School violence report, counter-report, re-report: hearing delayed for more than two months

Disabled student files complaint, both sides file additional reports

Review hearing pushed from July to August to September

A scene from the Netflix series "Cham Gyoyuk" (True Education) in which an alleged perpetrator and victim simultaneously plead their cases before a school violence review committee. [Netflix]

A school violence review hearing at a Seoul elementary school has been delayed for more than two months after a string of counter-complaints turned a single bullying case into a tangle of overlapping reports. What began as one incident has seen the hearing rescheduled repeatedly as allegations and counter-allegations piled up.

A fifth-grade student identified as B at Seoul's A Elementary School filed a school violence complaint alleging that several classmates subjected him to sustained verbal abuse and physical violence between March and April this year. B is a special-education student with autism spectrum disorder.

The classmates were found to have repeatedly followed B into the school bathroom, where they physically harassed him and hurled insults and mockery. Even after B retreated into a stall, other students reportedly peered over the partition and kicked the door.

The school initially handled the matter through its principal's discretionary resolution process, but B's family withdrew their consent, sending the case to the review committee. The other students' families then filed their own school violence complaint, alleging that B had made unwanted physical contact with their children. B's family responded with yet another complaint, saying the counter-report had caused B secondary harm. With reports and counter-reports cascading from a single dispute, B ended up holding the status of both victim and alleged perpetrator depending on which complaint was being examined.

The chain of counter-complaints directly affected the hearing schedule. According to the Gangseo-Yangcheon District Office of Education, the review originally set for July 22 was pushed back to Aug. 14 after the additional complaints were filed. Further delays followed as B's family requested more time to submit supporting materials.

An illustration of school violence. [Getty Images Bank]

The hearing scheduled for Thursday was postponed again after the other students' families submitted additional materials and raised scheduling conflicts. An official at the district office of education said the repeated rescheduling requests from the other side led officials to suspect the counter-complaints were being used as a delay tactic. "We concluded we could not push the hearing back any further," the official said, "and decided to hold the review committee session on Sept. 30."

"Postponements once or twice happen fairly often, but cases with this many delays are actually quite rare," the official said. "The family of the student who filed the original complaint must have felt a real sense of injustice."

Educators and investigators say so-called "counter school violence" complaints — where one party responds to a bullying report by filing their own — are increasingly complicating case proceedings. When an original complaint and a counter-complaint are investigated and reviewed together, the students involved can simultaneously hold victim and perpetrator status, and the additional inquiries can push back the hearing timeline considerably.

A school violence investigator identified only by the surname Park said the dynamics have shifted noticeably in recent years. "In the past, the roles of victim and perpetrator in a given case were relatively clear," Park said. "These days, it is not uncommon for the other party to file their own school violence complaint almost immediately after the first report comes in. When counter-complaints pile up, the number of matters to investigate grows, the parties' legal standing becomes complicated, and a ruling on the original incident can end up significantly delayed."

B has reportedly grown increasingly anxious throughout the successive complaints and investigations, avoiding conversations about school and experiencing emotional difficulties as a result.

The district office of education plans to use the Sept. 30 hearing to determine the facts surrounding the complaints filed both by and against B, and to rule on whether each incident constitutes school violence under the law.

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