Worse than just 'horseplay'

Photo: Contributed

A mother whose son was stabbed this week at Dr. Knox Middle School in Kelowna says the school is not being honest about what happened.

School District 23 Supt. Kevin Kaardal described Wednesday's incident as "horseplay," not aggressive and an accident.

However, the mother of the 14-year-old who was stabbed in the upper arm says it was much more serious than the school is letting on.

"He lost a lot of blood," she told Castanet. "It was chaos. He bled all over the floor – there was a litre of blood."

The mother says her son was playing Pictionary with another student, and that student became upset. The student had somehow obtained scissors and was waving them threateningly, when her son tried to intervene.

During the attempt, he received a one-inch deep cut to the upper arm that struck a vein.

The mother says nobody was able to immediately provide first aid treatment.

She was contacted at work by the school, and says she was told it was a minor wound and they'd take him to a walk-in clinic. However, when paramedics arrived, they rushed him to emergency at Kelowna General Hospital instead. 

Nobody from the school updated the mother on his more serious condition, so she wasn't able to be with him at the hospital.

"It could have been his eyes. It could have been a lot worse," she said.

She says it's upsetting that the school wasn't honest about what happened.

She has a meeting set up with the school to express her concerns, but also wanted people to know her account of what happened after a story with the school's account was published on Castanet.