Bullied junior high student gets approval to switch schools

TRURO - A local mother who has been fighting to get her daughter back into the school where she feels safe has succeeded.
Samantha Dawe started Grade 9 classes at South Colchester Academy on Monday.
However, the news was bittersweet for Dawe's mother Roseann Fisher. In order for Dawe to attend South Colchester she must stay with people who live within the school's coverage area, meaning she will be away from her mother, who resides in Truro, during the week.
Dawe has agreed to the condition and is staying with friends of the family in the Brookfield area, but it's hard for mother and daughter to be away from each other, said Fisher.
"She doesn't like to be away from her mother but we gotta do what we gotta do," she said.
Due to a fire at their former residence in the Brookfield area last year, the family was forced to move to Truro. Because of the move, Dawe had to switch from her old school of South Colchester to Truro junior high.
The move didn't go well for Dawe. She says she was bullied to the point where she refused to go back to school. Because of the bullying issues Fisher had attempted to get her daughter back into South Colchester but was told that because she no longer lived in the school's coverage area and because the Grade 9 class was full, her daughter could not attend.
Three other students who had applied for a transfer to South Colchester had also been refused for the same reasons.
Although mother and daughter aren't happy with their current living arrangement, it is only temporary as Fisher intends to move back to Brookfield as soon as she can find a suitable home.
In the meantime, she said it's just nice seeing her daughter happy to go back to school.
"She loves it, she comes home with smiles on her face every day," she said.