Bullied teen's friends protest school's lack of action

A group of students at a Fredericton high school staged a protest Friday over what they call a lack of action by school administrators to stop bullying.

A teenager was removed last month from Leo Hayes High School by his parents because he was a targeted andharassed by an ex-girlfriend.

At noon, about a dozen of his fellow students protested on a street just off school property.

"Administration could have stuck up for him and they could have told him that everything's going to be OK, they would have dealt with it," said the teen's friend Sean Hutton.

"But no, they decided to just leave it alone and look, he's out of the province."

The school already has an active student anti-bullying support group including members of Friday's protest.

"There's been bullying at my school and the principal says he's doing something about it, but he's not," said Grade 9 student Katherine Graves.

"I think he should have like handled it better and like did something to the person who bullied him. Like, made consequences and stuff. But instead, it was the one who got bullied had to suffer."

Principal Kevin Pottle wouldn't discuss the case of the bullied student who left Leo Hayes HS.

The province plans to bring in anti-bullying legislation. But Pottle said he isn't sure that tougher rules are the answer.

"If legislation provides more guidance counsellors, more social workers, more school psychologists, you're going to have an impact. Simply giving the school, in essence, a bigger hammerI'm not sure that, in the end, addresses it."