By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

NNN’s top 10 of 2017: SD68 fails to inform mother after son locked in storage room

Dec 27, 2017 | 5:11 PM

NANAIMO — A lot of pressure was applied on Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools (NLPS) after it was revealed it did not tell the mother of a six-year-old boy her son was locked in a storage room at Rutherford Elementary.

The boy, who has autism, had a temper tantrum and was held in the storage room on Sept. 16, 2016.

An education assistant unlocked the door to find him curled up in a ball crying.

The facts of the case were stated in a published agreement between the teachers involved and Teacher Regulation Branch.

When the Teacher Regulation Branch report on the incident was published, it was assumed the family of the boy was aware what happened to their child.

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However, it turned out that was not the case.

Our newsroom was tipped off by a concerned community member that NLPS didn’t reveal the incident to the mother involved. In fact, she didn’t find out until the incident was reported in the media more than eight months later.

This allegation seemed almost inconceivable. NanaimoNewsNOW reached out to the mother, who didn’t want to be identified, but felt it was important to relay the facts to help parents avoid what she went through. She confirmed only hearing about her son’s ordeal after it was reported by local media.

NLPS confirmed the mother wasn’t notified and held a meeting with her in early June to discuss her concerns. After being contacted by NanaimoNewsNOW, NLPS supt. John Blain said the District reviewed the communication breakdown but said he couldn’t comment on the review due to the privacy of everybody involved.

This story struck a cord in the community, with numerous comments to our Facebook page critical of how NLPS handled the situation. It will undoubedtly lead to changes in the way parents are informed of in-school incidents in the District in the future.

This story came in at number 10 on our top 10 list of biggest stories we covered this year. NanaimoNewsNOW is counting down our top 10 local stories of 2017, with the top two stories named on New Year’s Eve. Be sure to check back and offer your thoughts on the biggest stories of 2017.

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