Students Protest over School Brawl Death

Students protesting about the death of a classmate have staged a mass walkout from a New South Wales north coast high school.

Fifteen-year-old Jai Morcom died in a Gold Coast hospital on Saturday after suffering head injuries after a playground fight at Mullumbimby High School.

Police have ruled out suggestions that he had a pre-existing medical problem and say he was not involved in the initial fight.

This morning students from the school staged a mass walk-out, calling for the school’s principal to resign.

They protested at what they say is constant bullying and a lack of supervision at the school.

Jai Morcom’s father, Steve Drummond, told reporters earlier this morning that he did not approve of plans to stage the walk-out.

But he later told the hundreds of pupils and parents who gathered in the town’s heritage park that it was an appropriate display of love and respect.

The boy’s mother, Kim Morcom, told ABC local radio that her son had many friends.

“The kids are so upset and they’ve organised a march through town,” she said.

“They’ve been making placards and it’s an anti-bullying demonstration. It’s something they feel they need to do.”

Ms Morcom says her family is devastated by the tragedy.

She says she sent her son off to school on Friday not realising it would be the last time she would see him alive.

“You say goodbye, it’s a normal morning, ‘You got your lunch money? see you later,’ – you don’t expect anything like this to happen ever,” she said.

31 August 09