White Rock parent left shocked after son hurt during field trip and no one called her

A mother in White Rock says she was left feeling guilty and confused after her son was injured on a field trip and the school never called her to tell her what happened.

Sandy Lee’s son has been going to White Rock Elementary since he was in kindergarten. He’s now in Grade 7. Lee says her son was on a field trip to White Rock Beach on Friday, Sept. 15, when he was punched in the eye by another student.

“He fell so hard that one of the teachers provided him an ice pack to hold over his eye until he got back to school. Then he said when he got back to school, he was put in the classroom and it went on like a normal day. The boy who hit him was in his class and that was it.”

Lee got home from work at 5 p.m. that day and says she noticed her son’s eye was swollen. She tells CityNews she was shocked to hear about what happened to him and wanted to know why the school never called her.

“I said, ‘Were there teachers around? Did they see what happened?’ He said yes. So, I said, ‘Why didn’t anybody call me or email me?’ He didn’t know. He thought that I knew,” Lee said.

Lee works at a medical clinic and says if she had been called, she would have gotten her son medical attention. She claims he was left with a swollen eye and headaches that lasted for weeks, causing him to miss multiple days of school.

After a weekend of monitoring her son’s injuries, Lee says she went to the school and spoke to the principal the following Monday.

“He said it was a busy two weeks at the beginning of school and he understands there’s new teachers and they didn’t have my contact information. I said, ‘You should have my contact information,’ and he said, ‘We didn’t have updated contact information, that’s why no one called you.'”

Lee says she volunteered with the school to drive kids to swimming and skating as recently as last year, providing administrators with her current phone number, email address, and driver’s licence information.

“I was shocked. I was shocked that that was his response — like it was my fault that I didn’t provide it. I couldn’t believe what he was telling me,” the mother recalled.

The Surrey School District tells CityNews that it’s a regular procedure for parents to be notified as soon as possible when students are injured either on school grounds or during a field trip.

“In this instance, it was the classroom teacher that didn’t have contact information on the date of the altercation as classes had just been formed,” the district said. “We sincerely apologize for the delay in reaching out to the parent. The intended call should have taken place on Friday.”

The district says Lee’s son was assessed while on the field trip and was being monitored by the first aid attendant until they all returned to school. The district goes on to explain that the boy was told to “go to the office after the bell for another assessment” but adds he “went straight home” when class was dismissed for the day.

“The office calls home when children are assessed at the school, as outlined in our procedures. Unfortunately, the child went straight home and the family was not informed as intended. This was an oversight and we apologize for this,” the district explained in an email.

“When students are assessed at the school office, administrators and office staff become aware and notify families. The teacher had assumed the student arrived at the office and the family was notified by office staff.”

In the wake of what happened to her son, Lee says efforts have been made by the school to keep him and the other students away from each other. Lee says she considered switching schools, but since her son is in his last year, she didn’t want to put him through that.

Lee says she hopes her experience will prompt other parents to confirm that schools do have family/guardian contact information, even if their child is a long-term student.

“I’m scared for all the other students who go on field trips. Are their parents updating their information? Have they moved in the last year? Do they have emergency contacts?” she asked.

“Even if it’s an email change it’s so important to keep our children safe.” 

The district says it’s committed to addressing the issue and improving its processes to “ensure more prompt and efficient communication in the future.”