A fight at the C. W. Sawyer Primary School on Monday left nerves frayed and created new concerns about security at schools after a parent whose children are wards of the state reportedly showed up attempting to take away her son who is a grade one student at the school.
Police last night confirmed reports called in by teachers that a mother of a first-grader attacked the school’s principal, Loraine Lightbourne, after she was driven onto the campus by an unidentified man.
One teacher claimed that the woman had been hiding in the vehicle.
The woman apparently showed up at the school after she left the Carmichael Primary School where she was able to get two of her children.
According to one teacher at C. W. Sawyer, the mother went to the grade one class and told the teacher that an official in the office gave her permission to take her child, but the teacher, who became suspicious, refused to turn the child over, but said she needed to go to the office.
At the office, the mother reportedly tried to grab the child and when the principal became aware of what was going on, she too tried to protect the child from being taken away by the mother, one teacher told The Bahama Journal.
The teacher claimed that it was at this time that the mother grabbed the principal and lifted her off her feet. It apparently resulted in a teacher, who is a police reservist, hitting the mother, which resulted in an all-out brawl.
Eyewitnesses said teachers were particularly concerned as the principal is suffering from a medical condition.
Several teachers reportedly became involved in the fight and reported that the woman was hard to control. One teacher said there was a lot of punching and kicking during the whole ordeal.
Police eventually arrived on the scene and took the parent away.
All three of her children were reportedly back at the Nazareth Centre last night.
The matter was reported to the Grove police station where Assistant Superintendent Glenroy McKenzie said police have the mother in custody.
He assured that a full investigation into the matter will take place
Police did not release the identity of the parent involved in the altercation.
A teacher said some students witnessed the ordeal, which has left “a very bad impression”.
“Some children already feel that their parents run the school, so it reinforced that idea,” the teacher said. “It has a very bad negative effect.”
Source: The Bahama Journal
