Molly Burgess knew something had happened to her 11-year-old son as soon as she saw him.
He had just arrived home from school and was visibly upset. His face was red and he burst into tears. She took him into her arms and realized he was very cold and wet.
Mark had left school last Tuesday wearing only a T-shirt and his indoor shoes. His jacket, hat, winter boots and backpack were all left in his locker at Barnhill Memorial School, a middle school on Saint John’s west side.
According to Environment Canada records, Saint John was experiencing freezing drizzle at the time, with a wind chill of –5.
Mark, a Grade 6 student at Barnhill, told her that his locker had been bolted shut with everything inside. He thought he was in trouble and was too afraid to ask anyone at school before he went outside to wait for his bus, she said.
Burgess was incensed.
Molly Burgess’s 11-year-old son left Barnhill Memorial School without his winter clothes and his homework after his locker was bolted shut, and she wants that practice to stop.
She said she called the school immediately and the principal, Jill Ferguson, called her back the next day. But Burgess wasn’t content with what she was told.
She said Ferguson reminded her that parents had previously been warned in a newsletter that students were supposed to keep their lockers locked. Burgess said Ferguson promised to “do better” and said school officials weren’t supposed to bolt the lockers of Grade 6 students.
CBC News asked Ferguson and the Anglophone South School District for interviews but neither responded.
Burgess said Ferguson purchased a new lock for Mark — one with a key he could wear on a lanyard around his neck instead of using a combination lock, which he had trouble manipulating.
In a newsletter from the school in September, students were told they were responsible for providing a lock for their locker “to keep their personal belongings safe.”
Although Mark was cold, wet and upset, Burgess wonders what could have happened if staff had locked a student’s epi-pen or puffer inside their locker, or their house keys, if they were one of those kids who go home to empty houses.
“Realistically, I think Mark’s was the best case scenario,” she said. “He has a bus stop that’s very close to his home.”
Pushing for changes
Burgess would like the school to stop bolting lockers shut at all grade levels, she said.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to lock the lockers if they’re not going to make sure the children have their things,” she said.
“I’d like to see them no longer being allowed to bolt the locker shut. I think it’s not effective. I think that my son didn’t need to have any of this happen to him. He didn’t need to be cold. He didn’t need to be wet.”
If the school wants all lockers kept locked, and they notice one that isn’t, Burgess said they should check inside before they bolt it, find out who the locker belongs to and talk to the student.
