Tofino Mayor Dan Law has questioned the reaction of school officials to an incident in which his daughter was hit in the mouth and badly injured by a pickleball racket thrown by another student.
Josephina, now 14, was struck April 21 at Uclulelet Secondary School, Law said.
“Her lip was severed, her gums were severed, her teeth were broken and knocked out,” he said. “She required emergency dental work, also emergency reconstructive surgery on her lip.
“Now we’re looking at extensive dental work and more, including gum grafts. That’s going to be ongoing for quite some time.”
He said he wonders about a conflict of interest in the case, since one of the two boys involved is related to an education official and the other has a family connection.
Law said he and his wife were initially told what happened was “an accident with a piece of gym equipment,” and learned later that was not the case.
“Witnesses did relay that it was intentional, certainly appeared intentional,” he said. “That’s what got me going.”
A three-day suspension was issued to the boy who threw the racket that struck Josephina. It was later increased to six days.
Law said the added days didn’t come about until he raised his concerns.
Law said he has an issue with the overall account from the school administration and he does not believe the board is aware of all the information available.
Changing the narrative could “shift the blame” to other factors that might come up, such as interaction on SnapChat, he said.
Law said he wants to address the process that has been used “and hold people to account.”
The school district could not be contacted.
