The parents of four middle school students at Breiðholtsskóli are deeply concerned about the culture of violence and bullying that has flourished for many years in the children's class, where they have endured both mental and physical abuse by other children.
The case has attracted a lot of attention after Morgunblaðið reported on the problem on Monday. Below, after a review of developments in recent days, that coverage is published in its entirety.
The Children's Ombudsman said on Tuesday that it had been difficult to read the coverage, the Minister of Education and Children's Affairs said that the same day they would look into how the ministry could take action, and the director of the city's school and leisure council held a meeting with school administrators as a result.
The chairman of the school and leisure council, i.e. an elected representative of the Progressive Party, refused to comment on the problem. Then the principal of another elementary school came forward and said that he had noticed increased fear among teachers and that their role had changed.
Teachers and staff at the school issued a statement on Friday saying they felt powerless and unsafe at the school, and called for immediate action by the state and local authorities.
The new director of the school and leisure department said in an interview on Saturday that he was very concerned about the problem of violence among young people, which was escalating. He said that better things could be done.
A group of a few students with behavioral problems is said to be holding a class at Breiðholtsskóli hostage. Two children have not attended school this semester, including a girl who has barely attended school this school year.
The parents say the school and the authorities have not adequately addressed the problem, which has persisted for many years. The environment has caused great stress and strain on the children, who have had great difficulty obtaining an education.
The parent of one child says there has been almost no teaching this school year. The parent of another child says they don't trust themselves to eat lunch in the cafeteria without a teacher present. Some students are also afraid of being alone outside, especially after dark.
The father of a child at the school has now filed a complaint against the City of Reykjavík for violating the law on compulsory schools. The matter has been referred to the Ministry of Education and Children's Affairs.
The assistant principal of Breiðholt School says the problem among the class has been growing and that last spring the situation became difficult. This school year, however, the school administrators have managed to take control in such a way that the problem has become manageable. He says he is optimistic about the future and that the school can now focus on learning and teaching.
He says the school takes responsibility for the work that is being done there and that the school administrators do not want to minimize the problem or concerns of parents and children. "We are working on this issue day by day."
In a response to a question from Morgunblaðið, the Reykjavík City Department of Education and Leisure (SFS) said that SFS is not aware of an ongoing problem of bullying and violence at Breiðholt School.
In this case referred to, much has been done to resolve the problem in the student group and to ensure peace in the workplace, but as can be understood, these are often complex issues, the response further states. SFS says it cannot comment further on the matter due to privacy laws.
Not safe at school
Hermann Austmar, the father of a girl at the school, has been fighting for several years for the school and authorities to take a firm grip on the problem at the school and ensure a safe school environment for students. In an interview with Morgunblaðið, Hermann says that the situation has been serious for many years. It seems that the school has no resources or solutions for the behavioral problems of a few students, which affect an entire year group.
Students are either subjected to violence or are not given time off at school to focus on their studies.
Hermann's daughter has been subjected to serious physical and mental violence. She has, among other things, been grabbed by the throat and kicked in the face.
Hermann says his daughter experiences so much stress that she has difficulty learning, she simply no longer receives the information that the teacher tries to convey to the students in the class. The same applies to other students, and he says it is not uncommon for a large group to even get a grade of 1 on a math test.
Hermann says he does not feel safe when his daughter goes to school in the morning. She has a broken self-confidence and is not receiving a suitable education. He says that almost no teaching has taken place in the class since the school year began, and that is due to the teacher at the school.
The only thing my daughter is learning now is to be a victim of violence.
He has requested many times for his daughter to be transferred to another school, but has been repeatedly refused. The city has now offered to facilitate her transfer between schools as “there would be no problem for her.”
Hermann has repeatedly contacted the Children's Ombudsman, the city's Department of Education and Leisure and the Ministry of Education and Children's Affairs regarding the case. He has also been in contact with elected city representatives.
The first meeting with school administrators was held in the fall of 2019 after Hermann's daughter was subjected to physical violence during recess. A year later, he contacted school administrators, the Social Welfare Service and the Director of Child Welfare due to bullying and mental and physical violence that occurred in his daughter's class.
In 2022, Hermann repeatedly met with the city's so-called Southern Center – which is supposed to provide services, information, support and advice in the field of welfare, school and leisure – due to growing communication problems within the group and the problem of violence. Hermann also complained to school authorities and child welfare after his daughter was subjected to physical violence during sports time. He also filed a complaint with the Ministry of Education and Children's Affairs, saying the school was failing to ensure the safety of students during school hours.
Children are being beaten during recess. There is nothing normal about the fact that there have been several gang attacks in this year's class, he says.
In an email sent to parents by the new class teachers at the beginning of this school year, it was noted that many things needed to be fixed regarding the hard work, conduct and behavior of certain students, and a behavioral initiative was called for.
