extreme behaviours. The board denied the presence of the BIRT team at King Albert but we stand by our source.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) says it’s a widespread and growing problem.
“It’s hard, and my teachers, they are worn right out. And they are feeling defeated because they just want the best for kids, they want to keep everybody safe but they want everybody to learn and thats really hard to do when behaviour is not being managed.” said Kellie Kirkpatrick, President of the Elementary Teacher Federation of Ontario local.
Kirkpatrick blames a lack of resources and says chronic underfunding is the main problem.
“I am not pointing fingers at the board because the board gets its funding from the government. If you go in everyday to a classroom where you are told to go “F” yourself or you have something thrown at you, that wears on you.’ explains Kirkpatrick. “In a lot of ways it comes back to underfunding. We have kids who are not getting their needs met because, every child has a right to an education but we are not given the resources and the tools and the training to deal with all of the kids that walk through the door. I am not advocating going back to segregated classes but also I think there needs to be some change in terms of how we meet these kids needs whether we have more specialized teachers in terms of special ed or mental health counsellors, they are so thin on the ground its hard for them to make any sort of a difference.”
Kirkpatrick says in some cases a counsellor is spread between as many as seven schools.
According to ETFO, student funding is now $1,500 dollars less per student than it was in 2018. Numbers compiled by the union show Fenelon Township Public School has had $312,382 cut from its government funding this for this school year. King Albert has lost 203,048 in funding while LCVI has had $874,669 cut from its funding in 2024/25.
“Quite frankly the underfunding is choking the system and it has been for many, many years. It’s reaching a breaking point and I really worry about my members.” said Kirkpatrick.
Here is a chart showing the loss of funding from locals schools compiled by ETFO:
Kirkpatrick also thinks there are societal issues at play. She says teachers noticed a shift before the pandemic but the pandemic accelerated the problems.
“I think there’s a lot of stressors out there, parents are having a hard time making ends meet, the stress is bubbling down to their own kids and they don’t know how to deal with that. They don’t have the tools and language to be able to express themselves so we see it in behaviour.”
Smith concurs and says that is why he is pushing so hard for more to be done to keep kids safe at school.
“We want to make sure that the kids who are the perpetrators are getting help they need as well. Why are they doing this, like what are they seeing at home and what is being done about it ?”
We contacted the Ministry of Education for comment and clarification but did not receive a response by our deadline.
