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Article Mum Charged After Confronting Son’s Bullies

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A mum has been arrested after confronting her son’s bullies at school.

Jamie Rathburn is accused of walking into Greenbrier Elementary School, in the US state of South Carolina, on May 17 before emotionally confronting classmates of her son, who is in the third grade The Greenville News reports.

Police told the paper they became aware of the confrontation in a now-removed Facebook video uploaded by the mum. She was arrested on May 20.

According to a police report, the mum said she snuck into the school and spoke with kids who were about nine years old.

A teacher, who hasn’t been named, alleged Rathburn told the kids while she didn’t know who was responsible for the bullying “she was going to find them and their mums”.

Rathburn told Greenville News her son has been called names, been hit with a computer and pulled backwards off a slide by his throat.

She added she had spoken with the school about her concerns before she went to campus on May 17.

Greenville County Schools said staff had taken “active steps to protect the child and remedy any inappropriate behaviour from his peers”.

It added the mum had received “regular updates” from the school about her son’s interactions with fellow students.

The district also claimed Rathburn had grown frustrated about not knowing how her son’s alleged bully was being disciplined but in sharing that information with her would be a breach of privacy.

Rathburn has been charged with disrupting a school.

She’s since offered an apology to the school, students and parents.

“I am absolutely ashamed of myself for the actions of walking up into that school,” Ms Rathburn told The Greenville News. “You know, I owe the parents, the children and the staff an apology for that. Absolutely, it was wrong.”

“Honestly, I don’t know how I could have gotten my message across any other way,” she told the outlet.

She’s now been banned from the school property, a situation she described as “devastating”.

“I can’t go eat lunch with my children,” she said. “I can’t watch them on field day… that’s devastating.”

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  • There may be more to this story, but understand the mum trying to protect her son, especially if the school was not acting; though her actions were not appropriate.

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  • Definitely don’t want parents or anyone sneaking into schools.

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  • The Mum should have visited the parents of the other children involved or asked the principal to set up a meeting at the school. Fancy uploading the video.

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  • I dont blame her for doing it. Its a horrible feeling knowing that your child is being bullied at a place that is meant to be safe. The things that happened to this boy was pretty serious.

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  • Parents do want to protect but there have to be boundaries for the protection of all children.

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  • The Mum must have been so overwhelmed and frustrated I can understand why she did it and I think charging her is way over the top

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  • I can understand the mums feelings and urge to have a good chat with these kids, but not ok to do so.

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  • Could’ve felt intimidating and frightening for the kids for sure

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  • It seems that she felt like she had no other options left.

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  • If all she was doing was talking to them, then perhaps charging her was an over reaction. Fair enough on the ban, though.

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  • My son has been bullied since starting high school last year, and is transferring schools because his school hasn’t stopped it. I have often felt like having a chat to his bullies and/or their parents. I know the kids’ names. It is so frustrating when your child is being hurt and nothing is being done about it. It’s heartbreaking and anger inducing. I can totally understand why this mother did that. I hope something comes from it and the bullying stops. At least being banned would be worthwhile.

    • Oh and to clarify, the chat was to be civil not nasty. I understand bullies have their own struggles and don’t feel the need to put others down for no reason.

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  • Yes I’m sure we have felt like doing this but then we as adults realise that if doing so we are just as bad as the bullies themselves.

    • It just an awful situation all round and bullying has such a terrible impact on lives.

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