A police officer has slammed a school's handling of violence weeks after a mother took the decision to home tutor her son due to bullying.
PC Paul Bower, of Wombwell Safer Neighbourhood Team, said at a public meeting last week staff at Netherwood school in Wombwell were too willing to waste police time rather than deal with incidents of bullying themselves.
He said: "They seem to be under the impression they're not able to remove or restrain pupils but the headmaster has the power to search pupils for knives, drugs or anything else they shouldn't have.
"If there's a pupil in school being violent, smashing things up and a teacher can't or won't restrain him, we're happy to go in and deal with it. But, a lot of the time, they're using it as an excuse not to deal with it themselves and call the police in."
Principal Toby Eastaugh said: "We do not ask the police to deal with issues where it is our responsibility to do so and no concerns about this have been brought to my attention.
"At Netherwood, we take any parental concern very seriously and will always endeavour to address the matter thoroughly. However, there have been occasions where parents have contacted the police directly without our knowledge, who in turn have informed us.
"We enjoy positive working relationships with the police and will continue to work in partnership with them to support the community we both serve."
