A South Carolina mother was arrested after she confronted her son's third-grade class over allegations of bullying. Jamie Rathburn went inside Greenbrier Elementary School after dropping her son off and found his class lined up outside of the classroom. She was captured on surveillance cameras chastising the children. While there is no audio, Rathburn can be seen "pointing her finger at the kids and getting in their faces."
Witnesses told police they could hear Rathburn screaming until a teacher asked her to speak privately in a classroom. Rathburn cursed out the teacher before storming out of the building. After the incident, she posted a since-deleted video on Facebook and explained her actions. She says that her son had dealt with bullying all year long, and school officials did nothing to stop it from happening. After her son was pulled off the top of the slide during recess, the school singled her son out and separated him from other students so they could watch him closer. That was the final straw, and Rathburn confronted her son's classmates the next morning.
When police saw her video, they began to investigate and took her into custody three days later. She was charged with interfering, disrupting, or disturbing schools and was banned from entering the building.
Rathburn apologized for her actions but says that she felt she was left with no other choice after the school failed to act in any meaningful way.
"I am absolutely ashamed of myself for the actions of walking up into that school," she told the Greenville News. "You know, I owe the parents, the children and the staff an apology for that. Absolutely, it was wrong. But honestly, I don't know how I could have gotten my message across any other way."
Photo: Greenville County Detention Center