In November of last year, Hermann contacted several city councilors, the mayor, the city's school and leisure department and child welfare and informed them that the children in the class had not been able to study for many months due to behavioral and violence problems.
In December, Hermann requested the formal involvement of the so-called national team, which operates on the basis of the new welfare law, and the children's ombudsman. In the same month, parents were invited to a meeting with the school and informed about the poor academic situation, social problems and indiscipline.
The class has now been divided into three groups, on the one hand two large classes and then one smaller class with special education. My daughter is in the second large group where it is possible to teach. Then there is another large group and based on my conversations with teachers, not much education is being done there, if any.
Hermann says he is tired and almost given up on the fight. However, the problem is so overwhelming that it is inevitable that it will continue.
He says the situation in his daughter’s class has improved, but that the problem is not gone. The children still struggle with problems that affect their studies, due to the extent of the behavioral problems and violence. He is also concerned that the school authorities have no plans for how they will make up for the education the students have missed. He has now filed a complaint against the City of Reykjavík, alleging that the school has failed the students when it comes to their safety and education.
Morgunblaðið spoke to three other parents who have children in the same year. They did not want to be named. Among them is the mother of a child who has endured mental, physical and sexual violence by a fellow student. The violence has been ongoing for most of the child's schooling.
In early December, the child was placed on leave from school, among other things because Breiðholtsskóli did not believe it could guarantee his safety. The leave was supposed to last until the Christmas break. At the beginning of February, the child had not yet been allowed to return to school.
He's just at home. Naturally, I can't do my studies as I should, because I have to stay at home. He's not getting any education. He is extremely broken after this behavior of the school and naturally also the behavior of the boys. He is extremely anxious and hardly dares to leave the house. This has actually become an extremely serious situation, says the child’s mother.
She says the violence has been ongoing for the past few years.
Except now the boys have started to use violence like adults. They are kicking in the face, kicking in the head, kicking in the stomach. This has become extremely ugly violence now.
Have you contacted the school authorities before?
Yes, many times. For example, when he was sexually harassed in second or third grade. Then the teacher looked me in the face and said: “Oh, boys will always be boys.”
Do you feel that the school is not taking this seriously enough?
I think they are fully aware of the seriousness of it. I think it is more of a lack of help. They are not getting the help they need to manage this situation.
She says the parents of many students in the class have been aware of the situation for a long time. On the other hand, this is a very sensitive issue, since it involves primary school children. Now the issue has become so serious that it is no longer possible to sit and wait. Parents have had enough of watching the problem worsen.
At a meeting with the deputy principal of Breiðholtsskóli last week, she finally received information about a new resource for her son, who has not been to school since the beginning of December.
But there is still this helplessness towards these boys who use this violence. There are no resources for them. They just get to wade up there and use this violence because there is nothing else for them.
Since the child was removed from school in early December, the mother has contacted Sjónarhól, which is a counseling center for parents, and the so-called national team. She says she has received no answers except from Sjónarhól.
I’m just devastated. It’s a constant struggle. I’ve been in a constant struggle for seven years.
Have you ever considered moving your child to another school?
I’ve thought about it a lot, but there’s this fear that it might be just as bad somewhere else. Then I’m disrupting his environment. We live here for a reason. The school is just outside here. I think it’s his right to be able to walk safely to school, be safe at school, and walk home.
A mother of a girl in the same year says her daughter has had difficulty attending school for several years because of the environment there.
Her daughter has a primary diagnosis of autism and has difficulty being in an environment with a lot of noise.
In recent years, the problem at school has been increasing and her daughter stopped attending classes altogether at the beginning of the school year. In the meantime, the girl has been going to her grandmother's in the mornings and studying there during the day, thus having peace to study.
She never wanted to say why she didn't want to go, says the mother. She had mentioned that there were a lot of distractions at school. She is the kind of student who just wants to have peace and quiet to study, she doesn't even like it if her friend is picking on her. She just wants some time off from work.
In a conversation with mbl.is, the mother says she didn’t fully realize the extent of the problem at the school until early December when the school held a meeting with parents. She says she was shocked when she heard the stories of what had happened and is surprised that staff didn’t draw parents’ attention to the problem sooner.
I understand that the other students are in a very bad academic situation because of this disruption, and even anxious. So, in reality, it’s just a good thing that my daughter hasn’t gone to school. She’s just doing much better academically when she’s studying at home with her grandmother.
The mother says she has no interest in sending her daughter back to Breiðholtsskóli. The mothers are now waiting for approval from the City of Reykjavík so that the girl can start studying at another school, where schoolwork is conducted online.
What do you think about online school being the only solution that seems to be available at this stage?
By not attending school like she has been doing, she has been isolating herself socially. She has been attending school and then sometimes coming home with friends. So, it went hand in hand, how the attendance was at school and whether she was playing with friends.
