Dear Teacher.

I am not sorry I made you cry today. You make my child cry every day.

When my daughter was in year three I was having real trouble getting her to go to school.

She would mess around and I would have to practically drag her into the classroom but she wouldn’t tell me why. I just assumed that as she was having some learning difficulties she was struggling, so I wrote a note asking to see you. I got no reply. Then I got a phone call from her best friend’s mother. Judy was wondering what I was doing about my daughter Amelia at school as her daughter Jo was really upset.

Well it all came out, Amelia was being bullied at school…by you!

She has always struggled with learning as she was born very early and has suffered some developmental delays and this was something that you were simply not prepared to tolerate. So you made  Amelia stand up in front of the class and exhibit her ‘stupidity’ as you explained to the class that Amelia was a ‘dummy’ and ‘stupid’ and encouraged the other children to mock her.

I tried to talk to Amelia about it but she started shaking and crying and was too scared to say a word!

Next day I kept her home from school but went there instead.

I caught up with you as you were walking to the classroom and asked you very nicely if I could have a word with you at your earliest convenience. I explained that I had been talking to another mother and I had a couple of concerns that I wanted to address. You said of course and we booked a time for later the next day.

But as I was leaving the school I got a phone call from the principal asking me to please come back to the school as she had you in her office and you were crying because of something I had said to  you!

So back I went.

It seems that you were worried that parents were talking about you behind your back.

Well, I simply stated that as you had been a teacher for some time you should know that the Mummy network is all powerful. We are always going to talk about teachers behind their backs, you should be worried about what we were saying!

I explained how I had learned about how you treated Amelia and how it was going to end NOW. TODAY and if it didn’t I was going to bring a whole heap of fury down on the school, the education department and you personally. I have never seen someone react that way.  You looked in complete shock. It was the look of a bully who has finally had someone push back. You just folded into yourself and started to cry, I mean really cry and I knew then 100% that everything was true.

So I am not sorry I made you cry, I am sorry that you got away with being a bully for God only knows how long. I am sorry that you are still a teacher, and while you promised never to be anything other than perfection to my daughter, I am sorry that you might do it to someone else’s child. I am sorry that I was satisfied that I get daily updates about how nice you were to Amelia instead of taking it further.

I am sorry my child suffered at your hands and now has to change schools because the culture of bullying in those children will now never allow my daughter to feel safe with them.

I am sorry that my daughter was too scared and humiliated to think that I could help her. She knows better now.

But sorry I made you cry? Not sorry.

The author has chosen to remain anonymous