School ‘spineless’ after boy broke my son’s nose: mom goes to cops

A Johannesburg mother has opened an assault case against a pupil after he allegedly broke her son’s nose during a fight at school.

The grade 8 pupil from Rand Park High School in Johannesburg underwent surgery at Olivedale Clinic on Tuesday.

The 14-year-old’s mother, Katharine Kraus, said the incident, which took place last Monday, was triggered by a pupil who taunted her son with slaps to the back of his neck.

“My son asked him three times not to hit him. On fourth time when he did it, my son turned around and slapped him on his face and told him: ‘I told you not to hit me’.”

She said the other boy got up from his desk and pushed her son down and tried to punch him in the stomach.

“Then my son tried to punch him in the testicles and this boy punched him three or four times in the face before the teacher pulled him off my son.”

The educator, a substitute teacher, was standing in for the subject teacher who was indisposed.

A furious Kraus said the incident happened in a classroom under the supervision of a teacher, adding: “The question can be asked why the teacher did not stop it sooner? What was the teacher focusing on? I don’t care who started the fight, but it should never have been allowed to escalate to that point.”

She said the school did not phone the other parent on the day of the incident “to say their son has put another child in hospital”.

However, the school says both pupils admitted they were guilty of assaulting each other and that the teacher had responded immediately after the incident, which had “escalated quickly”.

During an internal disciplinary committee hearing on Monday, the perpetrator was slapped with 80 demerit points and seven hours of detention between 1pm and 5pm over two Fridays.

Her son’s punishment was 50 demerit points and three-and-a-half hours of detention.

I screamed and shouted and sent emails to the school questioning why this boy was still allowed to come back to school.

—  Katharine Kraus

Kraus believes the sanction meted out to her son’s classmate was “pathetic” and “spineless”.

“The precedent they are setting is that actually bullying is OK because the worst that is going to happen, even if you put somebody in hospital, is two detentions and 80 demerit points.”

She said the only reason the internal disciplinary committee hearing took place was because “I screamed and shouted and sent emails to the school questioning why this boy was still allowed to come back to school”.

However, school governing body chair Natalie Davies said that the school does not tolerate bullying and intervenes as soon as reports of it are received.

“The complainant confirmed during the disciplinary hearing he had not reported any prior bullying to his grade tutor or to the school.”

She said their investigations “have clarified that the interaction between the two pupils escalated very quickly in the classroom and that the educator, who was on duty during the substitution period, intervened as soon as he became aware of the situation”.

She said the pupils were separated and the teacher called the first aid team, the grade tutor and the deputy principal who took statements from both parties and witnesses.

Davies said the evidence presented at the disciplinary hearing “showed that the complainant was tapped three or four times by the other party”.

“The complainant then responded by slapping the other pupil in the face and by hitting him in the testicles.”

She said the other pupil then retaliated by hitting the complainant on the nose. 

“The educator intervened before any further interaction could take place between the pupils.”

According to her, both pupils confirmed they had assaulted each other “and, as a consequence, have been allocated punishment for a serious misdemeanour”. 

The grade tutor contacted the parents of both pupils “to report and discuss the situation”.

“The deputy principal has facilitated further engagement between the two families to discuss the financial implications associated with the medical treatment and the charge of assault that has been laid by the complainant.”

The Gauteng education department requested more time to respond to media queries. 

Honeydew police spokesperson Captain Balan Muthan confirmed they were investigating a case of assault.

In another incident in September 2020, the provincial education department asked Rand Park High to readmit a girl who stopped going to school out of fear after allegedly being “shoved” by her former boyfriend — also a pupil there — on the school grounds.

The girl’s mother removed her from school after the incident.

The mother opened an assault charge with police and said she requested a transfer card for her daughter after the school failed to guarantee her safety.