The parents of the middle school student had warned the academy that their son was being harassed. The rectorate had responded by threatening to file a complaint. His mother Béatrice Le Blay confides this Sunday in the portrait of Audrey Crespo-Mara, broadcast on TF1 in Sept à huit.
“I said to myself, ‘But where are we? We’re living a nightmare, it doesn’t stop.’ From being victims, we were guilty.” Béatrice Le Blay’s emotion is still raw. And her anger, intact, as she recounts in the portrait of Audrey Crespo-Mara broadcast on TF1 in Sept à huit this September 1st the wall she came up against when warning the educational community of the harassment suffered by her 15-year-old son, Nicolas, who ultimately killed himself on September 5, 2023 in Poissy, in the Yvelines.
Claiming to have been the victim of harassment for several months at the Adrienne-Bolland vocational high school in Poissy, the teenager had started school at another establishment in Paris. Before being the victim of harassment again “bullying” et “repeated insults”, according to a report made by the family to the Poissy police station in December 2022.
“The principal was aggressive”
On March 10, 2023, the principal of Adrienne-Bolland received the parents and the boy in his office to discuss this situation. “We were treated like dogs in a bowling alley”his mother says today. “The principal told us that we had no file, no tangible evidence. We did not understand why he was so aggressive.”asks Béatrice Le Blay, who claims that she only wanted to find out about the content of the measures that would be put in place to avoid a repeat of the harassment.
Five weeks later, without any news from the teaching staff, the parents sent a letter to the school to denounce the absence of any preventive measures and also informed the principal that Nicolas had filed a complaint. “It was to protect our son, because the harassment continued and we wanted it to be made official.”his mother tells Sept à Huit today. The parents had also alerted the rectorate, mentioning Nicolas’s deteriorating mental state.
Threatens to file a complaint for slanderous denunciations
On May 4, 2023, the parents of the middle school student received a letter from the Versailles rectorate in which they were accused of having “threat” et “challenged” the management staff of Adrienne-Bolland high school. “First of all, my son’s suffering was not acknowledged. We are talking about “alleged harassment”. I find that particularly odious, when Nicolas is suffering.”regrets Béatrice Le Blay. The educational administration considered in its letter that the words of Nicolas’ parents were “unacceptable” and had ordered them to“adopt a constructive and respectful attitude”The rectorate also reminded them that slanderous denunciations are punishable by 5 years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. “From being victims, we were guilty. It’s absurd,” hammers the victim’s mother today, who says that her teenager had been “frightened” in the face of the rectorate’s response.
“From then on, he changed his attitude. (…) He knew by heart all the suicide cases of the last two years. He would say: ‘when will it end, will it…It will take another suicide for this to stop ?” », his mother still remembers, her voice trembling. Nicolas finally took his own life on September 5, 2023. His mother says she has not received any calls since from the staff of the educational community that she had previously alerted about her son.
The HR director of the rectorate who wrote the letter that sparked the scandal has left his position, TF1 claims today. While the rector is no longer in office, the investigation into the students identified as harassers is still ongoing. “I am a mother orphaned by her son. Every day, I think of him”Béatrice Le Blay breathes today.