The mother is optimistic that the strong group work at the new school will have a positive effect on her daughter and strengthen social connections.
Do you think Breiðholtsskóli is addressing this problem in such a way that you can consider sending your daughter to the school in the future?
“No,” the mother answers, adding that the girl will never be able to attend there again.
The fourth parent that mbl.is spoke to says that she is deeply worried about her daughter at Breiðholtsskóli.
The girl started school a year ago and the mother says she has never heard of problems like those occurring in her daughter's class. She is amazed to observe the behavior of the students and says it is incredible to observe how few resources the school seems to have to deal with the problem.
Her daughter is repeatedly beaten by the group of students who are the root of the behavioral problems in the class.
A few boys make fun of her, make fun of her for being very thin, throw her duffel bag on the floor. One has told her to kill herself.
She tells the mother in great detail and that she has tried to guide her daughter on how best to deal with the bullying that occurs in the class.
She is in a girl's group, they hang out together, but she doesn't go out after dark at night. I have to watch her if she walks home alone.
There are examples of her daughter coming home crying and not wanting to go to school again.
The teachers try their best when the students are at school, but this also continues after school. Which is not their responsibility, but the tension builds up in the school and then follows the students home.
How have you experienced the school’s response?
The meeting that was held in December, I thought it was about the children being bad at learning and that it was difficult to get them started. I think that’s the smallest part of it. My child doesn’t dare go to lunch unless the teacher is near her, which means that there will be a certain chain reaction. The teacher gets tired and she doesn’t get her break because she has to look after the child because she’s scared and insecure. It’s such a wrong approach to look at how they’re coming out of some exams.
Björgvin Þór Þórhallsson, assistant principal of Breiðholt School, says the situation in the class has not been a crisis from the beginning.
This has of course been a difficult class from the beginning and there are always classes like this every now and then. But I have only been at Breiðholt School for two school years, so I cannot say what the situation was like in recent years, before my time. But I believe that this has been a growing problem and I found that, for example, last school year, when spring came, it had become a very difficult problem. And then it increased in the fall when school started, Björgvin Þór tells Morgunblaðið.
How can primary schools respond when students struggle with serious behavioral problems? What resources are available?
It is a very complicated process to expel a student from school and the municipality is always responsible for ensuring that the person concerned receives a place in school. These are students of an age that we would never use for such measures. The resources available from the City of Reykjavík are quite a few, for example Brúarskóli which accepts students with problems and Klettaskóli which accepts students with developmental disabilities. Then there are things like mobile teams where there are two specialists who come and monitor and even take students out of school for a few weeks and are taking special care of them. There are such resources that are available but of course there are waiting lists for these resources like most others. It has not helped us at all.
The school has tried to find solutions and ways to solve the problem in the year group. Björgvin Þór says that a lot has happened this fall.
And I believe that we have reached a point with this year group where we can start focusing on learning and teaching. I am quite hopeful and optimistic about the future.
He says he cannot accept that no teaching took place in the year. On the other hand, there was not enough peace in the workplace.
But with that, I do not want to belittle the situation that existed in the fall, as we were constantly realizing new aspects of the issue. We changed the organization and took new measures. This has been quite a journey from the beginning of school until the beginning of the year.
Some parents do not feel that their children are safe at school. As an assistant principal, how do you feel about hearing this?
As I said at the meeting with the parents, I also had this feeling. We on the school board also got the feeling that the kids lacked a sense of security, and it changed a lot in all our actions and approaches. It was in mid-autumn when it became very clear to us that this was the situation.
And by safety and a sense of security, I mean that a student feels like they can't be themselves. They're reluctant to let their light shine, and so on, this is mental abuse. This had a huge impact on our actions and was the main thing this fall, to change things so that everyone could feel safe. I'm not just talking about physical abuse, I'm more talking about the atmosphere and being able to be alone.
Do you think the school has done enough or does it need to do more?
“They are now halfway through seventh grade and have three and a half school years left. As we told parents, we want to take a turn and start the journey towards tenth grade. I feel now after the new year that I have become much more optimistic than I was. We have both been able to better analyze the problem and since then these actions have yielded the results I mentioned earlier, which is much better work peace in the class.”
Do you have any plan for how students can make up for the learning they have missed or fallen behind in, due to the lack of work peace or because they were not attending school?
Yes, regarding having missed out because learning and teaching were not in order due to the lack of work peace, the learning of students at this age is interconnected with development – it is not as if this is a package that they are missing out on. They have gained a lot of development during this period and in fact our main task is to bring them to life and help them acquire study skills, so that they will just become better students. Gradually they will get a better handle on this. I don't think they'll be left with a gap in their knowledge or skills. But that's of course based on this going well from now on. That's really what I've been telling parents, we're going to get this done – which we're well on our way to doing. Then we'll strengthen learning and teaching going forward.
Based on materials from mlb.is (In Icelandic)
The North Observer
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