Parents protest to draw attention to bullying at Vimy Ridge Public School

More than a dozen parents protested outside of a south Ottawa school Monday, saying student bullying is an ongoing problem that is not being addressed by school officials.

"Day after day after day, there's some sort of incident and nobody is doing anything about it," said Michelle Patenaude, whose son Kellan attends Vimy Ridge Public School. "There's been a lot of incidents where he's actually come home with marks, and it's been really terrible."

Kellan, 10, is in Grade 5 and says bullying is a major problem, to the point where he's switched classes to try and avoid bullies.

"It sucks and it's really bad," he said. "There's people that target you and bully you."

His hope, "That there’s no bullies at this school."

Parents protesting Monday said harassment and bullying is out of control.

"We are here because the safety of our children is our number one concern and it should be theirs too," said Mariam Zeitoun, pointing toward the school.

Another parent says the school hasn't been responding to their concerns.

"My son was a victim of bullying and when I reached out to the school for support, I received an e-mail back approximately four days later and there was nothing really being said, nothing has been done," says Amanda Charbonneau.

Zeinab Zietoun describes the bullying as a daily occurrence.

"The bullying at this school has gone out of hand, it's ridiculous," she said. "Every day there's kids going home with black eyes, concussions, kids getting jumped and it's just an unsafe environment."

In a written statement to CTV News Ottawa, a spokesperson with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board acknowledges the concerns from parents.

"We acknowledge the concerns raised from parents about issues including safety and fears of bullying at Vimy Ridge Public School. We believe students are safe at the school; however, we take these concerns very seriously. Every child deserves to be and feel physically and emotionally safe at school," it says.

The OCDSB says it is taking steps in and out of the classroom to address bullying. These include:

• Ongoing class time spent on positive behavior, character traits and a focus on kindness
• Assemblies speaking to the school's kindness initiatives and school-wide practices
• Staff are spending time reviewing and practicing conflict resolution skills and sharing these lessons with students
• Reviewing school expectations with every class
• Increased supervision on the school yard during recess
• Small group and personalized support to address concerning behaviour

The board says this work has already begun and will continue through the school year.

"The emphasis will be on building positive relationships and supporting children to develop strategies to resolve conflict between one another. At the same time, any incidents of violence or bullying will be taken seriously and enforced following the full extent of the school's progressive discipline policy."

The parents at the protest say the school board's policy is not working.

"The school board needs to do better. I think they actually need to take us seriously because this bullying has been going on for two years, and it's getting worse and worse every day," said Zeinab Zeitoun.