– No child should experience what we have experienced in Lillesand. We are going to court against the municipality because the municipality has not done its job, says Nicole in an e-mail to news. She is the mother of three teenage girls in Lillesand, who are said to have been bullied and subjected to racism at Lillesand secondary school. The sisters are originally from the Congo. The problems are said to have started when the family moved to Lillesand in 2019. It was the girls’ older sister Presilya (23) who put the spotlight on the case two years ago. She then posted a post on Facebook where she talked about racism and bullying by two of the sisters at Lillesand secondary school. news and several other media covered the case, which led to young people in Lillesand receiving threats from all over the country. Almost two years ago, the State Administrator in Agder determined that Lillesand secondary school had not ensured the sisters a safe and good school environment. Photo: Hans Erik Weiby / news Have not done their job Now the family has sued Lillesand municipality. news learns that the municipality has been subpoenaed for not having given the girls the education and security required by law. It was the multicultural newspaper Utrop that mentioned the case first. Municipal director in Lillesand Guri Ulltveit-Moe tells news that the case has both been and is a bad case for all parties. – We recognize that we have not managed to create a safe and good growing up environment for the girls in question. They have been exposed to incidents that they should not have been exposed to and we apologize for that, says Ulltveit-Moe. Beyond that, she cannot go into detail about the content of the subpoena. This is because it is not public yet. According to the girls’ mother, the municipality has not acknowledged responsibility or tried to help the girls after the case became known in the media. – We want the municipality to acknowledge its mistakes and do something about it, so that it does not happen to other children in the future, regardless of background or skin colour, she says. The girls’ mother Nicole says her daughters have never had the chance to have a normal teenage life because of the bullying. Photo: Heidi Ditlefsen / news Has worked with measures The state administrator in Agder determined in the spring of 2021 that the municipality has not ensured the sisters a safe and good school environment. In the decision, the State Administrator wrote, among other things: “It is our assessment that Lillesand School has not fulfilled the activity obligation to ensure a safe and good school environment for (name of the girls). We are therefore instructing Lillesand secondary school to introduce new and more measures that are in the decision”. Ulltveit-Moe says the municipality has worked purposefully with measures to improve after the criticism. – Today we have much better routines and better knowledge of how to prevent and deal with painful and difficult cases. The two secondary schools in the municipality have, among other things, entered into collaboration with the organization Dembra. – Now the schools have racism on the agenda in a different way than they have before, says Ulltveit-Moe. Municipal director Guri Ulltveit-Moe says they are now concerned with prevention. Photo: Geir S. Nilsen Don’t dare go out alone The girls’ mother tells news that she now stays at home to take care of her daughters. One of the girls is said to have barely attended school in the past two years. Another will struggle with concentration difficulties. – The aftermath of the bullying and racism bothers them to a great extent even today, says the mother. news met the family a year and a half ago. Then two of the sisters were taught by Oslo teachers on a voluntary basis. The mother then believed that the school had not offered the girls any help. The sisters said that they did not dare to go out of the house because they were afraid that someone would attack them. Still, none of them dares to be out alone, according to the mother. She says she must therefore follow them. – All children should have the same right to live, go to school and get an education. A school should be a place where all children should feel safe, says Nicole. The case will be heard in the Agder district court at the end of February.
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Lillesand municipality sued in bullying case at secondary school – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
