“Her light has been extinguished.” Brenda Payne
SAYS PRINCIPAL DIDN’T RETURN PHONE CALLS
The Mayor of Crewe — acting in her capacity as a concerned citizen and pastor’s wife — told the Nottoway School Board last week that she’s going to call Channel 8 news in Richmond over bullying issues at Crewe Primary School.
Brenda Payne appeared at Thursday night’s meeting and battled emotion while speaking in support of Debra Ostrander (see related story, page 1) and Debra’s 7-year-old daughter.
“She’s the most precious child…her spirit just shines when she walks into the room. She started coming to our church (Christ Community Church in Crewe), and she was beaming, and she was singing at the top of her lungs. But now her spirit has been crushed — completely crushed. Her light has been extinguished by these kids at school.”
Mrs. Payne continued, “Now when you see Callie, you see Callie sad, you see Callie quiet.”
But Callie isn’t alone, said Mrs. Payne.
During Sunday School, she said, the children’s class doesn’t want to watch videos but in- stead shares their experiences from school. “The entire ‘kids’ church’ is being bullied at Crewe Primary…When you tell a child, ‘Fatty Patty, you’re fat, you’re ugly. You clothes aren’t okay. That’s crushing to a little girl who just wants to be part of things.”
Mrs. Payne said she’s reached-out twice to Crewe Primary School principal Lloyd Page and not received a return phone call. “The reason I reached-out to him was because Channel 8 reached-out to me, and I wanted to do what’s right. I wanted to hear from him before
I spoke to Channel 8 News. I still haven’t spoke to Channel 8 News, but I’m going to.”
Mrs. Payne said that while she has no children enrolled in the school division, “Anybody deserves a return phone call. He (Mr. Page) should have called me.”Mr. Page was not in attendance at Thursday night’s meeting.
Mrs. Payne quoted from the Code of Virginia, which describes bullying in schools as “aggressive, unwanted behavior. Bullying is intending to do harm, to intimidate, to humiliate…repeated emotional trauma.”
Mrs. Payne said she recently had a conversation with incoming Division Supt. Dr. Marcia Martin. “I told her I was going to be on this — excuse my French — like ‘white on rice’ until something’s done. And she promised me that she was going to do some intense training with every single school employee about it, and I’m going to ‘hold her feet to the fire’ on that.”
Mrs. Payne said she can’t emphasize enough the dramatic change in Callie’s demeanor. “You can look at that precious child’s face and see that the light has gone out of her eyes. She actually goes home and won’t eat anything but a salad. She’s SEVEN. She weighs herself numerous times — at SEVEN. These are her formative years.”
Mrs. Payne says she’s researching programs not only for bullied children but also for those bullying. “They have issues as well.” Mrs. Payne said she and school parents “expect to see something happen.”
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