I was deceived for months – says the mother of a Bolesławiec penguin about the school

The mother of a boy with a disability is bitter and devastated by the school’s indifference to her difficult situation. After her son broke his leg during a break, he did not attend school for six months. That is how long treatment of the limb, broken in several places, lasted.

– The powerlessness and helplessness of a parent raising a child with a disability alone in the face of such an attitude from the school drains their strength, and then a person asks themselves: is there justice? In a road collision, it is easier to prove one driver’s fault than to show that you brought your child to school in the morning with an unbroken leg and collected him with a displaced fracture, and that after a week in hospital and a serious operation, the child was immobilized for six months. The child does not attend school for half a year, while the headmistress says that nothing happened and accepts no responsibility – the mother says.

The documents provided show that headmistress Laura Słocka refused to pay the student compensation and care costs. She believed that the boy had unfortunately stepped off the swing incorrectly, placing his foot wrongly. She also maintained that supervision of the student had been proper and that the accident could not have been avoided.

– I was left alone with everything – the mother says, and although her voice sounds strong, it breaks. – The headmistress of the special school tried to convince me that nothing had happened, even when she knew that a teacher had failed to fulfill his basic duty of caring for a student with a disability. Only a few people at the school know about the accident, while in my opinion such an accident should be treated as a matter of public concern: as a warning and as information about what proper care for a child with disabilities should look like – the mother says.

What happened?

In September 2024, a student of the Powiatowy Zespół Szkół i Placówek Specjalnych entered a “bird’s nest” swing during a break between lessons on the school playground to swing. Kacper is autistic, completely incapacitated, unable to live independently, and has a severe intellectual disability.

– Kacper swung very high, and at one point another boy ran up behind him – says his mother, who watched the surveillance footage. – Wanting to stop, Kacper stretched out his leg and struck it against the ground with all his strength. The footage shows that something is wrong, because Kacper immediately lifts his leg. At that moment, his leg may have been injured, and the teacher should have reacted, but he could not because he was standing too far from the swing, with his back turned, and was more occupied talking to another teacher than caring for the student with a disability. When he finally approached my son, without knowing what had happened, he stood Kacper on both legs, which could have worsened the fracture. My son was diagnosed with a displaced fracture of the ankle and lower-leg bone. As an autistic child, Kacper has a heightened pain threshold, but if the teacher had been standing close to him, the accident—and therefore such injuries—might not have occurred. In my opinion, the teacher completely neglected his duties – the mother adds.

On the day of the accident, the mother was called to the school and informed that Kacper had stepped off the swing incorrectly and injured his leg.

– No ambulance was called to the scene – the mother says. – They handed my son over to me with a displaced broken leg. I was in shock. I drove Kacper to the emergency department in my own car. My son is 185 cm tall and weighs almost 100 kg; I could barely manage because Kacper was terrified and full of anxiety. At the emergency department, they took an X-ray and immediately admitted him to the orthopedic ward. Kacper underwent an attempt to set his leg without anesthesia; I do not know how he endured it all. The next day, he was prepared for several hours of surgery under general anesthesia. Screws were inserted. He stayed in hospital for almost a week. After two months, one screw was removed, but the leg was not healing, and Kacper walked in a brace for six months. The leg finally healed in March this year, and Kacper faces a long rehabilitation – the mother says

A long list of allegations against the special school

The mother claims that throughout Kacper’s time at home, the school did not offer him home schooling or online classes.

– From the day of the accident, I asked the headmistress to provide the school’s insurance policy number and the surveillance footage – the mother complains. – She kept feeding me empty promises, and I dare say she deliberately delayed matters. It was only a month after the accident that I received the accident report, and the deputy headmistress showed me the surveillance footage. Only then could I finally submit reservations about the report. Four months after the accident, in January 2025, I received a letter from the headmistress saying that Kacper was not entitled to compensation from the school. Only after the case was referred to the prosecutor’s office did the headmistress provide me with the school’s policy number, but in my opinion she gave the insurance company incorrect information. The headmistress wrote that there had been no shortcomings on the school’s part. She described the accident—which resulted in a displaced fracture, inserted screws and six months of treatment—as “minor” in the report. I was deceived for so many months. I was left alone with everything. My child attends a special school, after all; its teachers are supposed to protect children with disabilities, who are often unaware of their limitations and are therefore vulnerable. Will such accidents continue to be hidden and swept under the rug? – the devastated mother asks.

Accident report

The two-person investigative team presented its findings concerning the circumstances and causes of the accident in the accident report. The team classified the accident as “minor.” In accordance with the medical documentation, it described the injury as a fracture of the lateral malleolus and the posterior edge of the left tibia.

The report states that the student received first aid in the medical office from a nurse, and that earlier, outside the school at the playground, the nurse had applied an elastic bandage to the painful area.

It was established that Kacper was at the playground with other students and supervisors during the break between lessons and was swinging on a bird’s nest swing. The moment the accident occurred was determined to be when the teacher supervising the students announced the end of the break and signaled that they should return to school for lessons. The committee concluded that the accident occurred

(...) because of the student’s unfortunate reflex while getting up from the swing, after which he indicated that his left leg hurt. (...)

The team acknowledged in the report that the supervisors on duty in the playground had not seen the incident itself. Both were turned toward the other students. When the student complained of leg pain, they reacted immediately. Someone came to the playground and took care of the injured student, while the teacher reported the incident to the headmistress and the nurse. The nurse went to the student on the playground and applied an elastic bandage. The mother was informed about the incident and collected her son, then immediately went to the emergency department in Bolesławiec.

The report also states that the person responsible for supervising the students was present at the accident site the entire time, that no preventive measures were necessary, and that procedures had been followed.