Bullying incidents not on the rise, says Eastern School District official

An Eastern School District official says despite violent incidents at two St. John's schools this week, the district is not seeing an increase in the number of bullying incidents.

On Monday, a teenage girl was charged with assault after another teenage girl was beaten up at Leary's Brook Junior High School, and another student has been suspended in connection with an incident at Booth Memorial High School.

In early October, three students were charged after another student was attacked outside Crescent Collegiate in Blaketown.

But Eastern School District spokesperson Ken Morrissey said there has not been a rash of bullying cases within the school district.

"That's not saying we have a lot of inappropriate activity happening with our schools," said Morrissey. "I think to some degree we've raised awareness about not tolerating what's happening, this sort of activity in our schools, and I think that is bringing it to the forefront when you see activity like this occur."

Morrissey said the school board has been trying to determine whether the incidents were isolated or cases of long-term bullying.

Meanwhile, students at Leary's Brook Junior High have described the assault which happened during Monday's lunch break as horrible and sad.

Austin Heffernan, a grade nine student, witnessed what happened.

"On Monday I was in the hall, like at the beginning of lunch, and a girl was standing by her locker, and another girl came up to her and started beating her up."

Students said a girl in Grade 8 attacked a girl in Grade 9 who was new to the school this year. There were several witnesses, and some of them recorded the fight on their cellphones.

The circumstances were similar to a recent incident in Blaketown, where some students also chose to record the attack on their cellphones.

Police said the victim was treated at the Janeway for minor injuries. They also said that the suspect ran to the nearby Avalon Mall, but was arrested at home. She appeared in court Tuesday and was released to appear later.

Police have asked any witnesses to the Leary's Brook assault to come forward, and they added that more charges could be laid.