A Toronto woman is taking a stand to protect her 11-year-old daughter from schoolyard bullies. And it’s proving to be a full-time job.

Jill Trahan-Hardy is shadowing her daughter Harley Campos at North York’s Earl Haig Public School in an effort to deter bullies from harassing her child. Trahan-Hardy watches over her daugher in the school’s halls, at recess and during the hour-long lunch break. When Harley is in class, her mother isn’t more than an earshot away; Trahan-Hardy remains posted outside her daughter’s fifth grade classroom door.

“It’s ridiculous that I have to do this,” said Trahan-Hardy to the Toronto Star.

The mother decided to take action because she felt the school administrators weren’t doing enough to protect her daughter from alleged bullies. It’s an issue Trahan-Hardy said began in March but came to a head last week when an audio recording of Grade 7 students threatening her daughter surfaced. Day-and-a-half suspensions were handed out to older students for the incident, said Trahan-Hardy, but she felt the punishment wasn’t enough. She said the other solutions the school offered – such as having Harley spend her lunch breaks in the office or transfering her to a different school – were punishments rather than fixes.

“It’s unacceptable,” said Trahan-Hardy of the school’s reaction.

And while Trahan-Hardy admits the measure is extreme, she is determined to remain at the school for as long as it takes. “Hopefully this doesn’t have to go on for the rest of the school year, but if it does, I’ll be here.”

[via Toronto Star]

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Josh Sherman is a Toronto Standard intern. You can follow him on Twitter at @joshuaxsherman.